Company Plans to Move 100-Ton Asteroid to Earth Orbit

Imagine building a gas station in space using materials you didn't have to launch from Earth. That's the bold vision TransAstra is making real with its New Moon mission.

The Los Angeles company is planning to capture a 100-ton asteroid and move it into a stable orbit near Earth, where robots can process its materials for space manufacturing. The first mission could launch later this year, reaching its target asteroid by 2028 or 2029.

TransAstra founder Joel Sercel says the goal is simple but revolutionary: create a robotic outpost in space that turns asteroid material into useful products. Working with universities including Purdue and Caltech, plus NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the team is identifying which asteroids would work best for the mission.

The company has already hit a major milestone. In October, TransAstra tested a one-meter version of its inflatable "Capture Bag" at the International Space Station. The bag deployed and retracted multiple times in space, proving the technology works beyond Earth.

Why asteroids? They're packed with valuable resources that are incredibly expensive to launch from Earth. Some contain metals perfect for manufacturing, while others hold water that can be converted into rocket fuel. All asteroids have materials that can shield spacecraft and crews from dangerous radiation.

The Ripple Effect

This isn't just about one asteroid. TransAstra plans hundreds of robotic missions in the 2030s that could gather a million tons of asteroid material. That's enough raw material to fundamentally change how we operate in space.

Daniel Britt, an astronomy professor at the University of Central Florida working with TransAstra, explains the transformation this enables. Using water for fuel, metals for construction, and minerals for everything from radiation shielding to solar panels means we don't have to expensively launch everything from Earth's gravity well.

The company has spent over a decade developing the necessary technology, holding 23 patents covering asteroid detection, capture, movement, and processing. They've deployed telescopes in Spain, Australia, Arizona, and California to track both satellites and asteroids. With better sky-survey technology coming online, including Chile's Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists expect to discover roughly 260 new small asteroids in the next few years.

TransAstra recently won $2.5 million from NASA, matched by private investment, to build and test a full-size 10-meter Capture Bag for future missions. The technology could also help clean up dangerous orbital debris threatening satellites.

This asteroid mission represents a major step toward making space exploration sustainable and affordable for generations to come.