MoonDAO
How a community of space enthusiasts raised $8.3 million to send a DAO member to space on a Blue Origin rocket
Summary
MoonDAO is a worldwide collective united by the mission of decentralizing access to space research and exploration. With privatized space exploration on the rise, MoonDAO is uniting space enthusiasts from around the globe to help make it more accessible while continuing to push research forward. In 2021, they launched a campaign to buy two tickets on a Blue Origin rocket and raised over $8 million on Juicebox. A year later, they sent Coby Cotton from viral YouTube channel Dude Perfect to space as their first astronaut.
Project configuration
Following the launch of their token $MOONEY, the next goal on MoonDAO's roadmap was to buy two tickets to space on a Blue Origin rocket. They set the project's Payouts to Infinite in order to raise as much as possible during their campaign and be able to distribute all of the funds. Using a reserved rate of 50%, the MoonDAO multi-sig received half of all newly minted tokens to build up a treasury of both ETH and $MOONEY that could later be used for bounties and compensation.
Success
MoonDAO has built an enthusiastic community of over 10,000 members, successfully sent their first astronaut to space, and is currently coordinating the spaceflight for their second astronaut. Their ambitious long-term roadmap goals include building a settlement on the Moon by 2030. In collaboration with StudioDAO, a decentralized movie studio running on Juicebox, MoonDAO has donated $100,000 to help fund the production of Ticket To Space, the first DAO documentary. The film will cover the story of Yan, a MoonDAO member from China, who will be sent to space on an upcoming Blue Origin flight after minting a free NFT.
Conclusion
Bringing together members from around the world with the help of blockchain technology and decentralized governance, MoonDAO has demonstrated that sometimes setting ambitious and even outlandish goals can pay off when they resonate with your audience. Their unique mission goes beyond memes, though, and taps into a deeper human curiosity about what might exist beyond planet Earth. To learn more about the story of MoonDAO, listen to co-founders Pablo and Kori on episode 7 of the Juicebox podcast: https://podcast.juicebox.money.