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In a Rye, Colorado, cattle pasture now subbing for the moon, an otherworldly vehicle bumps along a scrubby course of furrows and mounds, weaving around rocks and kicking up a fine dust. Its an open-concept machine dubbed Falcona silver solar-powered rectangular frame on wheels, with a partial roof, windowless sides, and a spacious cockpit flanked by monitors and steering controls. An engineer sits in one of its two seats for safety as the vehicle autonomously navigates around obstacles to a location dictated by Mission Control 160 miles away.Suddenly, a wheel hits a rock, and Falcon halts, relaying real-time feedback to Mission Control. There, an operator revises a command for another attempt, driving home the hurdles in developing novel spacefaring technology.We dont stage any of this for you guys, laughs Justin Cyrus. We show you real testing.Our play-by-play guide is the 32-year-old CEO and founder of Lunar Outpost, a rising star in the space robotics and mobility field. In less than a decade, the Denver area startup has already operated technology on Mars, landed the first commercial rover on the moon, and lined up another six lunar and cislunar missions with government and commercial partnershipsthe most of any private company. Now, its vying with two other firms to build NASAs next-generation lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) to shuttle Artemis V astronauts and experiments in 2030. At stake: a contract worth up to $4.6 billion. NASA is slated to make its decision this month.Justin Cyrus [Photo: Lunar Outpost]That modela sleeker upgrade to Falcon, named Eagle, after Apollo 11s crewed landerawaits in a barnlike workshop, a short walk down a sloped dirt road where visitors are warned to keep an eye out for snakes. This is not your grandparents moon buggy. Eagle reaches speeds up to 25 mph (compared to Apollos 11 mph) for emergencies, though astronauts will stick to under 15 mph for safety. It can also climb 25-degree slopes, which engineers test on a nearby shale rock ridge, and carry more than 2.4 tons of cargo. It will operate in four driving modes: manually, assisted autonomy, teleoperated from Earth, and full autonomy with preprogrammed missions. And its crafted to run for years in the lunar south poles punishing radiation levels, abrasive dust, severe lighting, and temperature extremes ranging from 130 F in sunlight to334 F in permanently shaded craters.This 1,000-acre patch of the Cyrus family ranch seems an unexpected Lunar Vehicle Test Site, as announced by a nearby sign. But the rugged landscape surrounding futuristic machines and a CEO decked out in black jeans and cowboy boots implies a fitting message: the adventurous spirit of the American West vaulting into the space age.[Photo: Susan Karlin]For the space economy, you need a robotic workforce, says Cyrus. So, the idea behind Lunar Outpostlets make that robotic workforce for extreme environmentsevolved over the years into a robotic workforce on other planetary bodies. We want to be the company that makes outposts on the moon and cities on Mars.Eagle in the lunar economyNASAs Artemis missions seek to return humans to the moon and establish a sustainable lunar base and economy as a springboard to crewed missions to Mars. As part of it, the space agency last year awarded contracts to Lunar Outpost, Venturi Astrolab in Hawthorne, CA, and Intuitive Machines in Houston to design LTVs to shuttle astronauts, transport equipment, and conduct sample gathering and analysis.Regardless of NASAs choice, the Eagle is still headed to the moon. Last year, it secured a commercial agreement with SpaceX to use its Starship to deliver Eagle to the lunar surface, where it can be used commercially when not needed by NASA. Eagle is a feat of engineering. It boasts a sensor suite of 360-degree stereoscopic cameras, LIDAR, and an electrodynamic dust system (EDS) that clears particulates off solar panels and lenses. Its sides contain MOLLE panels with quick-connect grips for utility tools (an idea borrowed from the teams off-roading vehicles), flaps that open into workstations, pop-out drawers for thermally controlled sample storage, and radiators that dispel heat from motors and avionics.[Photo: Lunar Outpost]The energy system includes dual-sided solar panels to ensure one always faces the sun, and an advanced version of General Motors high-nickel lithium-ion battery cells that, with additional heating and insulation, can survive the 14-day lunar night and operate even if individual cells fail. An open cockpit with inlaid lighting and oversize control switches enables two astronauts, regardless of size, to easily acess and operate in bulky spacesuits and gloves. Engineers incorporated feedback from astronauts who test-drove LTV simulators and prototypes.That was critical to evolving our design, says AJ Gemer, Lunar Outposts CTO and cofounder. We get used to moving here in this one-g Earth environment. When you translate that into a big, pressurized suit and one-sixth gravity, all your motions become different. Things that your gut and intuition tell you would be a nice, simple maneuver suddenly become more difficult.A 6.5-foot extendible robotic arm that attaches to the back of the vehicle can autonomously switch tool ends for tasks ranging from solar panel cleaning to sample extraction and handling to construction.