Against all odds, an asteroid mining company appears to be making headway
arstechnica.com
"It's not easy to ever raise for an asteroid mining company, right?"

On Tuesday the co-founders announced that they have successfully raised $40 million in Series A funding and shared plans for their next two missions. AstroForge has now raised a total of $55 million to date.

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However, Gialich said AstroForge learned a lot from this mission and is working toward launching a second spacecraft named Odin. This will be a rideshare payload on the Intuitive Machines-2 mission, which is due to launch during the fourth quarter of this year. If successful, the Odin mission would be spectacular. About seven months after launching, Odin will attempt to fly by a near-Earth, metallic-rich asteroid while capturing images and taking data—truly visiting terra incognita. Odin would also be the first private mission to fly by a body in the Solar System beyond the Moon.

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On Tuesday, the company also announced plans for its third mission, Vestri (the company is naming its missions after Norse deities). This spacecraft will be about twice as large as Odin and is intended to return to the targeted metallic asteroid and dock with it. The docking mechanism is simple—since the asteroid is likely to be iron-rich, Vestri will use magnets to attach itself.

  • crawancon@lemm.ee
    25·
    3 months ago

    Cool!

    So, soon the space miners will need an outlet during their inevitable rivalries…

    Might I recommend a… maybe a series of gruesome matches… a tournament if you will…

    • Deceptichum@quokk.auEnglish
      14·
      3 months ago

      In 2291, in an attempt to control violence among deep space miners, the New Earth Government legalized no-holds-barred fighting.

      Liandri Mining Corporation, working with the NEG, established a series of leagues and bloody public exhibitions. The fights’ popularity grew with their brutality.

      Soon, Liandri discovered that the public matches were their most profitable enterprise. The professional league was formed; a cabal of the most violent and skilled warriors in known space, selected to fight in a Grand Tournament.

      Now it is 2341. 50 years have passed since founding of DeathMatch. Profits from the Tournament number in the hundreds of billions.

      You have been selected to fight in the professional league by the Liandri Rules Board. Your strength and brutality are legendary.

      The time has come to prove you are the best. To crush your enemies. To win the Tournament.

    • SuiXi3D@fedia.io
      5·
      3 months ago

      Personally, I’m just waiting on Deep Rock Galactic to get started. Rock and stone!