Spacecraft on the First-Ever Asteroid Mining Mission Lost Contact With Earth

A California-based space company called AstroForge recently launched what it described as the first “commercial deep space mission in history.”

That’s kind of a broad descriptor. Its actual mission is to use its spacecraft, named Odin, to scout an asteroid millions of miles from Earth to see if it’s fit to establish a mining operation. It’s a space mining company like all of the space mining companies you’ve read about who exploit their workers in science fiction novels.

The company’s ambitious and optimistic goals have hit a snag only hours after liftoff. The team here on earth struggled to maintain a connection with Odin. Within 24 hours after launch, they had lost communication with it entirely. Unless the team can reestablish communication with Odin, it might be destined to become just another piece of space junk floating in the inky cold abyss of the cosmos.

Spacecraft On An Asteroid Mining Mission Lost Communication With The Earth

Not all hope is lost, though as AstroForge’s founder Matt Gialich said on Twitter/X, “I think we all know the hope is fading as we continue the mission.” Odin did make it pretty far before things started to go awry—over 186,000 miles away from Earth. Along the way, Odin managed to unfold its solar panels so it could recharge its batteries with the power of the sun.

Gialich explained that he and his team at least partially understand what went wrong, citing an issue with its antennas that rendered them inoperable for the first four hours of the mission. The team has sent several commands and attempted to retrieve data from Odin but has thus far received no responses.

Odin’s official status is unclear, though Gialich suspects that it might be tumbling slowly through space, which would make contact even more complicated. Despite the big setback, AstroForge still has plans to march on with its plans to land a spacecraft named Vestri on an asteroid.