ChapmanSnowden

SpaceX told the public markets that asteroid mining is part of the space economy. Good. We agree. They revolutionized the transportation layer. We're revolutionizing extraction, processing, and material return. The next industrial revolution won't be limited to Earth.

🚧 Spacecraft build in progress @AstroForge 🚧

DeepSpace-2 preflight testing continues! Each of our thrusters has its own gimbal in order to manage angular momentum, generate required torques, and hold stable through days-long burns. Next up, we're conducting a gimbal vibration test to ensure they can survive launch loads.

Full test success! Our team verified nominal operation of the thruster with our avionics and flight hardware at all planned power levels. We also successfully fired the thruster while gimbaling. Thanks to the @AerospaceCorp EP lab for hosting us for this test campaign.

“More data, more better.” Our team is back at it with additional hot fire testing of our Hall-effect thrusters to continue to buy down risk ahead of launch later this year.

We fired a really cool rocket engine - and broke some records while we were at it. 🔥This Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine produced more than 4,000 pounds of thrust, and included a 300-second continuous burn, which is believed to have set the record for longest duration hot firing of an RDRE engine to date. Watch it fire: youtu.be/DjnC8KvakKk

Been waiting 52 years to see humans fly to the Moon. What an epic day! 🌖

America’s next leap is underway.. Godspeed Artemis II 🇺🇸

Unrivaled levels of situation monitoring rn @AstroForge #ArtemisII

Not everyday you get to blast rocks with lasers.

Worried about how much power AI consumes? Currently, 3-4% of all the electricity humanity produces gets used… wait for it… smashing rocks into smaller rocks. Even by 2030, when data centers are projected to double, crushing rocks, aka comminution, will still be in the same ballpark or larger.

There are plenty of resources within the Earth’s crust, just not an infinite amount of them that we can reach economically. It’s not a problem of supply, it’s an engineering problem. To solve the critical mineral crunch, we need a swath of solutions. Our goal at AstroForge is to show that asteroid mining makes clear sense as one of them.

He's right, and it doesn't have to be "some lifetime from now." The opportunity is there, we're just waiting on our ride up.

Roid Rage Ep. 49: We built a cutting-edge laser testing facility and... it's beige. Our Head of Mining Chap walks us through how we built out a proper facility to house and run our lasers. Tune in: apple.co/40550YW

@MattGialich @25talents1 @thejackbeyer @AstroForge @thejackbeyer normally I’d offer to run on your behalf since I’m a team player, but I’m also petty and you took my role, so….

@25talents1 @thejackbeyer @AstroForge @ChapmanSnowden 2x

Episode 42 of @AstroForge's Roid Rage podcast is up! I replace @ChapmanSnowden as the host of the show and I may or may not lose a bet to @MattGialich and have to run 10 miles. Watch here: youtu.be/8cqQfjuKoDY Listen here: apple.co/40550YW

It takes an extraordinary team to do extraordinary things.

Hans❤️ arstechnica.com/space/2025/10/…

What happens if a spacecraft doesn’t know where it’s pointed? This week on Roid Rage, we break down how DeepSpace‑2’s star trackers give us precise attitude knowledge, enabling pointing, solar power, and burns in deep space. Apple → apple.co/40550YW Spotify → spoti.fi/404eHqx YouTube → bit.ly/44g4mdy

At 20 million km away from Earth, angular error is the real constraint for our deep space comms stack. Pointing is what makes staying connected to a spacecraft especially challenging.