{"id":247802,"date":"2025-02-27T09:37:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T09:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/27\/odin-probe-blasts-off-on-spacex-rocket-to-survey-asteroid-for-possible-mining-mission\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T09:37:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T09:37:41","slug":"odin-probe-blasts-off-on-spacex-rocket-to-survey-asteroid-for-possible-mining-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/27\/odin-probe-blasts-off-on-spacex-rocket-to-survey-asteroid-for-possible-mining-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Odin probe blasts off on SpaceX rocket to survey asteroid for possible mining mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Odin<\/div>


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A privately-built spacecraft has embarked on an unprecedented deep space mission to scout out an asteroid’s potential for mining.<\/p>\n

The probe, called Odin, was launched on a SpaceX<\/a><\/strong> rocket alongside a robotic moon lander that will drill for water and a lunar orbiter that will map water resources with an instrument built by the University of Oxford.<\/p>\n

The asteroid mission is a high-risk venture that heralds a new dawn of commercial exploitation of our celestial neighbours.<\/p>\n

Odin is destined for asteroid 2022 OB5 that’s believed to be rich in platinum and similar metals, which are critical for electronic, medical and green technology.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Odin will take 300 days to catch up with the asteroid one million miles from Earth. Pic: SpaceX
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Matt Gialich, engineer and co-founder of startup AstroForge, told Sky News that mining the metals on Earth costs $900 an ounce (\u00a325,000 per kg).<\/p>\n

“The problem is that on Earth we have mined all of the good sources of platinum group metals,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Everything we’re looking at now is thousands of meters under the Earth. It’s actually very, very difficult to mine.<\/p>\n

“But we know this exists in space<\/a><\/strong>. We know it’s readily available. For our mission, instead of going down, we want to go up.”<\/p>\n

Odin will take 300 days to catch up with the asteroid one million miles from Earth. It will take close-up images of the surface to confirm it is metallic.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Oden\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Odin’s solar arrays will power the vehicle after deployment. Pic: Astroforge
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The company then plans to land a second spacecraft on the asteroid later this year and test for platinum and other elements.<\/p>\n

If the asteroid is as rich in the metals as hoped the first mining expeditions could follow.<\/p>\n

AstroForge has developed a low-energy refining technique that it says can produce 1000kg of high-quality metal in three months. The precious cargo would then be returned to Earth.<\/p>\n

“The cost of space has gotten so much cheaper than it’s ever been,” said Mr Gialich.<\/p>\n

“The economics are starting to make a lot of sense. We can build and launch a really low-cost spacecraft to go take a stab at it.”<\/p>\n

Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London have analysed the composition of meteorites that have fallen to Earth. Some have the weight and look of lumps of metal.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Meteorite\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n A pallasite meteorite sample found in Russia in 1967. Pic: Astroforge
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Read more from Sky News:<\/strong>
Space mission to blast off to moon’s south pole<\/a>
‘No chance’ of impact from asteroid 2024 YR4<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Sara Russell, an expert in cosmic mineralogy at the museum, told Sky News: “Metallic asteroids are rarer than stoney ones.<\/p>\n

“But they make up quite a substantial part of our collection, so we know they are out there in space.<\/p>\n

“We know they are incredibly rich in elements like platinum, cobalt and nickel. They are a fantastic resource for many metals.”<\/p>\n

Mr Gialich said the time was right for rethinking the way humanity mines the resources that drive the economy.<\/p>\n

“The way we mine today is one of the most damaging processes on Earth, right?!” he said.<\/p>\n

“We are destroying our planet to allow us to live in the way we live. Asteroid mining opens up a new gate to maintain our way of life, cost free.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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A privately-built spacecraft has embarked on an unprecedented deep space mission to scout out an asteroid’s potential for mining. The probe, called Odin, was launched on a SpaceX rocket alongside a robotic moon lander that will drill for water and a lunar orbiter that will map water resources with an instrument built by the University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/02\/768x432\/skynews-odin-space_6840530.jpg?20250226170753","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[40959,967,23941,9945,192112,322,88,23,13834],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247804,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247802\/revisions\/247804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}