Argo Space is developing a reusable orbital transfer vehicle called the Argonaut that can be refueled with water harvested from the Moon. The Argonaut is designed to provide high delta‑V using a water plasma thruster to access MEO, GEO and cislunar space and enable repeatable logistics missions. The company also developed a method to extract water from lunar regolith and validated extraction on simulated regolith at concentrations as low as 1 part per thousand. Near‑term plans include refueling Argonauts with water launched from Earth and retrieved by low‑Earth‑orbit depots while lunar export capabilities mature. Argo raised $7.9M in the recent round led by Crosslink Capital and previously closed a $2M pre‑seed last April; the new funding will primarily support Argonaut development and a sub‑scale demo slated for Q4 next year. The startup was founded by three brothers who formerly worked at SpaceX, and CEO Robert Carlisle says the integrated, refuelable logistics vision differentiates the company from peers. Argo Space Corporation is developing the Argonaut, a reusable, refuelable spacecraft designed to perform energy-intensive transfers to GEO, cislunar space and beyond using a water plasma thruster. The company plans to harvest and store lunar water to refuel vehicles in space, enabling a transportation network untethered from Earth-based propellant. In the near term Argo intends to sell in-space transportation services using water launched from Earth, including satellite inspections and orbital debris removal. Founders Robert, Ryan and Kirby Carlisle are SpaceX veterans; Ryan led launch engineering work including in-space refueling efforts, and Kirby worked on post-launch refurbishment. Argo is Hermosa Beach–based and has closed early funding to continue development on its technology. The company aims to demonstrate its propulsion technology and capture mechanism in a mission planned for late 2024 and to begin lunar regolith processing to produce water in the late 2020s.

Total raised

$10M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Oct 2024