![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rsz_1screenshot_2026-03-17_at_35705-pm.png\")
TransAstra plans to bring an asteroid to the Earth-moon system to establish an outpost for robotic research outpost and materials processing. Credit: TransAstra<\/p>\nSAN FRANCISCO \u2014 TransAstra is performing a study, funded by investors and customers, to explore the technical feasibility of moving a 100-metric-ton asteroid to a stable near-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to bring an asteroid to the Earth-moon system and turn it into a robotic research outpost for materials processing and manufacturing in space,\u201d Joel Sercel, TransAstra founder and CEO, told SpaceNews.<\/p>\n
Working with the University of Central Florida, Purdue University, the California Institute of Technology and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Los Angeles-based TransAstra will identify suitable asteroids, analyze their trajectories and select spacecraft to perform the mission, called New Moon.<\/p>\n
TransAstra\u2019s first asteroid-retrieval mission could launch later this year and rendezvous with an asteroid in 2028 or 2029. Through hundreds of subsequent robotic missions in the 2030s, TransAstra could aggregate a million tons of asteroid material for space industrialization, Sercel said.<\/p>\n
Some near-Earth asteroids \u201ccontain metals we can use for manufacturing or water that can be converted into rocket propellant,\u201d Robert Jedicke, University of Hawaii research astronomer and TransAstra consultant, said in a statement, adding that all asteroids \u201ccontain inert material that can provide radiation shielding for spacecraft and crews.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asteroids are the most accessible material in the solar system and the ability to exploit their resources could transform space operations, Daniel Britt, University of Central Florida astronomy and planetary sciences professor and a TransAstra consultant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can learn to use resources that already exist in space \u2014 water for fuel, metals for construction, minerals for anything from radiation shielding to solar panels \u2014 it reduces the need to expensively launch everything from Earth\u2019s deep gravity well,\u201d Britt said in a statement. \u201cThat\u2019s a major step toward a sustainable space economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
TransAstra plans to bring an asteroid to the Earth-moon system to establish an outpost for robotic research outpost and materials processing. Credit: TransAstra<\/p>\n
Detecting Asteroids<\/p>\n
TransAstra estimates that roughly 260 asteroids with diameters of 20 meters or less will be discovered in the next several years thanks to the commissioning of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory<\/a> in Chile and other advances in sky-survey technology. With Space Force funding, TransAstra also has deployed Sutter telescopes<\/a> in Spain, Australia, Arizona and California for tracking satellites and asteroids. <\/p>\n For more than a decade, TransAstra has developed technologies for asteroid mining, while performing work under contracts with the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, NASA and other government agencies. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rsz_cb-demo-screenshot.png\")
<\/p>\n