The serial entrepreneur who established the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange and co-founded Ripple has unveiled new insights regarding his ambitious space station initiative, Vast. He envisions this venture will pave the way for humanity to become a multi-planetary species.
During a March 20 interview, he confirmed that Vast is on schedule to launch Haven-1 — a commercial space station currently under construction — into orbit by May 2026.
If his startup succeeds, it could be well-positioned to secure a lucrative contract from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration to take over the role of the International Space Station. These contracts are anticipated to be awarded in mid-2026.
However, if Vast fails or loses the NASA contract to a rival, it could potentially cost him $1 billion and jeopardize the commercial viability of his space station enterprise, as per the report.
“There aren’t many individuals willing to invest the level of resources, time, and risk that I am,” he shared in the interview.
Vast’s founder, board chair, and tech fellow Jed McCaleb.
He is recognized as a “deliberate risk-taker” with a highly rational approach, according to a long-time friend and former collaborator, who remarked:
“He might be a bit eccentric in his willingness to take what most would see as substantial risks.”
His dream of placing humans on other planets echoes the aspirations of multibillionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
“It’s crucial for humanity to make the leap from our current situation to a future where many people can live beyond Earth,” he stated, having founded Vast in 2021.
Vast is developing its spacecraft using components from SpaceX, including a docking adapter designed to connect SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to Vast’s station, as well as an in-space internet system that will provide WiFi via Starlink.
Key specifications for Vast’s Haven-1 model.
Vast has also secured SpaceX flights to transport its equipment into orbit and to deliver crews to its station, with SpaceX committed to sending astronauts for Vast once NASA grants approval.
The close relationship between Vast and SpaceX is partly due to the hiring of significant personnel from SpaceX, including Max Haot, who now serves as CEO and president of Vast.
Vast is vying against competitors such as Axiom Space, Voyager Space Holdings, Lockheed Martin, and Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, for the next significant NASA contract.
Ambitions for ‘artificial gravity’
A key aspect of Vast’s long-term vision is to create artificial gravity that simulates Earth-like conditions by either accelerating or rotating the spacecraft. This aim stems from reports of organ damage experienced by many individuals who’ve spent extended time in space on the ISS.
The ISS employs technology that recycles wastewater into drinkable water and converts carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen. While Haven-1 won’t include this due to its focus on short-term crew visits, Vast plans to integrate it into its future model, Haven-2, set for 2028, which will accommodate longer stays.
Both McCaleb and Haot have expressed their willingness to personally participate in flights.
Following a non-traditional path into the space sector, McCaleb’s first success came with the internet file-sharing service eDonkey in the early 2000s. He notably founded Mt. Gox in 2010, though he sold the majority stake in it in 2011. Mt. Gox eventually became the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange until a $400 million hack in 2014 led to its bankruptcy.
Shortly afterward, McCaleb launched his next project — the creation of the XRP crypto token on the Ripple protocol in 2012. Although he initially owned 9% of the XRP tokens, he sold most of them after 2013 when he departed Ripple due to disagreements with other founders.
His XRP sales and Ripple equity gained him billions between 2014 and 2022.
Additionally, he founded the Stellar network in 2014, a fork of the Ripple protocol, along with the Stellar (XLM) crypto token, which currently holds an $8.7 billion market cap, according to recent data.