AstroForge :: Autonomous Spacecraft Platforms to Prospect, Rendezvous With & Mine Near-Earth Asteroids for High-Value Metals

AstroForge is a commercial deep-space mining company founded in 2022 and headquartered in Seal Beach, California. It is developing low-cost, autonomous spacecraft platforms to prospect, rendezvous with, and eventually mine near-Earth asteroids for high-value metals, beginning with platinum group metals (PGMs). The company’s goal is to create a sustainable alternative to terrestrial mining by bringing space resources into Earth’s supply chain with far lower environmental impact and significantly higher margins.

AstroForge builds replicable, modular spacecraft designed for repeated deep-space operations rather than one-off billion-dollar missions. Its approach relies on rapid iteration, vertical integration, and proven components to drive down costs dramatically. The company’s first deep-space mission, Odin, launched on February 26, 2025 as a 105 kg spacecraft. It performed a flyby of metallic asteroid 2022 OB5, capturing multispectral imagery to analyze surface features and composition. Built in under 10 months for roughly $3.5 million, Odin demonstrated the feasibility of fast, affordable interplanetary flights, traveling more than 300,000 km and returning valuable lessons on communications, solar power deployment, and ground operations despite some challenges.

The flagship product in development is DeepSpace-2, scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of 2026. This 200 kg modular platform represents the first commercially developed spacecraft to achieve rendezvous with an asteroid outside Earth’s gravity well. DeepSpace-2 will travel up to 20 million kilometers to a near-Earth M-type asteroid, capture high-resolution imagery, and characterize shape, structure, texture, reflectivity, and mineral content. The spacecraft features Hall-effect electric thrusters delivering up to 5 km/s of delta-v, 2 kW of solar power (capable of operating with only one array), omnidirectional S-band antennas for reliable long-range communications, and 60 kg of xenon propellant. Its avionics use an NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial module to enable autonomous navigation and operations lasting up to two years.

Beyond imaging, the DeepSpace-2 bus is engineered with payload flexibility for future missions that will carry mining hardware, spectrometers, and in-space refining equipment. The platform supports high-cadence launches and is designed to fly commercial payloads for other organizations. AstroForge also maintains a vision for on-orbit material processing to deliver refined metals directly to customers on Earth and in space.

The team includes veterans from SpaceX, NASA JPL, Rocket Lab, Virgin Orbit, and Terran Orbital. With a focus on practical autonomy, rapid development cycles, and cost-efficient design, AstroForge aims to prove that asteroid mining can become a routine commercial activity rather than science fiction. Its missions provide critical data and operational heritage that will support progressively more complex extraction and processing systems in the years ahead.