Starpath Robotics
Hawthorne, California startup that states it will mine water ice at the lunar South Pole with rovers and process it into propellant. NASA reports it placed second in the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge (2024) and tested its excavation rover in a NASA Marshall thermal vacuum chamber (2025); it also sells space solar panels.
An organization's level is recorded separately and is not a ranking of its linked missions' results. How the ladder works.
Resources and evidence
Each resource shows the highest step primary sources support. How the ladder works.
| Resource | Evidence | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Water ice | Claimed | says it will |
| Oxygen | Claimed | says it will |
| Regolith | Claimed | says it will |
Demonstrated
Earth-based tests only. NASA reports that its regolith excavation-and-haul rover placed second overall at the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge finale (June 2024; $838,461 in Phase 2 prizes) and was tested in NASA Marshall's V-20 thermal vacuum chamber (August 2025). Starpath states it produced 48 grams of gaseous oxygen from icy regolith simulant in November 2025.
Claimed or planned
Starpath states it will send 'Shadow Voyager' rovers into permanently shadowed regions at the lunar South Pole and build a 'Starmine' plant for water extraction, electrolysis and oxygen liquefaction to refuel landers; no lunar mission, lander or date has been published.
Facts
- Headquarters
- United States
- Type
- Company
- Founded
- 2022
- Status
- Activeas of 2026-06-30. Active: NASA's Space Tech Industry Partnerships page (last updated 2026-06-30) lists Starpath Robotics Inc. among 2025-2026 ACO awards (HELION); NASA article of 2025-09-26 describes 2025 testing.
- Funding rounds
- 1 in this dataset. Most recent: 2024-08-23, USD 6,000,000 (regulatory filing) (details)Each amount is shown as its source states it and amounts are never added together. The count is of records, not a count of distinct rounds: separate notices may concern the same financing. Rounds still under review are not listed.
- Roles
- Prospecting, Extraction, Processing / ISRU, Rover / mobility
- Also known as
- Starpath Robotics Inc.; Starpath; Starpath Space
- Website
- www.starpath.space
Dated events
Amounts are shown one at a time as each source states them. They are never added together.
- 2024-08-23
Starpath Robotics equity offering (Form D signed 2024-08-23)
Starpath Robotics's Form D notice signed 2024-08-23 reports $6,000,000 sold of a $6,000,000 equity offering, with 33 reported investors and a first sale dated 2024-07-18. This is the amount sold reported in that notice, not an offering target treated as proceeds, a current cash balance or a cumulative funding total.
Sources (6) and evidence gaps
Total Offering Amount $6,000,000 USD
Total Amount Sold $6,000,000 USD
Date of First Sale 2024-07-18
Equity
2024-08-23
enter the total number of investors who already have invested in the offering: 33
- Later sales, current cash balance and the relationship to other notices are not established here; do not add this amount to other funding figures as a cumulative total. Investor identities and any look-through beneficial owners are not established by the reported investor count.
- 2024-06
Starpath places second in NASA's Break the Ice Lunar Challenge
NASA reports Starpath won a cumulative $838,461 across three levels of Phase 2 of the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge (excavating and hauling icy regolith) and placed second overall at the June 2024 finale.
Sources (1) and evidence gaps
A space hardware startup from Hawthorne, California, Starpath won a cumulative $838,461 across three levels of Phase 2 before winning second place overall at the challenge's live demonstration and finale in June 2024.
- Prize for the finale placement itself not separated from the Phase 2 cumulative figure
Open evidence gaps
- No lunar mission, lander, or launch date announced
- Company website text exists only in a JavaScript bundle and the site carries a noindex 'pre-launch preview' tag; the 48 g oxygen result is a company claim with no independent report
- The company site states 13030 Cerise Ave. Hawthorne, CA 90250, matching NASA's Hawthorne description. The 2024 SEC Form D Burlingame address was not reopened, and a California registry record was not retrieved, so the legal registered address is not fully reconciled.
- 2026 investment suggested by SPV Form D filings (Day One Ventures SPV Starpath; Gaingels Starpath LLC) not confirmed by a Starpath filing or announcement
Sources
8 excerpts from 4 publicationsOne web address counts as one publication.
One year after winning second place in NASA's Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, members of the small business Starpath visited NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center's 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber.
The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge's live demonstration and finale in June 2024.
Starpath's mission is to develop in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) capabilities to enable human exploration and colonization of the Moon and Mars.
Starpath's Rover will navigate semi-autonomously to permanently shadowed regions of the Lunar South Pole that have been previously identified to be likely to contain water ice and other relevant volatiles.
The Starmine Plant will perform water extraction, purification, electrolysis, and liquefaction of the resultant gaseous oxygen in addition to contaminant management and disposal of desiccated regolith. In November 2025, Starpath produced 48 grams of gaseous oxygen from icy regolith simulant.
Within Last Five Years (Specify Year) 2022
HELION: High-speed Exploration using LIDAR for Intelligent Onboard Navigation
13030 Cerise Ave. Hawthorne, CA 90250
Cite this record
SpaceMiningData, “Starpath Robotics”, dataset version a00fa2c68a45, built 2026-11-11, https://spaceminingdata.com/organizations/starpath-robotics.html. Record checked 2026-10-04.