Roid Rage

Jack sits down with Wes and Orli from the Structures team to break down composite materials and solar array deployment. We jump into carbon fiber facesheets, aluminum honeycomb cores, why Kapton is everywhere, and how plasma from electric propulsion can arc to imperfections in conductive layers.

Jack sits down with James, Flight Dynamics Engineer, and Loic, Principal Flight Science Engineer, to demystify orbital determination; or as Jack learns after claiming GPS expertise, to discover that "everything you just said was wrong." Between hot air balloon analogies, admissions of 1,000+ hours in Kerbal Space Program, and revelations about useless accelerometers, our team breaks down how AstroForge actually figures out where its spacecraft are in deep space and why that's harder than it sounds.

Jack sits down with Ashton and Holly fresh off AstroForge's vibration testing campaigns. Plus: space law (just plant a flag, right?), how to avoid Astra Rocket 3's QA disasters, and investment advice involving Ashton's Venmo.

Tim and Chap from the Mining team join Jack to answer listener questions about AstroForge’s plans to mine and return platinum-group metals from asteroids. They break down why metals like platinum, rhodium, and silver are spiking, what a viable return mass looks like (hint: ~1,000kg of PGMs), and how lasers (not drills) make asteroid mining viable. Along the way, they dig into engineering constraints, why we’re not bringing asteroids to Earth, and the future of mining as a swarm of small spacecraft - not one big platform.

AstroForge closes out 2025 with a retrospective on Odin, lessons learned, and what it means to design and build interplanetary spacecraft on tight timelines and tighter budgets. Jack, Matt, and Robin reflect on the high-stakes Odin launch, how those failures are shaping DeepSpace-2, and what’s next as the company pushes toward landing and eventually mining an asteroid. Also: viewer questions, Russian prison trivia, and a not-so-subtle dig at Elf on the Shelf.

In this episode, Jack, Matt, and Chap break down the supply chain reality of platinum group metals (PGMs); why mining asteroids isn’t just cool, but increasingly necessary. They talk about why it’s hard to mine PGMs on Earth, why South Africa’s supply is risky, and how AstroForge’s approach enables cost-efficient access to these critical metals. Also: we get closer to defining “vaporizing aliens” as a brand value.

In Episode 42, we officially introduce Jack Beyer, AstroForge’s new Head of Marketing and the new host of Roid Rage. Jack sits down with Matt to talk about why he left his dream job in space media to join the company, and what AstroForge is really building. The conversation ranges from Jared Isaacman’s potential NASA appointment, to Chinese space launch risk tolerance, to the real work behind DeepSpace-2’s upcoming launch and landing.

Ground Software Engineer Bobby joins us to walk through how AstroForge’s ground software stack actually works. From commanding spacecraft via custom-built UIs to stitching together downlinked files over painfully slow RF, we cover the real-world challenges of building a reliable, flexible system that can interface with global ground stations and support operations in deep space. Bobby also reflects on key lessons from the Odin mission and how they’re shaping DeepSpace‑2’s ground infrastructure.

This week, we sit down with Payload Scientist Andy to explore how spacecraft instruments determine what an asteroid is really made of. From early reconnaissance canisters to modern spectrometers, we discuss payload heritage, sensing techniques, and how DeepSpace-2 will characterize a metallic target using modern, lightweight hardware.

This episode dives into how AstroForge designs electronics to survive deep space conditions: from solar flares and cosmic radiation to electrostatic discharge and internal arcing. Chris, our Head of Avionics, walks through shielding strategies, component selection, failure modes, and what differentiates spacecraft design from terrestrial electronics.