The $60 billion resource hiding in space, and the start trying to mine it (feat. Matt Gialich, Astroforge) | E2268

March 27, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Astroforge CEO Matt Gialich described his company's push to mine platinum group metals (PGMs) from near-Earth asteroids, targeting metals like platinum, iridium, rhodium, and palladium used in screens, cancer therapies, and vehicle emissions controls. These asteroids, up to 200 meters wide and 10 million miles away, are 70% iron-nickel and magnetic, allowing spacecraft to "land" via magnets rather than dramatic crashes. Astroforge prioritizes volume over scale: fleets of small, cheap spacecraft (under $10.4 million per mission including launch) to prospect, laser-vaporize material, magnetically sort non-magnetic PGMs, and return up to 1,000 kg worth ~$105 million at current prices.

Their prior Odin mission in early 2024, the first fully commercial deep-space attempt (FCC-licensed, translunar injection via Falcon 9 rideshare), failed when solar panels didn't deploy, leaving it power-negative despite communication and navigation proofs. Gialich stressed transparency via public post-mortems and investor letters detailing fixes for Deep Space 2, launching November 2025 on another Falcon 9 to the Moon then asteroid. Execution hinges on engineering-led decisions: Gialich as CEO dives into technical details, turns down data rates to 400 bits/second at asteroids for cost savings (no live video), and manages binary risks like SpaceX's early Falcon 1 failures. Investors (Initialized Cap

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Intro and Sponsor Mentions** - Hosts introduce episode and shout out Plaud pin for note-taking
2 (03:10) **Astroforge Overview** - Matt Gialich introduces asteroid mining for platinum group metals (PGMs)
3 (04:05) **Asteroid Landing Tech** - Explains magnetic docking on metal asteroids ~200m diameter, 10M miles away
4 (06:11) **Economic Model and Returns** - Targets $105M value per mission at <$10.4M cost including launch
5 (07:01) **NASA Precedent and Near-Earth Asteroids** - OSIRIS-REx mission proved asteroid sampling; 600K+ NEAs cataloged
6 (11:11) **CEO Operating Principles** - Matt emphasizes engineering focus, risk reduction like Elon
7 (12:25) **Mission Transparency** - No live asteroid stream due to low data rate (400 bps); live control room instead

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Wispr Flow - https://wisprflow.ai/twist

Circle - http://circle.so/twist

Deel - http://deel.com/twist

Today’s show:

AstroForge is building low-cost, replicable spacecraft to mine platinum group metals from near-Earth asteroids — a $60 billion annual market for materials that are running out on Earth. Founder and CEO Matt Gialich joins the show to talk about the company's ambitious mission, what went wrong on their first two flights, and why Mission 3 could still change everything.

PLUS Sam Dare from Templar stops by to talk about training AI models on a decentralized blockchain, and why it’s so much cheaper and more efficient than the conventional “data center full of GPUs” method. AND a demo of OpenOats from creator Yazin Alirhayim of his open source Granola alternative.

Astroforge: https://www.astroforge.com/

Templar: https://www.tplr.ai/

Epoch AI decentralized training post: https://epoch.ai/gradient-updates/how-far-can-decentralized-training-over-the-internet-scale

OpenOats on Github: https://github.com/yazinsai/OpenOats

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:59 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

3:05 We aplaud Plaud!

3:18 Astroforge is mining… asteroids?!

6:11 How creating an abundance of Platinum will impact Humanity!

9:56 Wispr Flow: Stop typing. Dictate with Wispr Flow and send clean, final-draft writing in seconds. Visit https://wisprflow.ai/twist to get started for free today.

21:16 Circle: The easiest way to build a home for your community, events, and courses — all under your own brand. TWiST listeners get $1,000 off the Circle Plus Plan by going to https://circle.so/twist.

22:01 How Astroforge uses capitalism to unlock abundance

24:35 J-Cal subscribed to… A socialist magazine?

26:19 Sam Dare of Templar joins the show!

27:47 What is TAO doing that's uniquely different from Bitcoin

30:15 What is the incentive mechanism that Templar uses?

30:44 Deel - Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, get visas handled fast, and get back to building. Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more.

37:49 How much does it cost to run templar's model?

45:16 Can decent