Once again, what a time to be alive.
From SpaceNews, June 1:
Two startups recently raised a combined $25 million in seed rounds to advance plans for lunar and asteroid missions, showing continued interest in space startups despite broader market uncertainty.
Lunar Outpost announced May 24 it raised a $12 million seed round from several investors. Explorer 1 Fund led the round with participation from Promus Ventures, Space Capital, Type 1 Ventures and Cathexis Ventures.
Golden, Colorado-based Lunar Outpost will use the funding to further development of a line of robotic lunar rovers. The company is working on its first rover, the Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), that will go on Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 lunar lander launching in 2023. A second rover will launch on another Intuitive Machines lander in 2024, both part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
The funding “allows us to build the next class of robotic systems on the moon,” said Justin Cyrus, chief executive of Lunar Outpost, in an interview. While the MAPP rovers weigh 10 to 20 kilograms each, the company is envisioning a larger rover weighing 100 to 200 kilograms capable of operating for years on the lunar surface.
“We already have Earth-specific prototypes of that class,” he said. “What this allows us to do is space-rate those technologies and line up a mission or two.”....
....MUCH MORE
