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PARK CITY — Uplift Aerospace, a Utah company focused on lunar manufacturing and establishing a multiplanetary marketplace, has moved to the public market through its acquisition of NRP Stone on Tuesday.
NRP Stone is a jewelry and precious metals company that uses a proprietary silver-based, tarnish-resistant, atomically formulated and engineered metal called Luxium.
"We have chosen to enter the public markets through an acquisition to accelerate our plans to reach the moon," Josh Hanes, Uplift's founder and CEO, said in a statement.
More investors on every level means more capital with which Uplift hopes to fulfill three ambitious projects for the next year.
The first of these projects is developing technology to create a prototype of Luna-crete, which is a trademarked building material created from particles on the surface of the moon — including a rover prototype to collect said material. Eventually, Hanes said the goal is to construct buildings made of moon particles on the surface of the moon, including marketplaces and commercializing in-space mining.
The second is to launch the first in-space marketplace, filled with unique artisanal products using Constellation Vault, a platform built to sell and auction off rare items in space. Uplift would commission and sell fine art and products from luxury brands and designers.
Uplift has already worked with Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, to create space art. It is working with Utah artists to paint the outside of a Blue Origin rocket with materials that could withstand going to space and back. The company will continue to invest in artistic opportunities designed to capitalize on the elements of space.
And finally, the third project involves investing in a form of cryptocurrency specifically designed for space in order to create the first in-space marketplace that accepts cryptocurrency.
Hanes received his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Utah, where he was president of Students for Space Entrepreneurship and Technology. He previously worked for nonprofits focused on protecting the environment, which is why Uplift hopes to do all this while also conserving life on Earth through its charitable initiative, Uplift For Good.
His hope is that, with the rise of space tourism with companies like Blue Origin, Uplift will be a leader in the future multiplanetary economy.
"Our objective is to combine existing and next-generation technologies to provide solutions for governmental space agencies, as well as private enterprise, while creating profitability for all stakeholders," Hanes said.