[Photo: Lunar Outpost]All of the payloads on board need zero human interaction, says Cyrus. So, you can accomplish a lot of science and exploration objectives, even without astronauts on board.But the niftiest technology is the Goodyear-designed wheels36-inch metal mesh tires with a little give and bounce for better traction, shock-absorption, and longevity. This has a lot of advantages over other types of tires, which only have so many thermal cycles before they become brittle and crack, says Cyrus. If a spring comes loose or a section breaks, it doesnt unravel the whole tire. These are better for vehicle dynamics at higher speeds, because they disperse the energy better when you hit obstacles.[Animation: Susan Karlin]But space isnt necessarily the limit. Cyrus envisions future Earthbound applications for Eagle technology, most notably in the electric farm and self-driving car markets, with lunar-grade batteries that can operate in any Earth winter, and autonomy and localization that can navigate without GPS.That is probably the most under-our-hat technology, Cyrus says of the latter. Because if were able to do that, what it offers is self-driving cars to go anywhere in the world and still know where youre at without supporting infrastructure.An impassioned riseCyrus was still a kid when he first learned about the concept of sustainability in space. Hed grown up around the space industry, thanks to a dad who worked at NASAs Johnson Space Center and later, Lockheed Martin. When JSC ran a competition for employee children to fashion new Lego space station designs, Cyruss entry missed the top spot, but yielded some serious inside baseball tips.Thats cool that it unfolds and folds back up, but what are you gonna do with all the oxygen? How are you gonna refill the volatiles that you need for humans to survive?' Cyrus recalls one engineers critique. That was the first time I remember being passionate about figuring out where resources come from in space.The passion stuck. Later, while working as a Lockheed Martin engineer and pursuing graduate degrees at the Colorado School of Mines, he founded Lunar Outpost in 2017 to develop mobility and infrastructure for a sustainable human presence in space. He amassed a robust leadership team: older brother Julian, an aerospace engineer who now serves as COO; AJ Gemer, a dust science expert with eight space missions under his belt, as CTO; and Forrest Meyen as chief strategy officer. Meyen codesigned MOXIE (short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), a NASA demonstration technology on the Perseverance rover that produced oxygen from the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere. Its very rare to have cofounders with that much experience at this stage, says Cyrus.Potential backers were less enthusiastic.I pitched 300 investors; not a single one said `yes, Cyrus laughs. Theyre like, `Youre crazy! Why would I invest in a lunar company?So, the team pivoted to commercializing an air quality monitor, called Canary, that the company had designed for the International Space Station and NASAs Lunar Gateway, a planned lunar-orbiting space station for the Artemis missions. Canary detects and analyzes pollutants, including methane, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. It was a hit with the oil and gas industry and the U.S. Forest Service, selling some 5,000 units in more than 35 states and 14 countries to monitor forest fire emissions, air pollution, and industrial leaks.That gave us the revenue to invest in some of this advanced and deep technology, says Cyrus. Our revenues grown over two times every single year since 2017 to the point that these investors are like,`Alright, theres something there. From 2017 to 2021, they saw us evolve and do exactly what we said we were gonna do. And thats a rare thing in space.[Photo: Lunar Outpost]Since 2022, its raised $23.6 million, per market insight platforms Traxn and CB Insights, and grown to 140 employees in Colorado, Luxembourg, and Australia. (The staff also includes the youngest Cyrus brother, Austin, now a program manager.) As a private company, Lunar Outpost doesnt disclose its revenues, though platforms such as Growjo estimate theyre just north of $50 million. It developed the LTV through partnerships with Leidos, MDA Space,Goodyear, and General Motors, while Castrol collaborated on its state-of-the-art mission control at its Golden, CO headquarters, which also includes design, manufacturing, and additional testing facilities.