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Photo taken with Astroforge CEO Matthew Gialich (right) and CTO Jose Arcane. / Astroforge
In the Hollywood movie ‘Avatar’, humans are depicted heading to the alien planet Pandora to obtain space minerals. However, this scene from a science fiction movie is likely to become a reality in the not-too-distant future.
Matthew Gialich, CEO of Astroforge, a U.S. space company searching for ‘Treasure Island’ in space, said in a written interview with WEEKLY BIZ, “The value of the metal (iron) buried in ’16 Psyche,’ the asteroid NASA launched a probe to last October, is estimated to be 10 trillion dollars.” He added, “We will have to send a probe to know exactly how much the reserves are, but we expect to find a significant amount of valuable metals in the asteroid we are keeping an eye on.” 16 Psyche is an asteroid located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Asteroid 16 Psyche. Illustration based on observation data. / NASA homepage
If the ‘jackpot’ of asteroid rare metal mining hits, the space economy is expected to grow rapidly, surpassing the forecast of $1.79 trillion by 2035 (McKinsey). CEO Gialich, who dreamed of becoming a spacecraft development engineer as a child, started his career as an intern at NASA and then gained experience as a software developer at Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit, representative space companies in the United States. Afterwards, he joined forces with Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Jose Arcane, who has over 10 years of experience at SpaceX and NASA, and founded Astroforge in January 2021.
Graphics = Kim Ui-gyun
◇A story like a sci-fi movie?
-The movie Avatar also contains a setting where rare minerals are mined in outer space.
“The idea of asteroid mining has been a staple of science fiction movies like Avatar. Mining rare minerals may sound like a story from a movie at first glance. It means that it seems like a business that is difficult to guarantee feasibility. The reality is different. Astroforge aims to bring metals mined in space back to Earth within the next 10 years. Our goal is to become the first company to successfully mine asteroids commercially. Even if we don’t succeed (within 10 years or so), another company or team will definitely succeed in mining asteroids. Asteroid mining can be a solution to global problems such as resource shortages.”
-What kind of technology does Astroforge have?
“We have the technology to effectively extract platinum metals from asteroids. Last April, we successfully launched a mission called ‘Broker-1’. This is a test mission to mine and refine metals from a virtual asteroid sample prepared on Earth while our satellite orbits the Earth. It is a mission to verify whether mining and refining can be done properly in a zero-gravity environment, and it has been generally successful. Astroforge has also developed its own high-resolution imaging system technology that can analyze the orbit of an asteroid and transmit images so that work can be done after the probe approaches the asteroid. We plan to launch an actual asteroid probe, ‘Odin’, by the end of this year. The probe will perform a mission to confirm the presence of platinum metals (platinum, palladium, iridium, and rhodium) while orbiting the asteroid.”
Astroforge staff simulate operating a spaceship. / Astroforge
-Where is the target asteroid located?
“We can’t reveal the exact location of the asteroids, but they are not far from Earth. We are constantly monitoring the locations of the asteroids we are interested in. Our goal is to mine platinum metals from the asteroids and bring them back to Earth for sale. These metals are used in computers, cell phones, hard drives, catalytic converters (devices that convert harmful substances in automobile exhaust into harmless substances), and in the production of platinum-based anticancer drugs.”
NASA’s Exploration Plan for Asteroid 16 Psyche/NASA Homepage
◇“SpaceX changed the game”
-The leader in asteroid mining technology.
“Asteroid mining itself is not a new business idea. There were companies that aimed to mine asteroids even before Astroforge was founded. However, when evaluating the current level of technology, Astroforge is considered to be the most advanced among private companies. Among national projects, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (asteroid Bennu exploration) and Japan’s Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s Hayabusa2 (asteroid Ryugu exploration) missions have inspired us the most.”
-If there was a watershed moment in the development of the space industry.
“In 2021, I would like to point out that private space companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic demonstrated the potential of space travel and exploration. In the past, space-related technologies seemed to be the exclusive domain of government agencies, but now it has been proven that they can be a ‘business’ at the private company level. SpaceX’s role was particularly important. By utilizing SpaceX’s space rideshare service, companies can save the trouble of building and launching their own rockets. By being able to go into space aboard SpaceX rockets, launch costs can also be significantly reduced. Saving on launch costs is as important to securing business viability as finding valuable metals from asteroids and bringing them back to Earth.”
-The future of asteroid mining technology.
“Mining technology is also important for Elon Musk’s dream of colonizing Mars (who founded SpaceX). Astroforge’s primary goal is to bring metals mined from asteroids back to Earth and sell them. However, in the future, we will be able to use metals mined in space to make objects or build structures in space. I believe that mining technology can be a key technology needed for space exploration.”
