AstroForge lights up palladium space race with asteroid fly-by mission

AstroForge, a space mining startup, has announced plans to embark on its first fly-by mission towards the end of February after signing a deal with space launch company Stoke Space, a producer of 100% reusable next-generation rockets. The asteroid in question to be targeted in the Brokkr-2 (Odin) mission is 2022 OB5, a small near-Earth asteroid measuring a few dozen metres across that was discovered in 2022.

The rocket is expected to reach the asteroid around December this year, when it will be able to gather more information about the spectroscopic composition of the asteroid and the specific high-value metals that could be mined from it. One method for calculating the chemical structure of the asteroid is by measuring the gravitational tug it exerts on the craft, while photographing craters and cracks on the surface will also provide valuable information.

This is AstroForge’s second mission overall, after Brokkr-1 lifted off in April 2023. It was launched into low-Earth orbit, but encountered issues and burned up in the atmosphere, with the last contact made a little over a year later in May 2024. Since that first mission, AstroForge has made changes to the Odin spacecraft model by focusing more on in-house component production.

Odin, the size of a microwave oven, is a rideshare payload launching as part of the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission on a Falcon 9 rocket in Florida. IM-2 is a lunar mission taking place under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, and aims to investigate lunar water. Odin will separate from the main rocket around 45 minutes after the launch, beginning a 301-day journey to the asteroid. NASA’s Deep Space Network is currently under significant operational pressure, but the asteroid will come within 404,000 miles of the Earth in January 2026, allowing the spacecraft to communicate with commercially available satellite dishes.

Founded in January 2022, AstroForge is seeking to mine platinum group metals (PGMs) from asteroids and bring the critical materials back to Earth. Based in California, the startup announced its intention of becoming the world’s first viable asteroid mining company. Following a successful Series A funding round led by Nova Threshold in August 2024, AstroForge has secured a total capitalisation of $55 million. Stoke Space, meanwhile, has raised $480 million to date after a Series C round was concluded with new and existing investors in January 2025.

Brokkr-2 (Odin) is being treated as a proof of concept mission, determining the viability of mining so-called M-type asteroids such as 2022 OB5, which is likely to become more commercially viable in the future. AstroForge is hoping to lead the charge and show the potential for big breakthroughs where others have failed – so far, no private company has operated a mission beyond the Moon in deep space. According to CEO Matt Gialich, 2022 OB5 will be “lucrative, but not our most lucrative asteroid,” and was chosen for its size, likely composition, and projected distance to Earth when the fly-by is set to occur. This is the first time the company has named a target asteroid, though it is unlikely in future to name its top targets before any given launch.

Next up after the Odin mission will be Vestri, which aims to land on an asteroid as soon as next year and begin extraction. The asteroid in question could be 2022 OB5 if the spectroscopy results indicate the presence of a significant amount of key metals. The spacecraft is the size of a refrigerator, and its magnetic landing legs would be able to stick to the asteroid’s surface if there is a high enough metal content. NASA’s $1.2 billion Psyche spacecraft is currently on its way to the asteroid of the same name, with an expected arrival in 2029. Astronomers believe that the asteroid may be a metal-rich fragment of a failed planet’s core.

The platinum group metals – platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium, ruthenium and rhodium – have a major role to play in the energy transition. Mining these metals in space is of particular interest to high-tech nations such as the US, which lack certain critical metals in their own deposits. Ultimately, space mining has a number of key advantages over mining on Earth, chief among them the minimal disruption and theoretically limitless resources. Efforts such as those of AstroForge could help humanity reduce its dependency on hydrocarbons by providing the critical raw materials for electric vehicle batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, photovoltaic solar panels and much more.

Source: https://payloadspace.com/astroforge-names-target-asteroid-signs-deal-with-stoke/