Odin is a rideshare payload that is due to launch as part of the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission, no earlier than February 26, on a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. After the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage essentially puts itself into a trans-lunar injection, Odin will separate about 45 minutes after the launch. If all goes well—and this is a huge if, Gialich readily acknowledges—Odin will fly by its target asteroid 301 days later. The goal is to image the asteroid and characterize how much metal there is.
Taking some calculated risks
Now it’s important to remember that no private company has ever operated a spacecraft mission in deep space before, the area beyond the Moon. Moreover, AstroForge doesn’t have teams of trajectory experts like NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory does for its deep space missions.
“We built this spacecraft in 10 months,” Gialich said. “This is a high risk, by the seat-of-your-pants mission.”
The primary goal, he said, is to make sure Odin turns on and communicates back to Earth. Mission success, Gialich told his team, is reaching deep space beyond the Moon to determine how well Odin’s components perform in this thermal and radiation environment. In terms of reaching the asteroid, failure is more likely than success.
During an interview this week, Gialich also said the company has selected a launch provider for some of its future missions to land on and mine asteroids—Stoke Space. AstroForge will be Stoke Space’s initial customer, and the two space startups signed an agreement for “multiple dedicated launches” on the Nova rocket. This booster, still in development, is intended to be fully reusable and have a payload capacity to low-Earth orbit of 5 metric tons. It is possible a debut launch could occur in 2026.
“We really like their team,” Gialich said. “Stoke offered us one of the better launch prices, and a dedicated launch makes things a lot easier for us. They can get us to deep space.”
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