Startup Founded by Ex-Blue Origin Leaders Raises More Funding

Photo Credit: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty ImagesA startup founded by former Blue Origin executives, with a focus on lunar production, has raised new funding, according to legal documents. Interlune, a startup that has been in operation for less than three years but has not publicly revealed its technology, has secured $15.5 million in new funding and is looking to close an additional $2 million. A spokesperson for Interlune chose not to provide any comments on the funding. This is the first public indication that the company has secured any funding since a $1.85 million seed round in 2022. Most details about the startup were reported by GeekWire last October, when Interlune CTO Gary Lai briefly discussed the startup during a speech in Seattle. Museum of Flight: “We want to be the first company to harvest natural resources from the moon for use here on Earth,” he said. “We're creating a new way to get these things, efficiently, cost-effectively and smartly. The goal is to create a sustainable economy in space.” Lai is an aerospace engineer with 20 years of experience at Blue Origin, where he led space transportation infrastructure, including launchers and lunar landers. Interlune is headed by Rob Meyerson, an aerospace executive who served as Blue Origin's president for 15 years. Meyerson is also an angel investor, having invested in well-known startups including Axiom Space, Starfish Space, Hermeus, and Hadrian Automation. The filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission also lists attorney H. Indra Hornsby as the company's CEO. Hornsby previously served as general counsel at BlackSky and Spaceflight Industries, and was also senior VP at Rocket Lab. Information about Interlune’s technology is limited, with a small SBIR awarded last year from the National Science Foundation being one of the few details available. Under the award, the company stated its intention to “develop the first technology to use lunar instruments in situ: the ability to modify 'lunar regolith' and particle size.” “By allowing raw lunar regolith to be sorted into several streams based on particle size, the technology provides a suitable feedstock for lunar gas machines, lunar 3-dimensional printers, and other applications,” the abstract says. An increasing number of space developers are focusing on in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), or collecting and converting space resources into valuable materials. Much of this interest is driven by NASA's plan to establish a long-term manned presence on the moon through its Artemis program: The agency acknowledges that a sustained presence in space will require the ability to construct infrastructure on the ground – whether it involves building roads, creating breathable air, or manufacturing rocket propellants. However, it’s not only startups that are working on ISRU technology; last year, Blue Origin revealed that it had produced solar cells and transmission wires from materials similar to those found on the moon. In a February 2023 announcement about the technology, Blue Origin stated, “Learning to live without the use of land – on the Moon and Mars – will require extensive collaboration across the ISRU community.” This sentiment is further elaborated in Interlune's summary: “Using the Moon's resources is a major disruption that can help the people of these countries 'live on Earth,' making the development of this technology a priority for government agencies and industry.”

Author: OpenAI