Aramco of The Moon: Starpath

Lunar Ice Mining For Multiplanetary Species

Fueling Multiplanetary Species, Starting with Lunar Ice Mining

Today we have Saurav Shroff, Co-Founder of Starpath. Starpath’s mission is to become the leading large-scale commodity supplier for multiplanetary energy, specifically with rocket propellant production on the Moon & Mars.

..AKA becoming the Aramco of the galaxy (starting with the moon).

Starpath recently closed on $10.5M in Seed capital from large names such as 8VC, Fusion Fund, Day One Ventures, Hummingbird, and more, bringing their total funding to ~$12M.

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In this conversation, Saurav discusses their ambitious mission to efficiently extract lunar ice, which is then processed into liquid oxygen (LOX), a crucial component of rocket propellant. This initiative aims to produce 1,000 tons of LOX annually, significantly boosting the sustainability of lunar operations.

We also get into the technological and logistical challenges involved, including energy demands, regulatory considerations, and the scaling of operations. As well as a pretty shocking business model, ‘competitive’ landscape, and the importance of testing methodologies for ensuring the durability of equipment in harsh lunar conditions.

Maybe, even more ambitiously.. Saurav believed they can fully development this out with no more than $100M in total capital.

Why now?

Capitalizing on the right time and place, recent advancements like reduced launch costs and successful Starship missions officially transitions the idea of establishing a human presence on Mars from science fiction to reality. As the next logical step in the supply chain, Starpath is here to help propel humanity even further with multiplanetary energy.

So the real question here is, would you move to Mars?

Highlights, Key Points, Process for Multiplanetary Development, & Resources below

Highlights:

(00:00) When will we become multiplanetary?

(04:26) The Aramco of the Galaxy

(9:53) Should the Moon be a State? + Regulatory considerations for lunar mining

(11:34) Energy demand to propel rockets from the Moon to Mars

(14:37) Market opportunity, reduced launch costs, SpaceX’s Starship

(16:36) Prototyping and scaling to 50 mining machines

(17:57) Final design & functionality of systems

(20:10) How much ‘stuff’ do you need to bring to the Moon? Starpath Ratio

(23:42) Working with ‘extremely violent’ regolith

(28:01) Business model and revenue strategy

(30:45) Conviction on creating a Mars fuel company

Key Points:

1. Starpath is building three core systems: power generation (Tower), mining (Rover), and refining (Plant) to produce rocket propellant on the Moon and Mars, with initial operations targeting 300 kilowatts of power to support 1-2 Starship launches per year.