CNN
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Matt Gialich, CEO of asteroid mining startup AstroForge, is diving into uncharted territory. He co-founded the company in California in 2022 with dreams of mining precious metals from asteroids. But he’s not naive; he knows the road ahead is challenging.
In fact, he admits he’s scared.
“I’m f**king terrified,” he shared candidly in a recent interview.
But Gialich believes that fear can be a good thing. It’s a part of the adventure as AstroForge gears up to launch their spacecraft, named Odin, on a mission to scout for platinum on an asteroid.
The launch is scheduled for February 26 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Odin will fly alongside a lunar lander named Athena before it breaks away. Gialich expects Odin to reach the moon in five days, then spend about 300 days in space before getting close to its asteroid target.
Remarkably, this spacecraft was built in just ten months. That’s an impressively short time frame for aerospace engineering.
“If you’re not scared when we launch, that means we went too f**king slow,” Gialich said. He believes operating on the edge is key to achieving great things.
AstroForge is a prime example of a trend in the space industry. Young startups are taking on challenges once solely tackled by governments but at a lower cost. However, no one has successfully mined an asteroid yet, and Gialich is keenly aware of the risks.
Odin, named after the Norse god, will be one of the first privately developed spacecraft heading beyond the moon.
The spacecraft aims to reach asteroid 2022 OB5, which will pas about 403,000 miles from Earth next year. Equipped with an optical camera, Odin will take pictures and send the data back to mission control.
AstroForge hopes 2022 OB5 is an M-type asteroid, which could be rich in platinum. If Odin’s images confirm this, the company plans a future mission to extract and return the platinum to Earth, where its value is high in industries like electronics and medicine.
It’s a bold plan, and Gialich knows it.
Others like Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries have failed in similar pursuits in the last few years.
Until now, only government missions have brought back small asteroid samples, often at enormous costs. To succeed, AstroForge will have to achieve what others have not, but at a much lower price.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission cost over $770 million and returned only 122 grams from the asteroid Bennu, while AstroForge estimates its reconnaissance mission will be under $7 million.
Gialich acknowledges the difficulty. “I work every day to make it a little bit easier,” he said.
He remains optimistic about his mission, even if it doesn’t lead to immediate success.
For Gialich, it’s about paving the way for future endeavors in space. He hopes that the drive to explore and innovate will lead to lower costs and new possibilities in space travel.
“To me, it is about pushing humans forward,” he stated.
Many dream of mining asteroids for precious metals. This could offer resources that are scarce and ecologically damaging to source on Earth.
With the upcoming launch on February 26, AstroForge may achieve more than any previous startup with similar ambitions. Unlike others, AstroForge will be the first private team to send a spacecraft close to an asteroid.
Paul Stimers, a space policy expert, highlights the potential benefits of asteroid mining.
“We’re moving rocks from space with no ecological concerns,” Stimers noted.
However, questions remain: Is asteroid mining cost-effective? What if multiple companies eye the same asteroid? Is it legal?
The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 doesn’t directly address many of these questions, merely stating that space is for “all mankind.”
For the U.S., the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 clarified that private companies can own materials mined from asteroids.
Only Japan, Luxembourg, and the UAE have similar laws.
AstroForge faced scrutiny for not revealing its target asteroid. Scientists worried that the spacecraft might be mistaken for a threat.
After pushback, AstroForge confirmed its goal was asteroid 2022 OB5.
Gialich mentioned the flexibility AstroForge has in adjusting course if needed. “If we find a valuable asteroid, am I going to share that?” he asked. “Probably not.”
Astronomers understand that while companies can keep their targets private, it complicates tracking and research efforts.
Dara Norman from the American Astronomical Society explained the challenges posed by unidentified spacecraft. “It starts costing us money to track and analyze,” she said.
Inspiring and expensive
Gialich insists he supports scientific efforts. He admires groundbreaking projects like NASA’s James Webb telescope and Voyager missions, but he’s frustrated with their costs.
“You don’t need to spend a billion and a half dollars to explore the universe,” he argued. “We can do it for much less.”
That’s the goal.
It remains uncertain whether AstroForge’s $7 million mission will successfully reach 2022 OB5.
It’s also unclear if Odin can determine the asteroid’s platinum content based on its photos.
Even if it does, a follow-up mission to extract the resources and return them to Earth is another complex challenge.
However, Gialich remains optimistic and refuses to dwell on failure.
“You have to make decisions and live with the consequences,” he concluded.
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