Moonshot Space is developing an electromagnetic-based kinetic space launch system to replace traditional chemical propulsion. The aim is to make launches more efficient, sustainable and cost-effective. While a conventional rocket launched into space can carry a maximum of 4% of its weight as payload, the Israeli startup’s kinetic launch system aims to boost payload capacity to around 45% by getting rid of the need for heavy fuel tanks.
Moonshot’s system will reduce the cost of supplying equipment, fuels and raw materials to space stations and satellites to a tenth of that of traditional rocket launches and will enable supply chains to be established for businesses building manufacturing and mining facilities in space, says Fred Simon, the Israel startup’s co-founder and CTO.
“What we are targeting is the supply chain gap,” he says. “We want to make sending resources to space affordable.”
U.S. and Chinese companies are also entering the race to make it cheaper to send payloads to space. The space economy is forecast to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, impacting and creating value for nearly all industries, according to a 2024 report by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with McKinsey.
Moonshot was founded in 2024 by Simon, co-founder of software unicorn JFrog, Hilla Haddad Chmelnik, former director-general of Israel’s Science Ministry and member of the team that developed the Iron Dome anti-missile system, and Shahar Bahiri, co-founder of the AI-driven smart mobility company Valerann. The Caesarea -based company was in stealth mode until December.
The startup’s team includes Gil Eilam, former chief system engineer for the David’s Sling missile defense system; Ran Livne, former CEO of the Ramon Foundation and head of Israel’s second astronaut mission and Alon Ushpiz, a former Israel Foreign Ministry director
The team’s big technical challenge is how to accelerate a large mass to hypersonic velocity from the ground without spending billions of dollars, Simon says.
The startup’s accelerator launch system will consist of a long, round horizontal tube with a rail running along its length. The rocket will levitate inside the tube and be sped along the rail by a series of coils, powered by electricity, that generate an electromagnetic wave until it is launched out the end and into space at speeds of up to eight kilometers per second, the startup said.
The system is autonomous as it is not safe for humans. “Our system can go from zero to eight kilometers per second, so you really don’t want to be inside,” says Simon.
The concept of a kinetic spacecraft launch is not new but benefits from the research on technologies like fusion and intercontinental power cables, renewable energy storage systems, and souped-up computing power are combining to make a kinetic launch affordable and achievable, Simon says.
If all goes to plan Moonshot Space’s rocket will be ten times smaller, require less energy to stay in space and will still have a significantly higher payload, says Simon. “Hopefully, by the beginning of the next decade we can show the world,” he says.
The first market for its technology will be refueling. Satellites are “billion dollar assets and they are useless with no fuel,” says Simon. The first big demand is going to be sending fuel at a very affordable price to extend the life of satellites. Another big market is deorbiting – the cost-effective removal of debris.
Future markets including refueling space stations with gas and water and creating a cheap supply chain for space manufacturing and mining. The company vows to be able to bring supplies to anyone, anytime, on a schedule and at a price that makes sense.
Competitors include Longshot Space and Auriga Space, two California-based companies. Like Moonshot Space, Auriga’s launch platform plans to use electricity, and not propellants, to accelerate payloads and projectiles to hypersonic speeds. Longshot Space’s plan is to use pressurized gas to push objects in stages down a long gun. As the object goes down the gun, holes in its barrel inject more gas and increase the speed to propel payloads to hypersonic velocities. The company is backed by Silicon Valley venture capital (OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is amongst its investors) and has U.S. Air Force support. This week Longshot announced that it has been awarded a position on a team to compete for missile defense work in the U.S.
Meanwhile Chinese launch company Galactic Energy is developing an electromagnetic maglev pad designed to propel rockets before ignition, a concept it hopes to demonstrate by 2028. The system would accelerate vehicles along a superconducting track, cutting fuel use and reducing the strain typically seen during lift-off. The design takes cues from high-speed maglev trains, using magnetic fields to build momentum before the rocket engines engage. Company statements and regional reports suggest the method could double payload capacity while shifting part of the energy load away from traditional chemical propulsion.
“Our main advantages over competitors are our ability to create a reliable physical model, think outside the box, and chutzpah,” says Simon.
Moonshot Space has so far raised a total of $12 million in venture capital and a grant from the Israeli Innovation Authority.
