A Long Beach aerospace firm is betting on a new industrial boom: capturing asteroids
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Astroforge, a Long Beach-based aerospace firm, is advancing its ambitious plan to extract valuable resources from asteroids, with a significant mission set for April 2028. The California company aims to intercept an asteroid close to Earth, signaling a bold bet on the nascent but potentially lucrative industrial boom of asteroid mining. This push into asteroid capturing is driven by advancements in miniaturized spacecraft technology and increasing private sector investment, especially from venture capital firms willing to back high-risk, high-reward deep tech initiatives. The long-term significance lies in the potential to unlock new space resources, fundamentally alter geopolitical supply chains for critical minerals like platinum group metals, and catalyze a self-sustaining space economy, reducing humanity's reliance on Earth-bound resources for off-world endeavors.