A construction rover lays a road across the lunar surface, with Earth in the sky

Route 1Construction targeted for 2031*

Road work
ahead.

Since the beginning of time humans have been obsessed with two things. The Moon. And roads. We’re bringing them together.

Adopt an inch See the plan

Road conditions.

Updated continuously

There is no traffic today.

There are also no roads.

DelaysNone reported

Miles open0.000

Known potholes~1,300,000Robbins crater database, 2019

Repaired0Next update when something happens

What a road does.

Driving off-road on another world has a track record. It is not a good one.

That is the part of this job that is not a joke, and it is most of the job. Roads keep traffic off the places nobody should drive through, which turns out to be a long list.

A rover loses traction on loose regolith and tips, throwing dust and cargo — Loose regolith, low gravity, no road.

The handling

On the Moon a vehicle weighs a sixth of what it does on Earth, so its wheels press into the ground with a sixth of the force, and every bit of grip for steering and stopping shrinks with it. The Apollo crews felt it on every drive. On Apollo 15, any hard turn above 5 km/h sent the rover skidding sideways, and stopping from 10 km/h took about twice the distance it had in training. On Apollo 16, a single turn swung the back end out about 60 degrees, and during a test drive all four wheels left the ground at once. A road is how a vehicle gets its grip back.

NASA Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, Working on the Moon: LRV Performance. Pilot reports from the Apollo 15 and Apollo 16 mission reports.

The dust

Every wheel that touches loose regolith throws it, and with no air to slow it down it keeps going until it hits something. Conrad’s suit was more worn after eight hours on the surface than training suits were after a hundred. Dust defeated the sample container seals. When the rover fenders came off on Apollo 16 and 17, the wheels threw regolith over the crew and the console and the batteries ran hot. John Young: “Dust is the number one concern in returning to the Moon.”

Gaier, The Effects of Lunar Dust on EVA Systems During the Apollo Missions, NASA/TM-2005-213610.

The ground that looked fine

In 2009, NASA’s Spirit rover drove across ordinary-looking ground on Mars, broke through a thin crust, and sank into soft sand hidden underneath. Nine months of rescue attempts failed. It never drove again. You cannot trust ground you cannot see into. A road is ground someone has already checked.

NASA JPL, NASA to Begin Attempts to Free Sand-Trapped Mars Rover, November 12, 2009. Spirit declared a stationary research platform, January 26, 2010.

The dark

At the lunar south pole the Sun never climbs more than about 10 degrees above the horizon, so long, fast-moving shadows sweep across the ground. NASA’s VIPER rover had to plan every drive around them, because it could not survive more than 50 hours of continuous darkness. On a road, the way back to sunlight and power is a known route.

NASA Science, VIPER Lunar Operations, September 2023.

Wheels never touch loose regolith. That is not a feature we added. That is what a road is.

A road is a known path. A vehicle that knows where the road is does not have to work out where everything else is.

Adopt an inch

Adopt an inch.

Highway engineers locate everything by station. STA 41+07 means four thousand one hundred seven feet from the start of the project. When you adopt, you reserve a portion of Route 1, and your inch and its station become part of the public register.

$100per inch of Route 1

How many inches?

Total $100

1 to 100 inches per order. Watch your certificate update as you go.

1Your Certificate of Reservation, issued the moment you adopt

MOON ROADS

DIVISION OF MAINTENANCE

CERTIFICATE OF RESERVATIONNo. assigned at checkout

1 INCHEvery road in history started exactly like this.

Before a road is built, surveyors drive a stake where it will go. This one is yours.

This inch of Route 1 is staked and reserved in the public register for

[YOUR NAME]

ROUTE1

STATIONAssigned in order

LENGTH1 inch

STAKEDToday

Status: staked and reserved. Held for you until Route 1 is funded and built. Reservation only. No property rights. Obviously.

Would you like to adopt a linear inch of moon highway?

You receive your Certificate of Reservation as soon as your payment completes, and a Certificate of Completion if and when your adopted portion of Route 1 is built.

Name for the certificate Email

1 inch of Route 1$100

Change length

Payment is processed securely by Stripe. You will review your order before paying.

Your certificate arrives with a code that takes $100 off every item in one Moon Merch order, which is exactly what everything there is marked up by.

2Issued if and when your adopted portion is built

MOON ROADS

DIVISION OF CONSTRUCTION

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETIONNo. 000 001

This portion of Route 1, adopted by

[YOUR NAME]

has been built.

ROUTE1

STATION41+07

LENGTH1 inch

COMPLETEDNot yet

Issued at no additional charge when construction of this portion of Route 1 is complete.

Not yet
issued

Then, one day, a second certificate.

When your stretch of Route 1 is actually built, we send you a Certificate of Completion. No extra charge. Just a very long wait.

This confers no property rights. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 is very clear about this. Obviously.

Mile marker 0.

Aerial view of a lunar base joined by a network of roads — Route 1 and its first spurs, as planned.

2027–28

Road tested on Earth

2029–30

First stretch of road demonstrated on the Moon

2031–33

Route 1 construction begins

That is faster than some highway projects on Earth.*

*All dates are targets, not commitments, and the timeline and completion of Route 1 are subject to change. Development and construction depend on factors including funding, technical development, regulatory approvals, and launch availability, and may be delayed, modified, or may not occur. These are forward-looking statements, not guarantees. See the Terms of Adoption.

Are we serious?

Yes.

As serious as a taxpayer-funded, billion-dollar rover driving on black ice a quarter million miles away.

EXIT 1 Space
Mobility spacemobility.com

Questions.

Is there a toll?: Not yet.
Who has the right of way?: Whoever is heavier.
What happens if I break down?: We’re working on that.
Can I drive on it?: Bring a rover.
Why does the Moon need roads?: Because it doesn’t have any.
Are you serious?: Yes. Take Exit 1 to Space Mobility.

Road workahead.