The first private mission to explore asteroids may have been lost in deep space.
The California startup, AstroForge, launched a spacecraft named Odin on February 26, but lost communication with it shortly after takeoff.
The attempt of the first private mission to an asteroid did not achieve the expected success, but the company behind the project still considers it a learning opportunity. The California startup AstroForge launched its spacecraft, named Odin, on February 26; however, shortly after its launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, communication with it was lost. In a detailed report on the mission, the company mentioned that the likelihood of reestablishing contact with Odin is minimal, as the accuracy of its position was becoming a problem.
Technical issues occurred at the primary ground station in Australia, but AstroForge indicated that there might have been other failures in Odin that made contact difficult. Despite the unsuccessful launch, AstroForge maintains an optimistic outlook on the project, viewing it as a valuable experience that will contribute to its goal of designing and operating a vehicle for asteroid mining.
The company is focused on asteroid 2022 OB5, with the ambition of landing on its surface and extracting resources that could be highly valuable. Odin was developed over a period of 10 months, at a cost of 3.5 million dollars, a figure much lower compared to the time and resources typically required for federal space projects. AstroForge's CEO, Matt Gialich, shared several reflections in the report, expressing the company's philosophy in colloquial terms: "At the end of the day, you have to show up and take the risk, right? You have to try."