Today’s Pathfinder episode features AstroForge cofounder and CEO Matt Gialich. The CA-based startup is developing technology to mine asteroids for platinum group metals. The company plans to use an uncrewed spacecraft to extract and refine the metals directly on the asteroid before returning to Earth with a sellable metal.

Why platinum? The platinum group metals have unique physical and chemical properties that make them critical to everything from catalytic converters to electronics. According to Gialich, the US has a dwindling supply of platinum group ore reserves, and Russia and China control a significant supply of global stocks. But there’s hope in the heavens: a single one-kilometer-diameter M-type (primarily composed of metallic iron and nickel) asteroid could contain more platinum than has been mined in the history of humanity, Gialich said.

So far…AstroForge launched a refinery demo this spring and plans to launch a prospecting mission in October where they will physically go to an asteroid to map and monitor the surface. Future missions will include excavation and finally mining.

A sneak peek…Mo and Matt discuss:

• The history of landing on asteroids
• The basics of asteroid mining
• The economics of mining off-planet
• Legal and regulatory considerations

And much more… 

This episode is brought to you by SpiderOak, a US-based software company that builds space cybersecurity products and solutions for civilian, military, and commercial space operations. Learn more at https://spideroak.com/ 

• Chapters • 

00:00 - Intro and SpiderOak ad

02:07 - The early days of AstroForge

02:51 - Why asteroid mining today?

06:58 - Cofounder backgrounds

08:14 - Asteroid mining 101

11:48 - Platinum group metals

13:10 - Historical asteroid missions

17:23 - Refining materials on an asteroid

20:51 - Upcoming mission

22:33 - How unique is AstroForge's technology?

24:48 - Mission risks

27:32 - SpiderOak ad break

28:19 - Economics of asteroid mining

33:59 - AstroForge's first mission

34:31 - Outlook for the next few missions

34:55 - Scaling plans after a successful first mission

37:22 - Capital intensity of the venture

39:42 - Team construction

41:12 - Competition

42:13 - Legal & regulatory considerations of mining

46:30 - 10-year vision

49:28 - Future technologies for easier asteroid mining

51:27 - Favorite space companies

• Show notes • 

AstroForge's website — https://www.astroforge.io/

AstroForge's socials — https://twitter.com/astroforge

Matt's socials — https://twitter.com/MattGialich

Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam 

Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace 

Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes 

• About us • 

Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 15,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world. Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers. 

Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing three media properties across multiple platforms: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern (https://newsletter.payloadspace.com/) 2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com) 3) Polaris, our weekly policy publication, hits inboxes Tuesday (https://polaris.payloadspace.com/) 4) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday (https://parallax.payloadspace.com/)