Pic: Astroforge] Matt Gialich, engineer and co-founder of startup AstroForge, told Sky News that mining the metals on Earth costs $900 an ounce (£25,000 per kg).
Odin is destined for asteroid 2022 OB5 that's believed to be rich in platinum and similar metals, which are critical for electronic, medical and green technology.
Odin will take 300 days to catch up with the asteroid one million miles from Earth.
A privately-built spacecraft has embarked on an unprecedented deep space mission to scout out an asteroid's potential for mining.
The probe, called Odin, was launched on a SpaceX rocket alongside a robotic moon lander that will drill for water and a lunar orbiter that will map water resources with an instrument built by the University of Oxford.
