AstroForge says there's no real hope of reestablishing contact with its Odin probe, the first private spacecraft ever to fly beyond the moon.
In The Immortal Thor #21 – written by Al Ewing, with art by Jan Bazaldua – Odin loses his temper with Skurge and reveals that his true form is something much more cosmic than a simple man. This flashback shows both Odin and Skurge in Valhalla after their respective deaths,
"I think we all know the hope is fading as we continue the mission," AstroForge founder Matt Gialich said in a video update on X early Saturday (March 1). "So we're going to keep our head up. We're going to keep trying over the weekend, and we'll see how far we get."
A privately built spacecraft is tumbling aimlessly in deep space, with little hope of being able to contact its home planet. Odin is around 270,000 miles (434,522 kilometers) away from Earth, on a silent journey that’s going nowhere fast.
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“That’s the honest truth.” But fear, Gialich emphasized, is an element of the job that he believes AstroForge should embrace as the company prepares to launch its robotic spacecraft, Odin, on an asteroid flyby mission that will mark the company’s ...
"Even worse, because this is so powerful, we are trying to reach a spacecraft which at this point is 300,000 km [186,411 miles] away, it would block us from getting any actual signal from the spacecraft. Think of it like trying to hear a whisper in a room where someone is blasting music at full volume—it drowns everything else out."
It was supposed to be the start of asteroid mining. But it looks like the mission has failed. AstroForge has lost contact with Odin.
A second mission would land on the asteroid and test for platinum and other elements - the first mining expeditions could then follow.
"In many ways, Odin has become both a pioneer and a teacher — continuing its mission by informing our future endeavors, even in silence." The first-ever private asteroid mission appears to be ...