[Photo: Lunar Outpost]The last four years have seen two space ventures. From 202123, Lunar Outpost operated MOXIE on Mars. Last March, its Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover flew aboard the Intuitive Machines Athena lander as part of a mission to collect regolith samples and assist with the first lunar communications network. Unfortunately, Athena fell onto its side, trapping MAPP and preventing its deployment. Despite the setback, we were able to do a full checkout in space and get a lot of data down, says Cyrus. That journey will be chronicled in a 2026 documentary, Drive Me to the Moon.Meanwhile, the company has another six lunar and cislunar missions planned. The company is developing Mobile Autonomous Robotic Swarms (MARS) software for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force, which it will test next year in low-Earth orbit. And four of its rovers are headed back to the moon. Next year, one MAPP will fly aboard a third Intuitive Machines lunar lander to investigate a magnetic anomaly at Reiner Gamma as part of the NASA/Johns Hopkins University Lunar Vertex mission. In 2027, one MAPP will ride a fourth Intuitive Machines lander to the lunar south pole, while an exploration class rover, dubbed Roo-ver, will carry scientific and commercial payloads for the Australian Space Agencys first lunar mission. In 2028, another MAPP will join NASAs Artemis IV DUSTER mission (short for DUst and plaSma environmenT survEyoR) to carry instruments that will characterize landing-site dust and plasma. Then theres another mission the company cant announce just yet. The advancements from each mission inform the others. We have spent about a decade developing critical technologies that were going to test on many missions before it ever gets to a lunar terrain vehicle, says Cyrus. So that way, we have a high degree of confidence that the astronauts are safe, and we can reliably perform the services that NASA needs. We are a lunar mobility company, so regardless of what happens with the LTV, well keep moving.[Photo: Lunar Outpost]Another long-term vision is creating a legal and economic framework for mining space resources. Five years ago, NASA contracted with Lunar Outpost, among other companies, to purchase regolith samples for $1 to set legal and procedural precedents for private companies to own and sell what they mine on celestial bodies. (Had it been able to deploy, the initial MAPP rover would have provided the first such exchange.)Considering the investment cost and potential rewardshelium-3, for example, is abundant on the moon but among the most expensive substances on Earth due to its scarcitythis step gives companies more confidence that they wont be legally challenged before spending billions to extract resources on a large scale.Engaging the publicA fully spacefaring existence will require all aspects of humanity. To that end, Lunar Outpost is tapping artistic imagination and STEM learning by collaborating with artists, designers, and toy companies. On its last lunar mission, the company teamed with MIT Media Lab on two art tie-ins: a mock ground control to track the mission and a rover payloada Voyager Golden Record-inspired two-inch silicon wafer containing etched recordings of voices describing what space means for humanity. And last summer, in a full-circle moment, it released a Lunar Outpost Moon Rover Space Vehicle set for young STEM enthusiasts. Its call for future payloads welcomes pitches from the creative community. NASAs still a public organization, says Cyrus. The art, toys, and stories are critical to getting the public aware of whats going on. Getting them interested in the new cis-lunar economy is important to the long-term sustainability.Perhaps no one is more excited than Cyruss father, now watching his sons carry the torch. Hes thrilledthis is what he wanted to see back in the `90s and early 2000sthat sustainable presence on the moon, he says. He wants to see humanity get out in space. And thats why he let me dig up a test site in front of his ranch.
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Most people think of solopreneurs as a one-person machine. The solopreneur (according to social media) sends invoices, juggles client calls, manages marketing campaigns, and troubleshoots their own websiteall before lunch. Its a compelling narrative because it celebrates endless hustle and grit. But its also a myth. Solopreneurship simply means you make the business decisions. You dont have to consult anyone else or wait for approval. It doesnt mean youre the only person doing the work. Most solopreneurs eventually bring in support (including me, in my solo business). Hiring help doesnt mean youre no longer a real solopreneur. Its a sign that your business is growing. You recognize the value of your time or the limitations of your skill set. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-1.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-mobile-1.