Skyler Chan

Skyler Chan is the founder and CEO of GRU Space, which is building the first hotel on the Moon.^{[4]GRU SpaceCompany websiteCompany[6]Launch YCGRU Space: First Hotel on the Moon, Applications OpenYC, Jan 12, 2026} He was an Air Force-trained pilot at 16, graduated early from Berkeley EECS, worked on vehicle software at Tesla and built a NASA-funded 3D printer that launched into space aboard Virgin Galactic.^{[4]GRU SpaceCompany websiteCompany[6]Launch YCGRU Space: First Hotel on the Moon, Applications OpenYC, Jan 12, 2026}

A Y Combinator W26 company building permanent lunar infrastructure, starting with a hotel for space tourists.^{[1]Y CombinatorGRU Space (Galactic Resource Utilization Space, Inc.) company profileYC[6]Launch YCGRU Space: First Hotel on the Moon, Applications OpenYC, Jan 12, 2026} GRU stands for Galactic Resource Utilization.^{[6]Launch YCGRU Space: First Hotel on the Moon, Applications OpenYC, Jan 12, 2026[8]Deeptech DecodedSkyler Chan on naming GRU: Galactic Resource Utilization (11:14)Episode}

A patent-pending prototype the team built in six weeks for under $5,000.^{[2]Launch YCGRU Space: The Moon FactoryYC, Mar 10, 2026[3]Deeptech DecodedSkyler Chan on the Moon factory prototype and its patent-pending process (35:45)Episode} It autonomously mines lunar soil, refines it with a geopolymer process and turns it into structural bricks, so habitats can be built from what is already on the Moon.^{[2]Launch YCGRU Space: The Moon FactoryYC, Mar 10, 2026}

Cost. At hundreds of thousands of dollars per kilogram to the lunar surface, building large structures out of material launched from Earth does not work.^{[2]Launch YCGRU Space: The Moon FactoryYC, Mar 10, 2026} In-situ resource utilization is the way around it.^{[2]Launch YCGRU Space: The Moon FactoryYC, Mar 10, 2026[9]Deeptech DecodedSkyler Chan on phasing in lunar materials over Earth materials (39:38)Episode}

A first mission in 2027 lands a small-scale factory and an inflatable habitat to demonstrate brick manufacturing on the surface.^{[1]Y CombinatorGRU Space (Galactic Resource Utilization Space, Inc.) company profileYC[2]Launch YCGRU Space: The Moon FactoryYC, Mar 10, 2026} A second lays the hotel's foundation inside a lunar cave.^{[1]Y CombinatorGRU Space (Galactic Resource Utilization Space, Inc.) company profileYC[7]Deeptech DecodedSkyler Chan on the four planned missions and the lunar cave (38:55)Episode} A third opens the hotel, targeted for 2032.^{[1]Y CombinatorGRU Space (Galactic Resource Utilization Space, Inc.) company profileYC[6]Launch YCGRU Space: First Hotel on the Moon, Applications OpenYC, Jan 12, 2026}

The stated plan is to build America's first Moon base, with roads, mass drivers and warehouses, then repeat on Mars and build the first cities there.^{[6]Launch YCGRU Space: First Hotel on the Moon, Applications OpenYC, Jan 12, 2026[10]Deeptech DecodedSkyler Chan on the master plan: Moon base, then Mars (18:47)Episode}