A US space mining startup says it is just over a year away from launching the first private mission to an asteroid, Forbes reported, as the race to find new sources of precious metals hots up.
California-based AstroForge plans to be the first commercial outfit to land on another body outside of the Earth-moon system, the story continued, in the hunt to mine cobalt, nickel and platinum-group metals outside our planet.
The company announced the new Vestri spacecraft mission alongside details of $40 million in new funding, bringing the total raised now to $55 million.
Vestri will launch aboard Intuitive Machines’ IM-3 mission, due to blast off in October 2025, which will be putting a small lander on the moon. Vestri, though, will go its own way once in space and continue to the target asteroid with the goal of mining and refining one to two tons of material and returning it to Earth.
- By Sean O’Meara
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