Space mining startup prepping to launch 'demo' refinery... this April
- Reference: 1674736034
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/01/26/space_mining_startup/
- Source link:
AstroForge, which came onto the scene last May with the [1]announcement of a successful $13 million seed round, says it has two launches planned for this year to deploy a demonstration orbital refinery and scout an asteroid for mineable resources.
"With launches secured and partners on board, we're charging on an accelerated path to make asteroid mining a near-term solution to preserving Earth's declining resources," the company [2]said .
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Speaking to Bloomberg, AstroForge CEO Matthew Gialich, a veteran of Virgin Galactic and Bird, [4]said the company ultimately plans to mine and refine rare Earth minerals directly on asteroids. For now, however, there's the matter of proving the technology works.
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During its April mission, AstroForge claimed its "orbital refinery" will be loaded with asteroid-like material, similar to tests the company has done in a vacuum chamber on Earth. Said material is superheated and vaporized into a gas, Gialich told us, and then bombarded with plasma in order to ionize it.
A mass spectrometer is used to determine what sorts of materials have been sampled. Then it's just a matter of extracting what's wanted, dumping the rest and turning it back into a solid form. Easy peasy, the biz claims, although boffins might beg to differ.
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AstroForge's refinery being tested in a vacuum (click to enlarge)
Gialich told The Reg the metals refined from the test machine are very pure, but he said as the technology is scaled, purity will decrease. Gialich said the decreased purity wouldn't leave the metals inferior or less usable, though.
As for why AstroForge needs to send a second mission to scout an asteroid that NASA likely already has data on, Gialich says it's a matter of practicality.
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"We're not 100 percent sure about the type or surface of the target asteroid. We're 90 percent sure we know what it is and what its surface looks like, but this could be just like Bennu and its surface could be a surprise," Gialich said.
[9]Bennu was the landing site of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2018, and when NASA arrived astronomers were [10]surprised to find a surface full of rubble, unlike the smooth, sandy surface Earth-based observations suggested.
Gialich also said the scout will serve as a model verification mission. "If this succeeds we'll be the first commercial company to launch a deep space mission," he said, adding that Elon Musk's launch of a [11]Tesla into space doesn't count.
An industry with a miner problem
AstroForge, founded and led by Gialich and SpaceX veteran Jose Acain, has a tough road ahead of it, and not only because the technology needed to mine asteroids doesn't exist outside of its lab.
[12]TSMC: You know what would be fab? Some local neon supplies
[13]China reminds world shock and ore can hurt tech supply chains
[14]NASA launches guide to Lunar etiquette now that private operators will share the Moon with governments
[15]India makes a play to source rare earths – systematic scrapping of its old cars
[16]Who owns space? Looking at the US asteroid-mining act
It also has to face the fact that some big names, like filmmaker James Cameron and his business partners Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Google, have tried and failed to exploit the riches of near-Earth space.
Cameron, Schmidt and Page's company, founded in 2012, was known as [17]Planetary Resources ; it slowly declined until [18]purchased by a blockchain company.
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Another space mining outfit known as [20]Deep Space Industries was formed in January 2013 but later switched to satellite development before being [21]purchased by Bradford Space in 2019.
Gialich admitted to Bloomberg that the road will be tough, but said he learnt from DSI and Planetary Resources' failures – a decade of additional technological development hasn't hurt, either.
"We've made a lot of progress in the last 10 to 15 years since those two companies really existed … primarily around launch. I can now buy a rideshare mission to the moon," Gialich said.
One of the ways AstroForge claims to have differentiated itself is by outsourcing most of its infrastructure to private space companies like [22]OrbAstro , which is building AstroForge's scout craft for the October launch, and SpaceX, which its partnering with on both planned launches, Gialich told Bloomberg.
That, Gialich claims, frees up time for AstroForge to focus on its zero-g refining tech and planning missions, two more of which are tentatively scheduled for the next couple of years.
Gialich described the choice of outsourcing to other space companies as a logical one – other companies already know how to build rockets and satellites. "OrbAstro has been a great partner, but they're just building the craft," Gialich said. The payload in the craft, its trajectory and operation fall to AstroForge.
If the first two launches go to plan, a third mission will be sent to the previously-scouted asteroid to attempt a touchdown. A fourth would then return to extract and refine metals to take back to earth Earth.
NASA's OSIRIS-REx is currently headed back to Earth with a sample bay full to the brim (minus the bits [23]leaking out ) with asteroid dirt. The craft is finally due back on Earth in September of this year after launching in 2016.
In other words, if asteroid mining succeeds this time, it's going to take a while. ®
Get our [24]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.space.com/asteroid-mining-startup-astroforge-2023-launch
[2] https://www.astroforge.io/updates/two-steps-closer-to-mining-in-deep-space-announcing-two-astroforge-missions-for-2023
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y9KxrD2E3j9l7rE33myN9AAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-24/asteroid-mining-startup-astroforge-plans-first-platinum-refining-space-missions?srnd=technology-vp
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y9KxrD2E3j9l7rE33myN9AAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y9KxrD2E3j9l7rE33myN9AAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/01/25/astroforge-refinery.jpg
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y9KxrD2E3j9l7rE33myN9AAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/25/bennu_asteroid_sample/
[10] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/asteroids/101955-bennu/in-depth/#:~:text=The%20mission%20team%20found%20a,particles%20of%20rock%20into%20space.
