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Research Brief 05: Asteroid Mining Ventures, What Happened and What Is Next

Frontier (thefrontier.space) — Research Programme Date: 2026-10-30 Status: Published, v1.0. General information only, not financial or legal advice. Frontier is not an investment and FRNT carries no promise of returns. Scope: The first wave of asteroid-mining companies (2010s), the second wave now under way (AstroForge, Karman+), what has actually flown, and what that teaches a community-funded project.

1. Summary

  • The first wave did not reach asteroids. Planetary Resources was bought by blockchain company ConsenSys in October 2018, and Deep Space Industries was bought by Bradford Space in January 2019. Press coverage ties both to difficulty raising money and to NASA's shift in focus from asteroids to the Moon [1][2][3].
  • The second wave has flown one mission, and it failed. AstroForge's Odin launched on 26 February 2025 as a secondary payload on Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission. AstroForge acknowledged on 6 March 2025 that the mission was over. Odin cost $3.5 million [4][5].
  • Karman+ is next on paper. It announced a $20 million seed round on 19 February 2025 for a first mission, High Frontier, proposed for launch in 2027 to excavate kilogram-scale material and extract water, without returning material to Earth [4][6].
  • Scientific sample-return is expensive but real. Bennu samples cost about $1.2 billion for 121 grams, according to one reported figure [4]. Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx samples both resemble CI-type chondrites, which supports water-rich, carbonaceous targets as the first economic prize [7][8].
  • Lesson for Frontier: start with cheap, honest, published prospecting work and ride existing launches. Do not promise extraction. Our own briefs on targets, water and launch costs make the same point [9].

2. First wave: Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries

Both companies were backed by well-known investors and made large promises in 2012 to 2013 [2]. By late 2018 and early 2019 both had been sold.

Company Outcome Date Source
Planetary Resources Acquired by ConsenSys to apply blockchain technology to space applications. It had turned to Earth observation and then failed to raise a new funding round for spacecraft October 2018 [2][3]
Deep Space Industries Acquired by Bradford Space. Terms not disclosed. It had pivoted to small satellites and a water-fuelled propulsion system called Comet 1 January 2019 [1][3]

Coverage of the time attributes the retreat to funding difficulty and to NASA moving its priorities from near-Earth asteroids to the Moon [3]. One commentator concluded the question of boom or bubble had been answered "bubble" [3]. We note this is trade-press interpretation, not a formal post-mortem.

3. Second wave: what is announced

Venture Funding reported Mission Reported timing Status in sources
AstroForge $55 million raised to date, including a $40 million Series A, per The Space Review Odin: flyby of 2022 OB5, a roughly 100 m near-Earth asteroid thought to be metallic. Next craft Vestri, a secondary payload on Intuitive Machines IM-3 Odin launched 26 Feb 2025, ended 6 Mar 2025. Vestri was described as targeted for as soon as early 2026 Odin failed; possible causes were a solar-panel deployment problem or a tumble preventing antenna pointing. We did not confirm Vestri's launch [4][5]
Karman+ $20 million seed, announced 19 Feb 2025 High Frontier: excavate kilogram-scale material from asteroids that may hold hydrated minerals and extract water; no return to Earth. Long-term idea: water to refuel satellites Launch proposed for 2027 (one trade report says February 2027) In development. Cost said to be below current estimates of $17 million [4][6][10]
Starpath (lunar, not asteroid) $12 million announced A lunar propellant refinery CEO said ready to launch by mid-2026 Few details given [4]

Note on sources: The Space Review reported Vestri's timing as of its writing. A later reference record puts the IM-3 launch in late 2026 or early 2027 [5]. Treat all dates as plans, not facts.

4. What Odin's loss teaches

  • Secondary payloads are cheap but fragile. Odin was built in under 10 months for $3.5 million [5]. That cost is low next to agency missions, but it left no margin for the failures that early deep-space craft often hit.
  • Dependence on someone else's schedule. Riding on a lunar lander means the asteroid mission inherits that lander's launch date.
  • Congressional scepticism is real. The Space Review quotes Rep. Maxine Dexter concluding that asteroid mining is not necessary to meet U.S. critical-mineral needs [4].

5. Economic reality check

The Space Review questions cost-effectiveness by noting that obtaining 121 grams from Bennu cost $1.2 billion [4]. That is a science mission, not a mining benchmark, but it shows why every serious plan targets water for in-space use rather than metals for sale on Earth. Karman+'s stated model, extracting water in space to refuel satellites, follows that logic [4][6]. This matches Research Brief 02 on water extraction [9].

6. What the samples say about targets

Ryugu samples (returned December 2020) are most similar to CI-type chondrites, with phyllosilicates, carbonates, sulfides, magnetite and phosphates. Bennu samples (returned September 2023) show a similar mineral set, with higher carbon and nitrogen abundances and slightly different hydrogen and nitrogen isotopes [7][8]. A 2025 comparison concluded the two bodies likely share formation and early evolution in the outer protoplanetary disk [8]. For prospectors, that is evidence that hydrated carbonaceous asteroids are common and compositionally consistent, not that any given one is cheap to reach.

7. Implications for Frontier

  1. Publish prospecting work before hardware. A sourced study of a real target is useful, affordable and cannot fail in orbit. See Research Briefs 01 and 03 [9].
  2. Prefer hosted payloads on existing missions only after a ground-based campaign, and budget for a failure.
  3. No promises. Frontier does not claim it will mine, and FRNT is not an investment. Nothing here is a forecast of returns.
  4. Watch the 2027 test. If Karman+ High Frontier flies, its result will be the first real evidence on whether in-situ asteroid excavation works at small scale.

8. Limits of this brief

  • Several primary sources (Aviation Week, Space.com) were paywalled or truncated; we relied on The Space Review and trade summaries for funding and dates.
  • We did not verify whether Vestri has launched, nor any 2026 funding rounds.
  • Funding figures are as reported by the cited outlets and may be out of date.

References

  1. Space.com, "Deep Space Industries Acquired by Bradford Space": https://www.space.com/42906-deep-space-industries-acquired-by-bradford-space.html
  2. GeekWire, "Bradford buys Deep Space Industries, shifting focus from asteroid mining to green propulsion": https://www.geekwire.com/2019/bradford-buys-deep-space-industries-shifting-focus-asteroid-mining-green-propulsion/
  3. The Space Review, "Asteroid mining: boom or bubble?" (2019): https://thespacereview.com/article/3633/1
  4. The Space Review, "The new wave of asteroid mining ventures": https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4955/1
  5. Wikipedia, "Odin (satellite)": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin_(satellite)
  6. Aviation Week, "Karman+ Raises $20M For Asteroid Mining Demo In 2027": https://aviationweek.com/space/commercial-space/karman-raises-20m-asteroid-mining-demo-2027
  7. Meteorite Times, "Initial Sample Return Analysis from Asteroid Ryugu": https://www.meteorite-times.com/initial-sample-return-analysis-from-asteroid-ryugu/
  8. Nature Communications (2025), Ryugu and Bennu sample comparison: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12586576
  9. Frontier Research Briefs 01 to 04: https://thefrontier.space/research/
  10. Pulse 2.0, "Karman+: $20 Million (Seed) Secured For Mining Asteroids": https://pulse2.com/karman-20-million-seed-secured-for-mining-asteroids/