Shackleton Energy Company
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Bill Stone Dale Tietz Jim Keravala |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Bill Stone (Chairman) Dale Tietz (CEO) Jim Keravala (COO) Erika Ilves |
| Website | shackletonenergy |
Shackleton Energy Company was a private aerospace enterprise based in Texas from 2007 until the mid-2010s, concentrating on the advancement of lunar mining technologies. Although it pursued a visionary approach toward the nascent space resource sector, the company was unable to attract substantial investment or attain notable public achievements.
History
Established in 2007 in Del Valle, Texas, Shackleton Energy's mission centered on developing machinery for extracting resources from the Moon. Initially operating as a subsidiary under Piedra-Sombra Corporation, it transitioned into an independent Texas C-corporation by March 2011.
In November 2011, Shackleton revealed intentions to conduct lunar exploration and launched a $1.2 million crowdfunding initiative through RocketHub to support its early-stage development. The campaign, however, generated under $6,000—merely 0.46% of its financial goal—underscoring difficulties in securing capital for its space mining venture. The company did not advance beyond these preliminary stages and ultimately discontinued operations without releasing financial results or capturing market presence.
Proposed Project Phases
By 2011, Shackleton Energy envisioned forming an "industrial astronaut corps," drawing inspiration from explorers like Ernest Shackleton and Edmund Hillary, with aspirations to establish human presence on the Moon by March 2021. Its business model was based on utilizing abundant lunar ice deposits to create a system of propellant stations both in low Earth orbit (LEO) and on the lunar surface, supplying fuel and essential consumables to commercial and governmental clients.
The intended infrastructure involved fuel-processing facilities located on the Moon and within LEO depots. Equipment designs aimed to extract ice by melting it, purify the water, perform electrolysis to separate hydrogen and oxygen, and then liquefy these gases into rocket propellants. Additionally, the company planned to convert other volatile compounds such as ammonia or methane into fuels, fertilizers, and other marketable products, thereby diversifying revenue sources.
The economic rationale relied on the significantly lower cost of sourcing propellant from lunar resources compared to Earth-based supplies—requiring only about one fourteenth to one twentieth of the fuel needed for transport to LEO. Shackleton Energy proposed a phased development timeline extending through 2020, conditional upon securing funding by early 2013; this financing was not obtained, and no subsequent progress reports have been made public.
Outlined project stages included:
- 2012–2014: Planning of systems and corporate strategy.
- 2014: Initiation of robotic precursor missions.
- Concurrently in 2014: Establishment of prototyping and engineering facilities in LEO for testing modular hardware.
- Deployment of production-level equipment and transport vehicles in both LEO and on the Moon, followed by deployment of human crews to operate water ice extraction operations once bases were established.
See also
- Asteroid mining
- Exogeology
- Geology of the Moon
- Inspiration Mars Foundation
- Lunar resources
- Lunar water
- Moon Express
- Private spaceflight
- Propellant depot
- Space colonization