Asteroid mining might sound like something out of science fiction, but experts say it could be the path to out-of-this-world wealth.
According to Matt Gialich, founder of space mining company Astroforge, companies will soon ‘make a s***load of money’ mining space rocks.
As his company prepares to launch its second mission, Mr Gialach told Gizmodo that companies will be able to tap into an effectively ‘unlimited’ supply of resources.
Estimates suggest some asteroids, such as the 124-mile-wide 16 Psyche, could contain more than $10,000 quadrillion (£8,072 quadrillion) in precious metals.
If the resources from just that one asteroid could be mined, it would generate enough money to make everyone on Earth a billionaire.
While the technology to do so is still a long way off, the potential profits have proven tempting enough for Astroforge to raise $40 million (£31m) in funding.
The company is keeping its target asteroid a closely guarded secret, but has revealed that it will be specifically hunting for rocks rich in platinum.
Mr Gialich says: ‘I want to dominate the world when it comes to ideal progression, and that’s how we think about it. At the same time, in the short term, we’re going to make a s***load of money.’
Space experts say that mining asteroids could be the path to making ‘s***loads of money’ as a single asteroid like 16 Psyche (artist’s impression) could contain $10,000 quadrillion of metals
According to Matt Gialich, founder of space mining company Astroforge, companies will soon ‘make a s***load of money’ mining space rocks
Astroforge was founded by Mr Gialich and Jose Acain in January 2022 with the goal of becoming the first company to mine platinum from an asteroid.
In 2023 the company launched its first satellite to demonstrate how metals could be refined in orbit using simulated asteroid material.
While the launch suffered an array of technical issues including communication errors that prevented the metal refining demonstration from taking place, Mr Gialich was not daunted.
In 2025, the company will launch the Odin mission to surveil a potentially metal-rich asteroid in deep space with the intention of one day mining the minerals found there.
Odin will launch as a rideshare payload on Intuitive Machines’ IM-3 lunar lander before slingshotting around the moon and out into space.
Mr Gialich says: ‘The point of mission two is to get to the asteroid and take a picture of it to show that we have found the correct asteroid that we want to go after.’
However, Mr Gialich says that he will never reveal the name or location of the asteroid his company is aiming for.
‘We keep some criteria under wraps, we spent a lot of capital making sure we’re going after the right asteroid,’ Mr Gialich says.
US startup Spaceforge plans to send its Odin spacecraft (pictured) to a deepspace asteroid in 2025. Odin will take photos of the satellite to confirm it is the right one to mine
16 Psyche (pictured) is a giant metal asteroid made up of almost 85 per cent metal including iron and nickel which could be mined for its vast resources. NASA has launched the Psyche mission to reach the asteroid in six years
‘Why would I give any competitors information on what we’re going after?’
The only detail the company will share is that the asteroid in question is likely to be rich in platinum group metals.
These metals are extremely rare on the Earth’s surface but a single asteroid could potentially contain trillions of dollars worth of the valuable minerals.
However, some asteroids identified could contain even larger hauls of mineral wealth.
For example, NASA believes that the asteroid 16 Psyche contains vast amounts of iron and nickel.
Dr Linda Elkins-Tanton, a space scientist at MIT, estimates that the iron in 16 Psyche alone could be worth $10,000 quadrillion (£8,072 quadrillion).
In October last year, NASA launched the 1.2 billion (£988 million) Psyche spacecraft on a six-year, 2.2 billion-mile (3.6 billion-kilometre) trip to a space rock.
NASA has said it has no intention to try to mine the asteroid but there are now a growing number of companies fighting to be the first to do so.
Astroforge founder Matt Gialich says that Odin (pictured) will pave the way for a follow-up mission to land on the asteroid. However, he will not reveal the name of its target to avoid giving his competitors an edge
As spaceflight has grown cheaper and rockets have become more powerful, deep space is now opening up as a possible field for private companies.
‘I had a whole bunch of stupid ideas about what you could do if you got to deep space. The one that made the most sense was to go become a mining company,’ Mr Gialich says.
Astroforge’s biggest step towards this goal came last month when it became the first company to receive a licence to operate in deep space.
Astroforge was granted an experimental licence from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate a spaceship beyond two million kilometres (1.24 million miles) from Earth.
This will give the company the legal clearance to stay in communication with Odin as it travels out to meet its asteroid target.
Mr Gialich says: ‘It’s going to be the first time in human history that a private company launches into deep space to perform a mission.
‘I think that’s a really f****** cool thing to go after and do it.’
Many have challenged the legal and ethical basis of a company taking ownership of an object in space.
Astroforge was awarded the first commercial licence to operate in deep space. This could pave the way for more companies searching for asteroids to mind (stock image)
Legal experts have pointed out that the ownership of objects in space enters a legal grey area, further complicated by the issue the main space treaties were not written with private companies in mind.
Additionally, some have pointed out that the vast amounts of resources in a single asteroid could crash the prices for some commodities, leading to widespread economic chaos.
However, Mr Gialich remains unconcerned and insists that space mining is both ‘hugely lucrative’ and more environmentally friendly than mining on Earth.
‘In 2015, we passed the Space Act, and the Space Act says any commercial company in the United States can mine an asteroid for profit,’ he says.
‘If we are successful, there will be a lot of people that will try to regulate us out of existence.
‘I think my job is to prove that it’s f****** possible, and as soon as we prove that it’s possible, we’ll probably hire a lot of lawyers or something.’