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2018/02/06/spacex_falcon_heavy_launch/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/10/tsmc_neon_gas/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/03/china_rare_earth_supply_chain/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/18/artemis_accords/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/16/india_car_scrappage_rare_earths/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2015/11/27/asteroid_mining_act/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2012/04/24/planetary_resources_hypegasm/
[18] https://www.consensys.space/
[19] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y9KxrD2E3j9l7rE33myN9AAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2013/01/22/deep_space_industries_asteroid_mining/
[21] https://spacenews.com/deep-space-industries-acquired-by-bradford-space/
[22] https://news.satnews.com/2023/01/25/astroforge-signs-a-launch-contract-with-orbital-astronautics-ltd/
[23] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-exploration-asteroid/nasa-probe-leaking-asteroid-samples-after-hearty-collection-idUSKBN279033
[24] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: How does this work?
Pay no attention to the reality behind the PowerPoint
Re: How does this work?
Probably the largest costs of such an operation would be how to change orbits to (a) reach a mineable asteroid and (b) move the mined materials to a useful place.
However the description of how the refining works gives a small clue - If the material is heated to a plasma, has the useful bits separated out and re-solidified, that leaves a bunch of waste, possibly already in a vaporised or otherwise more manageable form (eg solifified into pellets), that can then be ejected out one end to push the refinery (or possibly the whole asteroid with refinery attached) the other way.
It still leaves the question of the energy required to vaporise the rock in the first place - will solar panels cut it?
Re: How does this work?
... will solar panels cut it?
Only if you have a large enough area; the actual power generated by solar panels is not great (even with modern technology they are not very efficient in converting light into useful energy), and I suspect the power requirements for any commercially viable refinery device is probably going to be pretty high.
Maybe a nuclear reactor (not RTGs) might do the job, but launching one of those is going to raise all sorts of hackles.
Re: How does this work?
Seems a bit of a waste to convert sunlight to electricity then use that to make heat. Far simpler to have a bunch of mirrors and use the sunlight directly to heat the sample. Still pretty impractical though - hard to see how it could be profitable - if they succeed and bring back tonnes of rare earth metals it'll be hard to sell them without affecting the price which will reduce profitability
Re: How does this work?
The end-game, which is still very much in speculative sci-fi land, is presumably to be able to refine materials to sufficient purity for them to be useful, and then to use those materials to produce goods in situ for other uses in space.
For example, the major cost of putting a kilo of gold into orbit isn't the gold, it's putting it into orbit. The same goes for any useful material that might be in an asteroid, such as platinum or iridium, or even just plain old iron/nickel. If you had a use for those materials in orbit, it might make sense to get them from an asteroid. Of course, you also need fuel to get to/from that asteroid, retrieve the materials, bring them into a useful orbit, etc. But arguably, that could be done with solar-powered ion thrusters, if you're not in a hurry, as long as you can find suitable materials for reaction mass up there in the big black.
Re: How does this work?
"Maybe a nuclear reactor (not RTGs) might do the job, but launching one of those is going to raise all sorts of hackles."
In fact, NASA have [1]dusted off a nuclear propulsion plan. If that turns out to be politically acceptable, I suspect it would not be a hard sell to get nuclear-powered mining operations going in space.
The bit that seems somewhat challenging to me is prospecting, but I guess over sufficiently long time periods it won't be big deal. I'm truly amazed to be witnessing the possible birth of real space industry; not saying I'd like to be a Belter (and in all likelihood most will be robots), but I am ready to admire those who eventually go for it.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jan/24/nasa-mars-trip-nuclear-rocket
Thanks for the update!
I was wondering what happened to the 2 space exploration companies that launched around the same time. Looks like they didn't last long.
I have high hopes for the space sector once SpaceX Starship becomes operation. I really, really hope they don't go bankrupt first!
I'm not sure its worth hoping that Europe gets its act together! Arianne was the leader until SpaceX ate its lunch.
Time to get those StarCops episodes out again...
"Houston, the locust has landed"
Like all other living organisms, the human species is basically insatiable. They all go on consuming until there's not enough left to sustain it, then (if so capable) it moves on, or if not it dies out.
The human species is however apparently unique in the potential capacity to curb its consumption voluntarily based on forethought. Maybe it's time we started to exercise this capacity. If not, we'll go extinct sooner than expected, despite grasping for ever more remote (and thus more costly) resources.
Re: "Houston, the locust has landed"
> until there's not enough left
Space is very, very big.
I thought this was about 2023 BU
"Asteroid 2023 BU about to pass Earth in one of closest ever encounters"
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jan/26/asteroid-2023-bu-about-to-pass-earth-in-one-of-closest-ever-encounters
I suppose that they have no chance of mining that 'bus-sized' lump of asteroid.
By 'bus-sized' do they mean British 'Double decker', London 'bendy' bus or something else? What is the Register collective's formal definition of the size of a bus (in Blue Whales, please).
Re: I thought this was about 2023 BU
I believe the standard is [1]as described by Messrs Flanders and Swann .
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDh7jOAnUQ8
Misunderstanding, Technical Error
The success of this startup only seems unlikely because of some confusing language used. It's probably inadvertent, no worse than a typo, really.
When they say "asteroid" mining, they mean to say "investor bank accounts" mining. With that correction, the entire scheme becomes an obvious success.
Surprised the Regeditors didn't catch that, but I'm happy to have helped!
How does this work?
So, they put a mining "factory" type capability on an asteroid...that's expensive.
One assumes the power for this will come from solar panels? So, the asteroid has to be near-ish to the Sun.
And exactly where will the chosen asteroid be, in space? In a stable orbit in the asteroid belt (which is a long way from our star)? or whizzing through the solar system on some elliptical orbit bringing it close to Earth every few months/years?
I assume that ideally the asteroid will not be rotating too fast (so it can capture as much solar energy as possible and for stable communications with an Earth base).
But how exactly would the mined resources be returned to Earth? Hasn't Bruce WIllis retired now? Can Musks sports car make a return trip loaded with goodies?