The OpenLuna Foundation (OLF) is a San Francisco nonprofit venture that has a plan to create a settlement on the Moon for a cost of around five billion dollars. For the past five years, the OLF has kept a low profile but now they are being more public about their plan.
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson provided the initial funding for the nonprofit foundation. He said in a tweet, “At $5B, it’s not only achievable within current NASA budgets, it offers the tantalizing possibility that a single passionate individual could fund the entire program as their legacy!”
Bloomberg News recently published a report about the OLF. OLF currently has about five million dollars to pursue its goals. It intends to raise additional funds for hardware and policy initiatives.
It may sound a little over-optimistic to think that a nonprofit could lead efforts for a lunar settlement. It has taken major national governments to fund existing space programs. While billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have launched major for-profit space ventures, neither of them is involved with the OLF. However, Jurvetson rescued Musk’s SpaceX when it almost went bankrupt in 2008 and he continues to provide major support for SpaceX. Will Marshall and Robbie Schingler are cofounders of the Planet satellite venture. They are also a part of the OLF campaign as is Kate Schingler, Robbie’s wife. Chris Hadfield is a retired Canadian astronaut who has served missions on the International Space Station. Pete Worden is the former director of NASA’s Ames Research Center and the current chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. Both of them are part of the OLF team.
The OLF was born from a weekend retreat that was held by Steve Jurvetson in 2014. Since then, the OLF has been discussing the potential for small scale unmanned missions that could pave the way for a manned lunar base. Parallel to efforts of the OLF, the White House and -NASA have been drawing up plans for a multibillion dollar project to put astronauts on the Moon by 2024. From the coverage in Bloomberg News, it would appear that the OLF does not think that government space projects and private space ventures need be mutually exclusive.
Chelsa Robinson is the chief of operations and staff for the OLF. She has been quoted as saying that settlement,” “Our highest ambition is catalyzing and enabling a peaceful and cooperative lunar settlement. At this time when there are so many commercial and government actors advancing their efforts on the moon, we are excited to demonstrate a civic approach to participation.”
The plan of the OLF is similar to the European Space agency’s “Moon Village” concept. Both call for various groups involved in lunar projects to coordinate efforts to build settlements on the Moon.
Jeff Bezo has also talked about building a city at the Moon’s south pole with robotic construction equipment. He has obviously been keeping up with the OLF plans. He used the term “Moon Base Alpha” in 2017. This phrase was used by the OLF back in 2014. Musk said, “We should have a lunar base by now,” Musk said at the time. “What the hell is going on?”
It will certainly require more than the five million dollars that the OLF has on hand to make significant progress in setting up a permanent base on the Moon. However, considering the powerful players aligned with the OLF, it may indeed play a role.