Investors keep an eye on startups working on the technology frontiers are throwing their webs even further afield, literally, figuratively, and sometimes literally. One of the latest examples is called a startup Karman+ With its ambition to be able to build autonomous spacecraft that can travel to asteroids and mine them for materials, it now costs $20 million in seed rounds used to reach the next stage of hardware and software development. I have procured.
Karman+’s initial target is very off. It constructs vessels that can be moved to asteroids that could be millions of miles away, mining them, extracting water from its material (called Regoliths), and then using that water to tag the universe. and aims to return to Earth’s orbit to refuel propulsion, aging satellites extend their lives.
It has since seen opportunities to contribute to further work to extract rare metals and other materials from asteroids, and to develop a wider space manufacturing ecosystem to offset or complement work on Earth.
Sounds like a science fiction (Astroid mining was the central theme of the 2013 Star Cluster Award-winning book called “2312.”
However, with advances in autonomous technology, space exploration, and Kalman+’s own work, the team is closer to achieving goals than you think, by building a spacecraft with shelved components. I think there is.
Karman+ believes it can run its mission for under $10 million. This explores previous asteroids compared to the billion dollars spent on missions. And the potential market for refueling could be worth a single digit billion dollars a year.
The team is currently aiming for its first launch in 2027.
Based in Denver, Colorado, Kalman+ has Netherlands roots by co-founder and CEO Teun Van Dries. Through that Euro connection, Karman+ has found an aspiring investor to encourage investors to drive their journey.
Based in London-based Antwerp, Hummingbird leads this kind of round, featuring deep tech-centric HCVC (founded by Paris), Kevin Mahaffey (Lookout), unnamed Angels and Van Den Dries I’m doing it.
Karman+ was named after Calman LineThe concept of the end of the Earth’s atmosphere and the beginning of “space.” It is also a proper comparative measure of how Vanden dried and approached the idea of starting a company with co-founder Dean Krull.
The two collaborated in Vanden Dryce’s previous Enterprises. I’ve got it For $290 million in 2022. After the acquisition, Vandendries said it began reevaluating its career priorities.
He describes himself as a “science fiction nerd” who studied aerospace engineering at university but has never worked in this field. Instead, he had been building SaaS companies for the past 20 years.
“Two years ago I was at the inflection point,” he recalled. “I could do SaaS Optimization Play for another five years. The business would probably be much bigger and more valuable. Or, I would spend my time and energy on something that would have a bigger impact. I’ve done it.”
Now teaming up with data scientist Crull in training, Karman+’s mission architect, Van Dedis’s attention has been transformed into space.
“I wanted something I was investing in,” he said of the space market. It ruled out fusion. The startup working on Fusion Technology has raised over $5 billion in funding. Deal Room data.
Mining asteroids are the new frontier, but they also represent potential cost-effectiveness, he said. Usually, when an organization wants to do something in space, it needs to launch all the components from Earth, which is very expensive.
“The beauty of the asteroids is that they are on the right plane,” he said of their orbit. “It’s certainly the easiest, cheapest, and fastest place to get resources compared to the moon, and it’s actually even compared to firing everything from the Earth. So you There is a lock on whether or not it can be provided [material] At an attractive price. You can start building your flywheel. This allows you to do all sorts of things you can’t do at all right now. ”
That’s not the only thing I’m trying out. Astroforge is another asteroid mining startup. But this is all easier than you can say. There are several variables that need to be lined up to achieve the first phase of Karman+’s roadmap.
The startup spacecraft is not yet complete, but it’s definitely testing it. Karman+ Founders believes it can cut its costs to around $10 million, but so far it has only been investigated a few times by the spacecraft. This is more than $1 billion for a single NASA mission, and at a great cost, by teams from NASA and once Japanese teams.
Also, the asteroid orbiting the sun is itself moving the target, and you Oppose the odds – They are not near the earth. This NASA page We track the closest approach to these rocks. These rocks are as large as buildings in size and are distanced from the Earth, hundreds of thousands and millions of miles.
Next is the problem with the satellite itself. The premise of Karman+ extraction is that it can be used for refueling, but in reality, not all of them use hydrogen and oxygen (soft and batteries too). Refueling itself is not a completely solved problem, it seems there is. Other approaches Playing.
And Karman+ has a bit more mundane hurdles. You will need to raise more money before you get closer to the launch.
It’s not something Karman+ or its investors are currently considering, but rather takes its ambitions one step at a time.
“I took part in this conversation with a very skepticism. One thing I found was that the founder also approached this very skeptical,” said Sten Tamkivi, a multi-partner. I said that. Skepticism serves as a control and Tamkibi believes it helps the team stay realistic as it progresses. It gave him the confidence to put money on this (literally) distant idea, he said.
“I think you can see more Wow In the world of software,” he added. “People think that everything is built, you just plow and you’ll understand what the problem is later. Aliens, they actually have detailed plans. Reviews. , there are so many things you can dig into and get third party opinions.”
