Space Business Podcast #94 Matt Gialich, AstroForge: Asteroid Mining

Asteroid mining – do I really need to say anything else to get you excited and curious about listening to this episode? My guest is Matt Gialich, the co-founder and CEO of AstroForge, an LA-based startup. Over a decade on from when the last asteroid mining companies started, AstroForge successfully raised a sizable seed round last year. Asteroid mining is back - hear all about it in this episode, enjoy!

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Timestamps

0:00 Intro

2:17 Elevator pitch

4:44 Do we really have to mine in space?

7:02 Background and Origin Story

11:51 Previous asteroid mining companies

13:51 Hitching a ride to the Moon

15:14 Lowering mission costs

16:18 Spacecraft specs

17:38 Technology limitations

19:45 Mission objectives and timeline

21:18 Extraction tech

21:56 Approaching an asteroid

23:23 Power budget

25:40 Scaling up

26:49 Potential vs. current (on Earth) PGM cost

30:13 Business model

31:44 Regulations

33:24 Geopolitics

34:24 Funding

35:57 Vision

36:41 Biggest risks and challenges 

37:40 Current focus

39:00 Mining other things besides PGM

40:00 Sci-Fi