AstroForge

Founded in 2022 as a part of Y Combinator's W22 cohort, AstroForge is a space mining startup focusing on deep space exploration, with the company claiming it would be the first commercial company to venture into deep space.

AstroForge successfully launched its first Brokkr-1 demonstration mission in April 2023 and had scheduled its second mission, Odin, with a payload from Intuitive Machines for late-2024. In August 2024, it announced its third mission, slated for 2025, with Intuitive Machines' IM-3 mission. This would launch the 200 kg Vestri probe to dock with a near-Earth asteroid. AstroForge also had a fourth mission in development as of September 2024.

To obtain low-cost rideshare options, AstroForge is targeting lightweight operations–with payloads of less than 200 kg–and is focusing on asteroids containing high concentrations of the six platinum-group metals, including platinum and iridium, rather than water or other minerals.

Key customers and partnerships

In February 2023, the company formed a partnership with OrbAstro to provide a satellite for its demo mission as well as supply its spacecraft for the company’s first deep space mission. AstroForge was also working closely with university advisors, NASA, and Planetary Science Institute to gauge the most promising asteroids for its missions.

In January 2023, AstroForge announced it was to be using SpaceX’s Transporter-7 to provide rideshare services for its 6U cubesat launch in April 2023. In January 2023, the company entered an agreement with space debris management company Intuitive machines to launch Brokkr-2, a deep space vehicle, to observe one of AstroForge’s target asteroids in deep space.