Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

Why Scientists Want to Kidnap Asteroids and Drag Them Closer to Earth

A startup wants to snag a near-Earth asteroid with a giant inflatable bag, potentially making space mining real.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

Space rocks are the new frontier in mineral mining. Whoever figures out how to do it first will make a fortune beyond all earthly compare. Entities in both the private and public sectors are racing to figure out how to ensnare or land on an asteroid. A Los Angeles-based startup thinks it’s figured out how to do it, and it’s taking a cue from old cartoons.

The company, TransAstra, which is absolutely the exact name a mining company in a sci-fi movie would have, wants to fly out to a small near-Earth asteroid, wrap it in what is essentially a giant high-tech bag, and tow it back to a stable orbit near Earth.

The plan, dubbed “New Moon,” targets asteroids roughly the size of a house, or about 100 metric tons of floating raw material. These are rocks packed with water, metals, and other resources. These resources could be used to, say, build spacecraft, fuel missions, and manufacture infrastructure in space without launching everything from Earth’s gravity well.

Scientists Want to Steal an Asteroid and Bring It Closer to Earth

TransAstra estimates there are around 250 viable asteroids within reach over the next decade, with more likely to be discovered soon. The long-term vision is to create an orbital stockpile, a cluster of captured asteroids parked near the Earth-Sun L2 point, about 1.5 million kilometers away, essentially functioning as a quarry in space.

The whole plan sounds absurdly, wildly unrealistically sci-fi, until you realize that they’ve already tested the weirdest part of it: the giant bag that they’re gonna catch space rocks with. Although it was a prototype, it was deployed in space.

TransAstra managed to get a prototype of one of their weird inflatable space bags onto the International Space Station. They even received a little financial help from NASA in the form of a $2.5 million grant to scale it up to a version large enough to envelop an entire asteroid. That money was secured after the prototype was successfully deployed and operated in the vacuum of space.

If this works, it would mark a dramatic leap for the viability of space mining. In 2023, NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex brought back a little over 120 grams of asteroid material at a cost of around $1 billion. TransAstra is aiming for tens of thousands of kilograms while spending something in the “few hundred million” range.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

Mike Lyvers/Getty Images Volcanic Lightning Is a Real Thing, and Scientists Finally Figured Out How It Happens 13 minutes ago By Luis Prada

Volcanic Lightning Is a Real Thing, and Scientists Finally Figured Out How It Happens

VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/GETTY IMAGES Why Scientists Want to Kidnap Asteroids and Drag Them Closer to Earth 19 minutes ago By Luis Prada

Why Scientists Want to Kidnap Asteroids and Drag Them Closer to Earth

Naki Kouyioumtzis/ Redferns 5 of the Coolest Rock Bands with Under 1,000 Spotify Listeners You Should Definitely Know About 2 hours ago By Lauren Boisvert

5 of the Coolest Rock Bands with Under 1,000 Spotify Listeners You Should Definitely Know About

Pantera (Photo: Annamaria DiSanto/WireImage) Original Pantera Vocalist Challenges Fans to Go Back and Listen to the Band’s ‘Amazing’ Work on Their ‘80s Glam Metal Albums 3 hours ago By Stephen Andrew Galiher and Stephen Andrew Galiher

Original Pantera Vocalist Challenges Fans to Go Back and Listen to the Band’s ‘Amazing’ Work on Their ‘80s Glam Metal Albums

By Stephen Andrew Galiher and Stephen Andrew Galiher

Red Hot Chili Peppers (Jack irons, Hillel Slovak, Flea and Anthony Kiedis) in 1986 (Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images) Netflix’s Red Hot Chili Peppers Documentary Features AI-Constructed Voiceover of Late Guitarist Hillel Slovak 3 hours ago By Stephen Andrew Galiher

Netflix’s Red Hot Chili Peppers Documentary Features AI-Constructed Voiceover of Late Guitarist Hillel Slovak

By Stephen Andrew Galiher

Chris Barnes (Credit: Garza Podcast/YouTube) Former Cannibal Corpse Vocalist Chris Barnes Says He Isn’t ‘Bitter’ About His Firing 4 hours ago By Stephen Andrew Galiher and Stephen Andrew Galiher

Former Cannibal Corpse Vocalist Chris Barnes Says He Isn’t ‘Bitter’ About His Firing

By Stephen Andrew Galiher and Stephen Andrew Galiher

Gie Knaeps/Getty Images These 3 Releases Were Credited to Bands, But Are Just Glorified Solo Albums 5 hours ago By Lauren Boisvert

These 3 Releases Were Credited to Bands, But Are Just Glorified Solo Albums

J Studios/Getty Images 6 Signs You’re Smarter Than You Think 5 hours ago By Ashley Fike

6 Signs You’re Smarter Than You Think

Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns 311 Just Announced a North American Tour for 2026 5 hours ago By Nick Stockton

311 Just Announced a North American Tour for 2026

Crispin la valiente/Getty Images The 6 Most Compatible Zodiac Sign Matches (and Why They Work) 5 hours ago By Ashley Fike

The 6 Most Compatible Zodiac Sign Matches (and Why They Work)

Add your account details

© Vice