AstroForge to launch a spacecraft to a metallic asteroid

AstroForge, a space mining technology company, has announced the goal of its next mission. It will be near-Earth asteroid 2022 OB5, which may be metallic.

Odin spacecraft. Source: AstroForge

AstroForge was founded in 2022. Already in 2023, the company launched the first satellite demonstrator Brokkr-1, which went into space as one of the cargoes on a Falcon 9 rocket. After entering orbit, it encountered a number of difficulties, but then the company still managed to make contact with it.

As part of its second mission, the company intends to send its vehicle, called Odin, to one of the near-Earth asteroids. This mission serves as a demonstration mission as well, designed to showcase the capabilities of low-cost spacecraft. Odin cost the company $6.5 million dollars, including the fact that its creation was not without its problems. The original version of Odin failed vibration tests, causing AstroForge to abandon the contractor and rebuild the spacecraft on its own.

It is worth noting that AstroForge previously refused to name the asteroid that Odin would visit, citing privacy concerns. The policy has displeased some in the space community, who refer to fears of confusing the spacecraft with a natural object. This was one of the factors that prompted the American Astronomical Society to issue a statement in September calling for transparency in interplanetary operations.

Finally, AstroForge named Odin’s target after all. It was a 100-meter near-Earth asteroid 2022 OB5. One of the reasons for the choice is that it is not a rocky S-type asteroid. At the same time, the company does not yet know if it is an M-type metallic asteroid, which is most favored for mining.

Another advantage of 2022 OB5 is that it will be within two million kilometers of Earth at the time of Odin’s mission, allowing it to use higher bandwidth to transmit images and other data. Because of this, AstroForge ruled out another asteroid that was more likely to be metallic but would be farther from Earth.

Odin will be launched in late February as a payload in tandem with Intuitive Machines’ lunar mission. The vehicle will take 300 days to reach its destination. Odin will have to perform a flyby of the asteroid at the end of December 2025.

Earlier we reported on an asteroid with a 1.2% probability of hitting Earth in 2032.

According to Spacenews

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