{"id":17948,"date":"2019-09-05T20:50:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T12:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/open-lunar-foundation-comes-out-in-the-open-with-its-plan-to-build-a-moon-village\/"},"modified":"2019-09-05T20:50:33","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T12:50:33","slug":"open-lunar-foundation-comes-out-in-the-open-with-its-plan-to-build-a-moon-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/open-lunar-foundation-comes-out-in-the-open-with-its-plan-to-build-a-moon-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Lunar Foundation comes out in the open with its plan to build a moon village"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Moon
As shown in this artist\u2019s conception, the European Space Agency is already laying plans for a \u201cMoon Village\u201d on the lunar surface, complete with 3-D-printed habitats. (ESA \/ RegoLight \/ Liquifer Systems Group)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After spending five years in semi-stealth mode, a San Francisco venture called the Open Lunar Foundation is talking about its plan to create a settlement on the moon at a cost in the range of $5 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt $5B, it\u2019s 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!\u201d Silicon Valley venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson said today in a tweet.<\/p>\n

Details about the campaign came to light in a Bloomberg News report, which said Jurvetson provided the nonprofit foundation\u2019s initial funding. Open Lunar currently has a \u201cwar chest\u201d of about $5 million, with aspirations of raising more funding for hardware as well as policy initiatives, Bloomberg\u2019s Ashlee Vance reported.<\/p>\n

The idea of having a nonprofit group lead the charge for a moon settlement, as opposed to a government program, may sound a bit airy-fairy \u2014 particularly since it\u2019s not coming directly from the likes of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk or Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, founder of the Blue Origin space venture.<\/p>\n

But this is not just any run-of-the-mill nonprofit group: Jurvetson, for example, was the investor to whom Musk turned when SpaceX nearly went bankrupt in 2008, and he continues to be a big SpaceX supporter. Will Marshall and Robbie Schingler, co-founders of the Planet satellite venture, are part of the Open Lunar campaign. Jessy Kate Schingler, a software engineer and entrepreneur who also happens to be Robbie Schingler\u2019s wife, is listed as the main contact on Open Lunar\u2019s IRS forms.<\/p>\n

Open Lunar\u2019s other luminaries include Chris Hadfield, the retired Canadian astronaut known for his rendition of David Bowie\u2019s \u201cSpace Oddity\u201d on the International Space Station; and Pete Worden, the former director of NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center and the current chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation (which is backed by Israeli-Russian billionaire Yuri Milner).<\/p>\n

Jurvetson said the idea got its start in 2014 during a weekend retreat he organized.<\/p>\n