Autonomous excavation on Earth.
The space economy runs on materials that still have to be dug out of the ground. We are designing the autonomous excavation and processing systems that supply critical minerals, metals, and feedstock at a lower cost, and prove the model before we take it off-world.
A pilot-scale operation to prove the supply chain can close.
Target
Critical-mineral deposits on Earth, rare earths, lithium, nickel, and cobalt, that feed propulsion, avionics, and structural supply chains for space hardware.
Objective
Demonstrate autonomous excavation, sorting, and beneficiation at pilot scale to secure a lower-cost, resilient supply of the materials the space economy runs on.
Status
Concept stage. Seeking subsystem partners, equipment suppliers, and seed investors to advance the program through design reviews and a pilot site.
Why excavation is the next bottleneck.
Launch costs are collapsing. Reusable rockets can deliver mass to orbit for a fraction of what it cost a decade ago. But the bottleneck is moving upstream: every spacecraft, satellite, and ground system is built from metals and minerals that are expensive to extract and unevenly supplied.
Rare earths, lithium, nickel, and cobalt sit at the base of the entire hardware stack, from magnets and batteries to alloys and structures. Secure them at lower cost and the economics of everything built on top improve.
Our program focuses on autonomous excavation and beneficiation, the largest mass-flow, the highest energy demand, and the least automated step in the chain. Solve that on Earth, and the same systems become the blueprint for extracting resources off-world.
From ore to refined feedstock in four stages.
Autonomous excavation & haulage
Robotic excavators, drills, and haul trucks move overburden and ore around the clock. Removing the operator from the pit cuts cost per tonne and lets the site run continuously through night shifts and hazardous conditions.
Sensor-based sorting
Ore is scanned with X-ray and hyperspectral sensors and sorted grain by grain. Waste rock is rejected early, so only high-grade material moves downstream, slashing energy and water per unit of metal recovered.
Beneficiation & concentration
Crushing, grinding, and separation upgrade the sorted ore into a mineral concentrate. Tighter process control raises recovery rates and shrinks the tailings footprint of the operation.
Refining & feedstock output
Concentrate is refined into the metals and compounds that supply chains actually buy, the raw inputs for alloys, magnets, batteries, and structural components used across aerospace manufacturing.
Supply excavation and processing hardware.
We are looking for partners on robotic excavators, autonomous haulage, sensor-based sorting, and mineral processing. If you build or test hardware for mining and material recovery, we want to hear from you.
Supply excavation hardwareBack a lower-cost supply of critical minerals.
The path from concept to revenue runs through resource mapping, a pilot-scale site, and offtake agreements. Request the brief to see the thesis, the timeline, and where the numbers turn a profit.