Long Beach Firm Designs Asteroid Capture Spacecraft

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A California aerospace company called ExLabs is designing a spacecraft that will launch in April 2028 with the goal of intercepting and capturing an asteroid as it passes near Earth. The spacecraft is expected to take about a year to reach and rendezvous with the targeted asteroid.

Why it matters

Asteroid mining is seen as a potential new frontier for industrial resource extraction, with valuable minerals and rare-earth elements that could be harvested from these space rocks. If successful, this mission could pave the way for a new era of asteroid-based industrial activity.

The details

ExLabs, a Long Beach-based aerospace firm, is developing the spacecraft that will attempt to intercept and capture an asteroid during a close flyby of Earth in 2028. The company plans to use the spacecraft to study the asteroid's composition and potentially extract valuable resources from it.

• ExLabs plans to launch the spacecraft in April 2028.
• The spacecraft is expected to take about a year to reach and rendezvous with the targeted asteroid.

What’s next

If the 2028 mission is successful, ExLabs plans to follow up with additional asteroid capture and mining missions in the coming years.