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Work Better\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn\u0027t suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.workbetter.media\/\u0022\u003Eworkbetter.media\u003C\/a\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91457605,"imageMobileId":91457608,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} Smart solopreneurs hire help as an investment. Outsourcing work or projects can expand your bandwidth while still allowing you to maintain full control over the direction of your business. When to bring in professional support One of the hardest parts of running a solo business is deciding when to get help. Many solopreneurs wait too long because they assume they should be able to do everything themselves. But if you feel like youre working endless hours or youre spending too much time on tasks, its probably time to hire. Think of hiring as a strategic business decision, not a financial splurge. – Accounting or legal help The first category many solopreneurs consider is financial and legal support. They recognize that they dont have the expertise neededand financial or legal mistakes can be costly. An accountant or bookkeeper can manage tax compliance, keep your books clean, and help you understand your cash flow. Their jobs are to be familiar with accounting and tax laws, so you dont have to stress. Typically, accountants or bookkeepers provide ongoing (monthly) support. Legal help becomes important as your business grows in complexity. A lawyer might review your client contracts or help you navigate trademarks if youre developing a brand. Depending on your legal structure, you may also need a lawyer to help with documentation like Articles of Organization (for an LLC). You dont need a lawyer on retainer. Even a few hours of legal support per year can prevent legal problems later. – A virtual assistant A virtual assistant (VA) is often the first hire for solopreneurs who are stretched thin. A VA can manage your inbox, follow up with clients, organize your files, or complete other organizational tasks that eat up hours of your time each week. I rely on a lot of automation in my business. Tasks are completed automatically in the background between apps (using Zapier). But eventually, I reached a point where I couldnt automate anymore. Some work needs a human touch. It was either me, or a virtual assistant. I chose to hire a VA so I could focus on the more strategic/creative parts of my business. Most VAs work on an hourly, project-based, or monthly retainer model. With the right VA, you can start small and expand later if needed. Even a few hours per week can give you breathing room and help you stay focused on the work that generates revenue. – Project-based work Not every type of help needs to be ongoing. You might hire a specialist when youve hit the limits of what you can do yourself. For example, for a long time, I created my own brand assets. Eventually, I hit the limits of what I could do in Canva and wanted a more professional look for my business. I hired a brand designer to create my logo, choose fonts, and clarify my brand messaging. He gave me hundreds of Canva templates for various purposes. If you need a website, a brand refresh, or automation support, a temporary engagement with an expert might make sense. That way, you dont have to spend your time acquiring skills you dont otherwise need and can start using the finished product quickly. Building a team that supports your business Before I started my own business, I was a manager in the corporate world. Being responsible for other peoples career success was hard for me, and I dont think I was particularly good at it. Bringing on help as a solopreneur doesnt mean you have to become a manager in the traditional sense. Often, youre hiring other independent professionals, like you. With the exception of a virtual assistant (who has to learn your systems/processes), the people you hire may not need a ton of oversight or hand-holding. Bringing in help doesnt have to mean building a team in the traditional sense. But before you hire, you should consider these three things: Revenue stability: Can your income support this additional expense? ROI: Will freeing up your time allow you to earn more or reduce stress in a meaningful way? Alignment: Does delegating this work directly support your business and create value? If the answer to any of these questions is no, you may not be ready to hire yet. Solopreneurship doesnt mean doing everything alone Your business works best when youre working to your strengths. The rest can be delegated or outsourced. Im not a designer, so I hired someone to help me with design. Im not an accountant, so I hired someone to help with my bookkeeping. Youve got to know which parts of your business you should hand off so your business can thrive. The goal isnt to grow headcount, like a traditional business would grow. Its about protecting your time and energy the greatest assets your solo business has. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-1.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-mobile-1.png","eyebrw":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Work Better\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn\u0027t suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.workbetter.media\/\u0022\u003Eworkbetter.media\u003C\/a\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91457605,"imageMobileId":91457608,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
