Enlarge / The Odin spacecraft passed vibration testing. (credit: Astro Forge) When I first spoke with space entrepreneurs Jose Acain and Matt Gialich a little more than two years ago, I wondered whether I would ever talk to them again. That is not meant to be offensive, rather it is a reflection of the fact that the business they entered into—mining asteroids for platinum and other precious metals—is a perilous one.