AstroForge

Spacecraft are named after figures in Norse mythology.

Brokkr-1, built by the British satellite manufacturer, OrbAstro, was AstroForge's first orbital spacecraft consisting of a 6U cubesat. Its main purpose was to demonstrate technology to extract metals from asteroid materials. The payload was expected to vaporize “asteroid-like” material and sort out metals from other constituents.^[7]

The Brokkr-1 satellite, faced immediate challenges after its launch on April 15, 2023, aboard a SpaceX Transporter-7 rocket. The company struggled to identify its satellite among the 50 other spacecraft in the mission, a problem that was compounded by a malfunction during the deployment of the solar panel array. The magnetic field generated by the satellite's refining system interfered with its orientation system, making it difficult to align the antenna and fully deploy the solar panels.^{[13][better source needed]}

AstroForge revealed that they had identified the magnetic field issue before the launch but chose to proceed with the mission despite the risk. They opted to avoid a nine-month delay and the associated launch costs, even though it meant the satellite could potentially end up in a wobble that might disrupt communication.^[14]

In searching for the lost Brokkr-1, AstroForge noted that in the following weeks they established connections with space companies that had ground assets that could "help in identifying our satellite." On May 5, 2023, the first positive signal was received, which confirmed through telemetry that the satellite was in good condition.^[15]

AstroForge's second demonstration spacecraft, initially designated Brokkr-2 and later renamed Odin, was also built by OrbAstro but uses a larger 100-kilogram satellite bus, and cost the company US$3.5 million.^[11] Odin's mission is to perform a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid and determine if the asteroid is metallic.^[7] The spacecraft was launched into a heliocentric orbit as a rideshare payload of the IM-2 lunar mission,^[16] with a number of other payloads on 27 February 2025.^[17] Its spacecraft bus was completely rebuilt in-house mostly from scratch after the spacecraft failed vibration testing.^[18] On 29 January 2025, the company announced that Odin will be targeting near-Earth object 2022 OB5 for visitation, flying by the object 301 days after launch in December 2025.^[19] The asteroid was selected in part due to its suspected metallic composition, and its proximately to Earth during the spacecraft encounter.^[20] Following the launch, Odin encountered communication issues.^[21][22] On 6 March 2025, the company officially declared Odin lost despite sporadic communication with the spacecraft from an AMSAT amateur radio operator in Germany, primarily due to ground station failures.^[11]

The third demonstration spacecraft, DeepSpace-2, will return to the same targeted metallic asteroid and land/dock with it.^[23] It plans to be launched with Intuitive Machines’ IM-3 mission, which currently planned to launch in the second half of 2026.^[24]

• Official website