Cost models that show when making water or oxygen on the Moon beats shipping it
TL;DR Haulcase builds the cost models behind lunar resource plans. It tells an agency, lander company or investor what a kilogram of water or oxygen made on the Moon would cost against flying it up, and which assumptions swing the answer. Agencies and space firms pay per study and for model licences.
NASA's case for using local resources on the Moon is simple - resupply flights are expensive, and making oxygen, water or methane on site could cut mass, cost and risk[1]. What nobody can say yet is when it actually pays.
The inputs are wide open. One 2025 lab study found microwave extraction needed 1.9 to 10.0 Wh per gram of water depending on how wet the soil was[2], which is a fivefold spread. India's first close look at polar water, the ISRO–JAXA LUPEX mission, won't launch before 2028[3]. So Indian teams pitching resource ideas to IN-SPACe, investors or ISRO have no shared, open way to test their numbers.
Haulcase is a modelling shop with a product at its core. The product is a model of a lunar resource chain, covering excavation, extraction, purification, storage, power and delivery to a lander or depot. You set inputs such as ore grade, energy per gram, plant mass and launch price, and the model gives back cost per kilogram delivered, the break-even against Earth supply and which inputs move the result most. Every default links to its published source.
Around the model sits a services arm that writes trade studies for agencies, mission teams and investors doing due diligence.
The seed pitched autonomous in-space resource logistics and I reframed it. There are no proven reserves, no landers buying lunar water and no Indian customer for an autonomous plant this decade, and LUPEX data arrives after 2028[3]. Building the decision tool now, while the inputs are fuzzy, is the part a small Indian team can actually sell. It also puts you first in line to update when mission data lands.
Agency programme offices and research centres pay for independent studies. Lander and rover companies pay to show their customers a believable use case. Investors pay for due diligence on resource startups, and universities would license a teaching version. Nobody publishes a price list for this work in India, so you'll be setting prices study by study.
The Indian Space Policy 2023 lets private firms recover and sell space resources and asks ISRO to study resource use on other worlds[4]. The government approved Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX in March 2025[5]. Abroad, one US lunar-resource startup reports over US$500 million in binding purchase orders for lunar helium-3[6]. That's a company claim, but it shows money moving toward lunar resources.
There is no public figure for spending on lunar resource cost studies, in India or anywhere else. Count your buyers instead - a handful of agency offices, commercial lander firms[7] and the investors behind them.
The adjacent number is IN-SPACe's target of a US$44 billion Indian space economy by 2033, up from about US$8.4 billion[8]. That is context, not your market.
That US startup offers resource harvesting and test services to government and commercial clients[6], but it wants to be a producer and isn't a neutral modeller. A Japanese lander company sells lunar transport and talks up a cislunar economy[7]. Big aerospace consultancies run trade studies for agencies too.
I couldn't find an Indian firm offering an open, sourced cost model for lunar resources. That's the gap.
| Difficulty | Moderate (33/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹40–75 L |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
Building the model isn't hard. Earning trust is, because agencies buy studies from people they already know and every single assumption you make will get poked at. You need published work, named reviewers and a habit of showing exactly where each number comes from.
No licence needed. Studies and software aren't space activities, so IN-SPACe authorisation doesn't apply[4].
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't trust AI-extracted numbers without checking them against the paper. A misread unit in one input can flip the whole conclusion a client pays for.
Want to work out the AI layer for Haulcase? Talk to Yash →
This is a good fit if you have a systems-engineering or space-economics background and a list of agency contacts. It is a consulting business with a software spine, not a venture-scale rocket, and I'd be upfront with yourself about that. Before you hire anyone, sell one paid study and get the model reviewed by two independent experts.
Plan for roughly ₹40–75 L, mostly engineering salaries, reviewers and the time to sell the first studies.
No. Analysis and software need no IN-SPACe authorisation. Standard company registration, GST and data protection rules apply.
Yes, and the buyers are global: agencies, lander firms and investors. Check export rules if your models use controlled technical data.
The free Haulcase validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the rules checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for agencies and space firms, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Haulcase or something close to it? The hard part is winning that first paid study from a buyer who has never heard of you, and that's the kind of thing I help founders work through. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.