AstroForge is a company on a mission to expand humanity’s capabilities and utilize untapped space resources. Pulse 2.0 interviewed AstroForge co-founders Matt Gialich and Jose Acain to learn more about the company.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): Could you tell me more about your background?
AstroForge (Matt): I started off attending Cal State Poly Pomona where I earned my Master’s degree in electrical engineering. After graduating, I was an analyst for Toyon Research Corporation where I worked on novel navigation algorithms, and from there I went on to join the initial technical team at Virgin Orbit. While at Virgin Orbit, I led the flight software and GNC teams and oversaw all aspects of the building and hiring of Avionics. Following Virgin, I moved to Bird as the Director of Vehicle Software, where I met and worked with my co-founder, Jose Acain. We met as I was discussing working for the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena. This was the start of our thinking about the company that would become AstroForge.
AstroForge (Jose): I went to Santa Clara University and got my Bachelor’s in Mathematics and a Master’s degree in Mechatronics and Robotics. While I was earning my Master’s I worked at NASA Ames working as a mission operator and modular spacecraft architecture. After graduating, I was at SpaceX for four years as the Deputy Chief Engineer for the first SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle and Lead Avionics Integration Engineer and Mission Operator for the first four Dragon spacecraft vehicles. After SpaceX, I was hired by Bird where I met Matt and worked on vehicle and staff software.
Formation Of AstroForge
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): How did the idea for the company come together?
AstroForge (Matt): While working at Bird, both Jose and I had a passion for the space industry. We’d both had experience working in the industry and were actually both approached by NASA to join one of their projects. Though this was an enticing offer, we knew the reality of working on government-funded missions – they would move much slower. While working at Bird, we realized how finite and valuable PGMs are for technological advancement. We realized that we haven’t explored the possibilities of what space has to offer humankind, especially when it comes to the possibility of being able to alleviate how we exploit our planet. The idea of AstroForge came from acknowledging that Earth’s resources are declining at a rapid rate. By leveraging materials and components that are readily available today, and integrating the tech into a small and nimble asteroid-mining vehicle, we’ve been able to launch a new era of mining. We will be able to account for these dwindling resources and bring speed and ability to scale to an industry that, to date, has over-spent and over-complicated the mission.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far?
AstroForge (Matt): There have been so many impactful moments, but I’d say my favorite memory was our Mission 1 launch. After years of building, testing, and innovating we were able to get our vehicle to space successfully. It was such a rewarding moment that also brought so much credibility to the viability and legitimacy of asteroid mining. This marked a monumental moment for our team – our first mission of many.
Core Products
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What are the company’s core products and features?
AstroForge (Jose): We’re developing an in-space refinery to source platinum group metals from asteroids in space. This approach keeps fuel costs low and allows for cost-effective missions. Our mission is to supply the world with critical resources that are being depleted from Earth. While these resources are critical for fueling technological innovation, currently their extraction is destroying our planet. We think asteroid mining is critical for our planet’s future.
Challenges Faced
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What challenges have you and the team faced in building the company?
AstroForge (Jose): Our biggest challenge is getting people to understand that asteroid mining is not science fiction, but rather a feasible technological solution to an existential problem facing humanity. There is no question that Earth is running out of resources and current practices are incredibly destructive to our planet – AstroForge has found a solution that promises a resource-rich and sustainable future. We already have the technology needed to make this happen, it’s only a matter of putting everything together and lowering the cost. We need to invest in the deep technology needed to move our planet to the future.
Another challenge came following our lost connection with our Mission 1 vehicle, Brokkr-1. As we moved forward with Mission 2, our team decided to pivot and design our own vehicle in-house. We’ve been moving on an accelerated timeline and are still on track for our next launch.
Evolution Of AstroForge’s Technology
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): How has the company’s technology evolved since launching?
AstroForge (Jose): We see demonstration missions like practice leading up to a big game. In our case, our first mission Brokkr-1 was the practice and the big game is our upcoming deep space mission. Throughout the Brokkr-1 mission, we identified our weak spots both technically and operationally and have taken significant steps in mitigating those for our upcoming mission 2. We work under the philosophy to test fast and test often. We’ve taken the learnings from our first mission, and have significantly moved to in-house integration. While we still partner with vendors, we are gaining more control. There are risks associated with this approach but there is also tremendous value in getting real flight experience and heritage for the team and the vehicle.
Significant Milestones
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones?
AstroForge (Matt): 2023 was a huge year for our company, packed with tons of monumental moments for us. Of course, our biggest milestone was the successful launch of our Brokkr-1 mission in April of last year aboard Transporter 7, a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket, which launched us into space to test our refinery. We officially made communication with the vehicle in May which confirmed the vehicle was in a healthy state. We simultaneously have been gearing up for our second mission, Odin, which will launch aboard the Intuitive Machines launch 2 later this year. In October, we had a successful hot fire test of the propulsion system which was the final step in the integration process before the final pieces are installed to the vehicle, allowing the rest of the spacecraft to be built around the system. In August, we announced our Series A of $40M, which will be used to develop the vehicle for our third mission. We’re eagerly awaiting the launch of Mission 2, which will be our next big milestone.
Differentiation From The Competition
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What differentiates AstroForge from its competition?
AstroForge (Jose): At AstroForge, we’re extremely focused on extracting PGMs from near-Earth asteroids that are used to enable key technologies like AI, electric vehicles, and even medicine. A lot has changed since the first wave of asteroid mining startups. Now, with the boom in the space economy, we can buy high-energy launches for orders of magnitude lower in cost which allows us to work quickly and efficiently. Earlier asteroid mining companies produced critical work for us and we have advisors from those companies helping us on our mission. There are plenty of companies focused on space resource extraction but we’re the only private asteroid mining company targeting these metals.
Changes In Asteroid Mining
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): How has asteroid mining changed/evolved since the first space mining startups?
AstroForge (Matt): To be clear, we stand on the shoulders of giants. The asteroid mining companies before us, such as DSI and Planetary Resources, boasted some of the best engineers and scientists in history. They paved the way, both technologically and in terms of regulation, for companies like AstroForge to exist.
What we have now is a new landscape that allows us to achieve our milestones at a fraction of the previous cost. Firstly, launching into deep space costs a fraction of what it did a decade ago. SpaceX has also catalyzed a “gold rush” into space, enabling us to procure components and services from multiple companies. Additionally, our understanding and knowledge of the universe, particularly asteroids, have expanded exponentially, surpassing any previous point in human history.
Furthermore, we benefit from NASA missions such as Psyche. These missions provide us with invaluable data, resources, and access to a talent pool, enabling us to progress at a speed faster than ever before.
Future Company Goals
Pulse 2.0 (Amit): What are some of the company’s future company goals?
AstroForge (Matt): We just announced our Series A of $40M, this new funding will be used to propel our missions forward, specifically our next feat, Mission 3. Mission 3 vehicle Vestri will launch aboard Intuitive Machines’ IM-3 and dock on our target asteroid. Vestri will bring forth critical information on the asteroid’s elemental composition and verify the quality of the valuable metals located within. If successful, this mission will be the first commercial mission to land on another body outside of the Earth-moon system.
Our second mission is slated for Q4 of this year, which will perform a flyby of the asteroid target, and take high-resolution images of the surface, making them the first private company to operate in deep space. Each mission brings us closer to making asteroid mining a reality. Our next goal is to complete a full asteroid mining refinery and return mission. We see a future where the entire mining industry is redefined by asteroid mining to create a more sustainable practice.
