When the e-scooter company Matt Gialich used to work for had to pause production owing to a shortage of platinum, a key component for the microprocessor that translates commands from the controls to the motor, he went down a rabbit hole researching metals.Gialich, whose childhood love of space led him into engineering and a job at the satellite launch company Virgin Orbit before its bankruptcy, began wondering how to extract the metal in asteroids. Scientists believe these chunks of celestial debris, which are by-products from the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, are rich in metals that are in short supply on Earth.In 2022, Gialich and Jose Acain, who has almost a decade of experience at SpaceX and NASA, founded AstroForge. Now the California-based startup is attempting to make asteroid mining a reality.The company isn’t alone. The clean energy transition is expected to cause demand for mineral resources to soar, and interest in extracting them from previously untapped sources, like the ocean floor and space, is growing. Companies across the world have raised tens of millions of dollars to test asteroid-mining technologies.Some say the idea is a prohibitively expensive, far-fetched fantasy. But 38-year-old Gialich thinks it could be put into practice soon. “Going out and securing resources from space is this Holy Grail,” he says. “I think we’re finally at this inflection point where we can take it on.”A moonshot idea?Gialich has no problem admitting that his company’s plans are ambitious. “We’re going to have a lot of failures,” he says.AstroForge is, in short, attempting to send into space a tiny refinery that can extract minerals out of an asteroid, then bring the valuable metal …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnWhen the e-scooter company Matt Gialich used to work for had to pause production owing to a shortage of platinum, a key component for the microprocessor that translates commands from the controls to the motor, he went down a rabbit hole researching metals.Gialich, whose childhood love of space led him into engineering and a job at the satellite launch company Virgin Orbit before its bankruptcy, began wondering how to extract the metal in asteroids. Scientists believe these chunks of celestial debris, which are by-products from the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, are rich in metals that are in short supply on Earth.In 2022, Gialich and Jose Acain, who has almost a decade of experience at SpaceX and NASA, founded AstroForge. Now the California-based startup is attempting to make asteroid mining a reality.The company isn’t alone. The clean energy transition is expected to cause demand for mineral resources to soar, and interest in extracting them from previously untapped sources, like the ocean floor and space, is growing. Companies across the world have raised tens of millions of dollars to test asteroid-mining technologies.Some say the idea is a prohibitively expensive, far-fetched fantasy. But 38-year-old Gialich thinks it could be put into practice soon. “Going out and securing resources from space is this Holy Grail,” he says. “I think we’re finally at this inflection point where we can take it on.”A moonshot idea?Gialich has no problem admitting that his company’s plans are ambitious. “We’re going to have a lot of failures,” he says.AstroForge is, in short, attempting to send into space a tiny refinery that can extract minerals out of an asteroid, then bring the valuable metal …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
