An Israeli startup has emerged from stealth with plans to build a new kind of launch system.
Moonshot Space announced yesterday that it has secured $12M in funding to continue the development of a launch system—powered not by chemical propulsion, but electromagnetism. Moonshot plans to sell A&D primes the tech as a hypersonic test platform, while at the same time building to eventually offer orbital launch services for companies looking to resupply raw materials to orbit.
The tech: The launch system uses a series of electromagnetic coils to power a hardened capsule to hypersonic velocities.
Moonshot is building a scaled-down version of this accelerator that’s capable of reaching Mach 6, to capitalize on the demand for hypersonic test capabilities. At the same time, the company is developing a full-scale version capable of reaching orbit, and is in negotiations with launch sites around the world to house a permanent system.
Moonshot’s idea is not to compete with chemical-based rocket launchers by attempting to send high-tech satellites to orbit. Instead, Moonshot wants to use the technology to send raw materials that can withstand the shock of high-acceleration launch, and lower the input costs of the budding in-space servicing, refueling, and manufacturing industries.
Moonshot has signed preliminary agreements with D-Orbit and Orbit Fab to use the system for their in-space refueling and servicing needs.
Meet the team: Moonshot was founded in 2024 by big names in the Israeli aerospace, defense, and technology spaces.
- CEO Hilla Haddad Chmelnik, an Iron Dome veteran, was the director-general of Israel’s Ministry of Science;
- CTO Fred Simon is the cofounder of JFrog, an Israeli software company that IPO’d on the Nasdaq in 2020;
- COO Shahar Bahiri is the cofounder of Valerann, a tech company using AI to improve road traffic conditions;
- Chief engineer Gil Eilam was the former chief systems engineer for David’s Sling, a critical part of Israel’s missile defense system;
- Business development head Ran Livne was the director-general of The Ramon Foundation, which is a non-profit supporting Israel’s space industry;
- Alon Ushpiz was the director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
