One thread kept resurfacing at the MoonTech panel last Wednesday: the lunar economy is being designed around data that doesn't exist yet. Orbital imagery and terrain geometry are the easy part. What's missing is ground truth from the surface itself, the geotechnical measurements you can only collect by putting a robot on the regolith and having it dig, drill, and sample. NASA's VIPER program made the point plainly: more surface data is needed, and the only way to get it right now is to send robots to measure it. That's the data FRANK's rovers are built to produce. Thanks to Matt Rappaport and BGA for the panel.
Tonight at Berkeley Gateway Accelerator, we packed the house for MoonTech: The New Space Economy. 400 people registered. The room is full. And the conversation is inspiring! Our panelists bring the full stack of the lunar economy into one room: Terry Fong (NASA Ames Chief Roboticist, Deputy Rover Lead on VIPER) on what autonomous systems actually need to do on the lunar surface. Alex Greenberg (Co-Founder, Loft Orbital) on why orbit-as-infrastructure is already here, and what that model means for the Moon. Patrick Beatty (Managing Director, Beyond Earth Ventures) on where the venture capital is going, and where the real gaps are. Emerson Garnett (Principal, Balerion Space Ventures) on defense, critical materials, and the companies building the industrial base beneath it all. Moderated brilliantly by Izen Thornton, Founder of FRANK Autonomous. We also heard a sharp lightning talk from Raphael Attié, PhD of HelioArc and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on space weather hazards to lunar surface assets. A reminder that the Moon's environment is not forgiving, and preparation is part of the business model. The thesis driving all of it: launch costs have collapsed, LEO is crowded, and the Moon is the next surface where private companies will operate at scale. NASA's CLPS program is pulling commercial providers onto the lunar surface whether the ecosystem is ready or not. The question isn't if. It's who, how fast, and where the gaps are. Grateful to everyone who is here. This is one of BGA's best panels yet! More to come. #DeepTech #SpaceTech #LunarEconomy #NewSpace #BerkeleyGatewayAccelerator