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The Cold War lasted 45 agonizing years. Daily life in the Soviet Union was a mixture of dread and horrorchildren taught to report their parents’ whispered doubts, families queuing for hours for bread, dissidents vanishing in the night. November 8, 1989, was just another day of knowing World War III might pop off at any time. But on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. No tanks. No gun battles. No sabotage. Just a peaceful, surreal collapse. The empire fell both slowly and suddenly. Gen Xers and boomers remember the disorienting feeling of watching the impossible happen on evening news broadcasts. With the benefit of hindsight and declassified records now available, we know life under Soviet rule was far worse than Cold War movies or propaganda posters ever revealed. Millions suffered in silence, unable to ask for help because everyone was incentivized to spy on their neighbors. And then, out of nowhere, Germans from east and west Berlin were blaring American rock music from boom boxes, laughing, dancing, and spray-painting graffiti. Strangers took turns smashing apart the physical barrier between despair and hope with whatever they could findhammers, pickaxes, or bare hands. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-desktop.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-mobile.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Urbanism Speakeasy\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/urbanismspeakeasy.com\/\u0022\u003Eurbanismspeakeasy.com.\u003C\/a\u003E","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91453933,"imageMobileId":91453932,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} Spontaneous acts of high-spirited foolishness, to quote Sky News. Utter disbelief and glee. The lesson history keeps teaching us Just because current circumstances are miserable doesn’t mean they can’t turn around. When you study history, you can’t help but be overwhelmed by how often things get better in the endand how quickly the transformation can happen once it begins. Cynicism can be tempting for urbanism reformers. They desperately want to break free of status quo regulations and processes that create an antihuman built environment, but it seems hopeless. And yes, the current situation for most Americans is harmful: Anxiety and depression from isolation. Loneliness from neighborhoods designed to keep people apart. Chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancers. Air pollution and noise pollution. Traffic crashes as a leading cause of death. It feels like things have always been this way and always will be. Lack of pedestrian infrastructure, unreliable transit service, subsidized sprawl, ever-expanding arterialsit’s exhausting. Focusing only on the negative without exploring positive outcomes is how cynicism creeps in. “They’re never going to change, because they don’t care about us.” (Whoever “they” happens to be for any given topiccity council, planners, engineers, developers, NIMBYs.) Cynic (noun): a faultfinding critic who believes that human conduct is motivated wholly by self-interest Cynicism feels like realism, but it’s actually a form of blindness. It prevents you from seeing the change agents working in the background, the small victories accumulating, the institutional momentum slowly, imperceptibly shiftinguntil suddenly, the wall comes down. The walls will come down The internet is full of inspiring examples of institutional reform, from massive governments to pocket neighborhoods. Change agents work quietly in the background for years, and then suddenly . . . liberation. Just like world history lessons, you can’t hold onto cynicism if you allow yourself to learn about before-and-after stories related to the built environment. There’s too much evidence of reform, too many walls already crumbling, for anyone to hang their head in gloom about the future of planning and design. The people dancing on the Berlin Wall in 1989 didn’t bring it down alone. They were the visible celebration of decades of invisible workdissidents who wrote forbidden letters, families who maintained hope, officials who made small concessions that accumulated into structural weakness, and a few rogue journalists who told the truth despite the consequences. You might be one of those invisible workers right now. The person who shows up to planning meetings, who writes letters, who builds tactical urbanism projects, who votes for better policy, or who simply talks to friends about what’s possible. The wall you’re pushing against might not fall tomorrow. But if history teaches us anything, it’s that things that seem permanent can collapse with stunning speed once enough pressure accumulates. What feels impossible on a Wednesday becomes reality by Thursday. Things get better in the end. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-desktop.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-mobile.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Urbanism Speakeasy\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/urbanismspeakeasy.com\/\u0022\u003Eurbanismspeakeasy.com.\u003C\/a\u003E","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91453933,"imageMobileId":91453932,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
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