Earth’s first asteroid mining ship prepares to launch

AstroForge is on a mission to build a space mining operation rivaling RDA’s unobtanium-gathering enterprise in Avatar.

The California-based space mining startup plans to launch a robotic spacecraft onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as early as tomorrow, in a major step towards mining precious metals in asteroids across the Solar System – and potentially creating vast fortunes on Earth.

Turning unobtainium into obtainium

AstroForge’s microwave-sized spacecraft, called Odin, will head for a near-Earth asteroid that’s believed to be part of an asteroid class called M-types.

• All M-type asteroids are thought to be rich in valuable metals like iron and nickel. But some of them also contain vast amounts of platinum, an even pricier metal used widely on Earth in devices like smartphones.
• Experts say just one 0.6-mile-wide M-type asteroid that does contain platinum would have enough to fulfill ~680 years of global supply.

Odin is just the first step…Upon reaching its ~330-foot-long target asteroid, the craft’s role is to gather critical imagery and prepare the way for a follow-up AstroForge mission, which aims to land on the potential M-type and begin extracting its minerals.

…and it’s not alone. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is currently en route to an asteroid scientists believe holds several quintillion dollars worth of iron and nickel – or more metal than an album with all of Metallica, Korn, Black Sabbath, and Slipknot‘s greatest hits. Though, since that figure is over 10,000x larger than the entire world economy, the metals wouldn’t actually sell for that price if they reached the open market.

🚀 Zoom out: In addition to Odin, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 will be carrying two key spacecraft headed for the Moon: the Athena lander from Intuitive Machines – which last year became the first private company to land on the Moon – and NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer.