Private Company Wants To Bag House-Sized Asteroid For Resources
Jalopnik • • science
Key Points:
- TransAstra announced funding for a study on the New Moon mission, aiming to capture and relocate a 100-ton asteroid by as early as 2028 to facilitate asteroid mining.
- The mission plans to capture asteroids up to 65 feet in diameter and move them closer to Earth for processing, potentially creating self-sustaining facilities using solar panels and refined rocket propellant from mined materials.
- CEO Joel Sercel envisions a long-term mining base positioned over 900,000 miles from Earth, enabling off-Earth manufacturing and reducing reliance on Earth-launched materials.
- TransAstra has already tested a small capture bag on the International Space Station and received a $2.5 million NASA contract to develop a larger 32-foot diameter bag for asteroid capture.
- The capture bag technology could also be used to clear hazardous space debris, which poses a serious risk to spacecraft, as evidenced by damage to China's Shenzhou-20 capsule last year.
