Interesting Engineering By Chris Young 5/27/2022
The startup plans on achieving its goal by the end of the decade.An asteroid mining firm, Astroforge, just had its ambitions to mine the first asteroid by the end of the decade, boosted by a new round of funding.
Will Astroforge succeed where others have failed?Astroforge will target asteroids with high concentrations of the six platinum group metals, including platinum and iridium. It aims to send small payloads to space, weighing less than 200 kilograms, to allow it to launch aboard more affordable rideshare missions.
Though space mining is a high-risk investment that will take a long time to pay off, the market is predicted to grow to $4.2 billion by the end of the decade. Astroforge and other firms will have their eyes firmly set on the results of NASA's Psyche mission, which aims to determine the true composition of the 16 Psyche asteroid by around 2026. Those results could pave the way for more firms to join the race to become the first successful space miners.
More:
https://interestingengineering.com/asteroid-mining-startup-spacex-rideshare-mission