Mining “Treasure Islands” in Space: Astroforge’s Quest for Asteroid Riches
Subscribe to the WEEKLY BIZ Newsletter ☞
In the Hollywood movie ‘Avatar’, humans are depicted heading to the alien planet Pandora to obtain space minerals. However, this scene from a science fiction movie is likely to become a reality in the not-too-distant future.
Matthew Gialich, CEO of Astroforge, a U.S. space company that is searching for ‘Treasure Island’ in space, said in a written interview with WEEKLY BIZ, “The value of the metal (iron) buried in ’16 Psyche,’ the asteroid NASA launched a probe to last October, is estimated to be 10 trillion dollars.” He added, “We will have to send a probe to know exactly how much the reserves are, but we expect to find a significant amount of valuable metals in the asteroid we are keeping an eye on.” 16 Psyche is an asteroid located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
If the ‘jackpot’ of asteroid rare metal mining hits, the space economy is expected to grow rapidly, surpassing the forecast of $1.79 trillion by 2035 (McKinsey). CEO Zylich, who dreamed of becoming a spacecraft development engineer as a child, started his career as an intern at NASA and then gained experience as a software developer at Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit, representative space companies in the United States. Afterwards, he joined forces with Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Jose Arcane, who has over 10 years of experience at SpaceX and NASA, and founded Astroforge in January 2021.
Graphics = Kim Ui-gyun
A Story Like a Sci-Fi Movie?
– The movie Avatar also contains a setting where rare minerals are mined in outer space.
“The idea of asteroid mining has been a staple of science fiction movies like Avatar. Mining rare minerals may sound like a story from a movie at first glance. It means that it seems like a business that is difficult to guarantee feasibility. The reality is different. Astroforge aims to bring metals mined in space back to Earth within the next 10 years. Our goal is to become the first company to successfully mine asteroids commercially. Even if we don’t succeed (within 10 years or so), another company or team will definitely succeed in mining asteroids. Asteroid mining can be a solution to global problems such as resource shortages.”
– What kind of technology does Astroforge have?
“We have the technology to effectively extract platinum metals from asteroids. Last April, we successfully launched a mission called ‘Broker-1’. This is a test mission to mine and refine metals from a virtual asteroid sample prepared on Earth while our satellite orbits the Earth. It is a mission to verify whether mining and refining can be done properly in a zero-gravity environment, and it has been generally successful. Astroforge has also developed its own high-resolution imaging system technology that can analyze the orbit of an asteroid and transmit images so that work can be done after the probe approaches the asteroid. We plan to launch an actual asteroid probe, ‘Odin’, by the end of this year. The probe will perform a mission to confirm the presence of platinum metals (platinum, palladium, iridium, and rhodium) while orbiting the asteroid.”
– Where is the target asteroid located?
“We can’t reveal the exact location of the asteroids, but they are not far from Earth. We are constantly monitoring the locations of the asteroids we are interested in. Our goal is to mine platinum metals from the asteroids and bring them back to Earth for sale. These metals are used in computers, cell phones, hard drives, catalytic converters (devices that convert harmful substances in automobile exhaust into harmless substances), and in the production of platinum-based anticancer drugs.”
“SpaceX Changed the Game”
– The leader in asteroid mining technology.
“Asteroid mining itself is not a new business idea. There were companies that aimed to mine asteroids even before Astroforge was founded. However, when evaluating the current level of technology, Astroforge is considered to be the most advanced among private companies. Among national projects, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (asteroid Bennu exploration) and Japan’s Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s Hayabusa2 (asteroid Ryugu exploration) missions have inspired us the most.”
– If there was a watershed moment in the development of the space industry.
“In 2021, I would like to point out that private space companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic demonstrated the potential of space travel and exploration. In the past, space-related technologies seemed to be the exclusive domain of government agencies, but now it has been proven that they can be a ‘business’ at the private company level. SpaceX’s role was particularly important. By utilizing SpaceX’s space rideshare service, companies can save the trouble of building and launching their own rockets. By being able to go into space aboard SpaceX rockets, launch costs can also be significantly reduced. Saving on launch costs is as important to securing business viability as finding valuable metals from asteroids and bringing them back to Earth.”
– The future of asteroid mining technology.
“Mining technology is also important for Elon Musk’s dream of colonizing Mars (who founded SpaceX). Astroforge’s primary goal is to bring metals mined from asteroids back to Earth and sell them. However, in the future, we will be able to use metals mined in space to make objects or build structures in space. I believe that mining technology can be a key technology needed for space exploration.”
Subscribe to the WEEKLY BIZ Newsletter ☞