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A Long Beach aerospace firm is betting on a new industrial boom: Capturing asteroids
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A Long Beach aerospace firm is betting on a new industrial boom: Capturing asteroids

  • By JOHN DONEGAN/Long Beach Post Long Beach Post

A California company is designing a spacecraft that's set to launch in April 2028 with a mission to intercept an asteroid as it passes close to Earth. The spacecraft being built by Long Beach-based ExLabs will take a year to reach the asteroid Apophis, aiming for contact on April 13, 2029. Once there, it will study the asteroid's composition and origin. The mission is funded by grants and contracts from agencies like NASA and the U.S. Space Force. ExLabs hopes this will pave the way for capturing and mining asteroids, potentially revolutionizing resource acquisition and reducing the need for Earth-based mining.

Look Up
Arts & Entertainment

Look Up

  • By Michelle Morales Torres

We’ll have to return to observing Virgo in the west night sky and completely switch gears to an early morning observation.

Look Up
Arts & Entertainment

Look Up

  • By Michelle Morales Torres

Let’s continue observing the night sky in the west at around 9:45 p.m. As usual, things have shifted to the north quite a bit. When you look i…

Please, look up
Columnists

Please, look up

  • By Rudy Espinoza Murray

Spoiler alert! After reading all the buzz about the recent Netflix movie hit, “Don’t Look Up,” I convinced friends to watch it. With an all-st…