Human beings are capable enough to excel in a range of different areas, but at the same time, they cannot do anything better than growing on a consistent basis. This tendency to improve under every situation has got us to hit upon some huge milestones, with technology emerging as quite a major member of the stated group. The reason why we hold technology in such a high regard is, by and large, predicated upon its skill-set, which realized all the possibilities for us that nobody could have ever imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, if we care to look beyond the surface for a second, it will become clear how the whole runner was also very much inspired from the way we applied those skills across a real-world environment. The latter component was, in fact, what gave the creation a spectrum-wide presence and made it the ultimate centrepiece of every horizon. Now, having such an ingenious piece run the show did scale up the human experience from every conceivable direction, but even after realizing a feat so notable, this prodigious concept called technology will somehow keep on bringing the right goods. The same has grown to become a lot more evident in recent times, and assuming AstroForge’s latest move pans out just like envisioned, it will only turn that trend bigger and better moving forward.

The California-based asteroid mining startup, AstroForge is officially set to unlock the potentially limitless value of minerals across the outer world, with the company looking at testing its metal refinery tech in space. According to certain reports, the first mission is slated for a launch around April. This one will be conducted using SpaceX’s Transporter-7 rideshare launch. Provided by the space tech player, OrbAstro, the 6U CubeSat, interestingly enough, is expected to carry “asteroid-like material” for the purpose of showcasing how much value AstroForge’s refining and extraction system can deliver in a zero-gravity environment. Once the initial jitters are eliminated and the company has a decent idea regarding what to except on a more practical note, AstroForge will launch a second mission. Talk about the latter charge, it will see the company entering deep space and picking up extensive data on an asteroid that it hopes to mine at some point during the current decade.

“We have to find some way to go get the regolith off the asteroid and process it in our refinery, and we believe we’ve solved that for our target asteroid,” said Matt Gialich, CEO of AstroForge.

The move in question provides an intriguing follow-up to one recent research paper, which was jointly published by AstroForge and Colorado School of Mines. Here, the organizations basically assessed the metal content on asteroids that can be mined and sold as commodities on Earth, or if the resources allow, can even be used in-space. They made a claim saying “textures of metal-rich asteroid surfaces remain to be investigated” AstroForge, through its latest efforts, will work around the same untapped segment.

While we don’t know what asteroid the company is likely to focus on, it has, at the very least, confirmed that it will be closer to our planet rather than somewhere far off random location. Another detail worth mentioning here is how AstroForge is also collaborating with various universities, Planetary Science Institute, and NASA to gain a lowdown on the most promising asteroids.

For now, we stick to just the first two missions, but mind you, the company already has a framework in place to conduct mission no.3 and no.4