Abstract#

We are organizing a series of space-focused community events in Florianópolis to help Brazilian entrepreneurs and builders understand that working on lunar settlement is realistic and within reach.

The program includes 3 Space Day/Night meetups (30 people each) leading up to Space Week in October 2026 — our third year running this initiative. The main event is a dedicated MoonDAO Track inside the official NASA Space Apps Challenge Florianópolis (October 3–4, 2026, at Founder Haus in Jurerê).

During the events, core MoonDAO team members will give clear talks on space technology, lunar settlement, what a DAO is, and why building decentralized space projects and businesses through DAOs makes sense. We will also showcase real companies from around the world that are already creating solutions to advance the Moon.

The goal is simple: connect entrepreneurs, builders, and digital nomads from across Brazil with MoonDAO and give them practical ways to start contributing to lunar settlement.

Problem#

Even after years of planting seeds via NASA Space Apps in Brazil (since 2017), most business-driven entrepreneurs and builders still perceive creating real solutions for the space industry as "out of reach." They lack concrete examples, and practical education on decentralized tools like DAOs. This limits onboarding of talent from Brazil's tech hubs and nomad communities into building a decentralized lunar settlement.

Solution#

We will execute a hybrid series that builds on our NASA Space Apps track record and MoonDAO's Brazil initiatives (e.g., Open Pathways to Space / Habitat Marte analog):

3 Space Day/Night meetups (30 people each, pre-October) for warming up the community of builders who found and founders who build.

Space Week in October, anchored by NASA Space Apps Florianópolis (2-day hackathon at Founder Haus), with a dedicated MoonDAO Track featuring lunar-settlement challenges.

Key activities include:

• Talks by core MoonDAO team members on space tech and lunar settlement, what a DAO is, and why we should build decentralized space and business around it (covering ownership, governance, global collaboration, and how DAOs lower barriers for space innovation).

• Showcases of successful space-tech businesses founded globally that are advancing the Moon.

Networking, MoonDAO info booths, branded swag, and livestreams.

All materials will feature strong MoonDAO branding with clear calls-to-action for Discord joins, citizenship, and contribution. Strong MoonDAO Track submissions will be fast-tracked as potential bounty proposals. Challenges will incorporate MoonDAO community input. Future direction: launch a fellowship program to support founders building on the solutions from these events and contributing to the creation of the economy of our lunar settlement.

Benefits#

• Mindset shift & onboarding: Educate entrepreneurs on DAOs and decentralized models while showing real examples from MoonDAO insiders and global space-tech businesses, proving that building for the Moon is realistic and accessible through decentralized structures. This directly onboards builders and nomads from across Brazil into MoonDAO.
• Innovation pipeline: Generate lunar-focused ideas that feed MoonDAO bounties and projects.
• Credibility: Leverage our 9-year NASA Space Apps history and global wins for high participation and impact of real founders who build and builders who found.

Risks#

• Lower attendance: Addressed by third-year momentum, joint NASA promotion, and our national network.
• Budget overrun: Controlled with early Founder Haus quotes (see reference proposal), Project Lead oversight, and 15% contingency.
• Misalignment: Prevented by lunar-focused challenges and MoonDAO involvement in review.

Risks are low due to our execution history and synergy with existing MoonDAO Brazil projects.

Objectives#

Objective #1: Deliver the events and MoonDAO Track to shift mindsets and onboard Brazilian builders/digital nomads into lunar settlement via MoonDAO.

Key Results for Objective #1:

All events executed with MoonDAO talks (including DAO education), business showcases, and dedicated Track.

• Total unique participants (in-person + livestream): 150+ builders and founders.
• MoonDAO growth: 15+ new Discord joins or citizen applications attributed via tracking forms (targeting entrepreneurs/builders/nomads).
• Hackathon impact: Minimum 3 submissions to the MoonDAO Track, with 1 ideas forwarded as bounty proposals.
• Impact metrics: Post-event NPS ≥ 8/10 and ≥60% of respondents reporting they now see building for lunar settlement as achievable and understand the role of DAOs (via survey).

Member(s) responsible for OKR and their role: All (coordinated by Paloma Lecheta)

Team (Table A)#

Project Lead

Paloma Pinheiro Lecheta @paloma.lecheta – Overall coordination, Senate representation, weekly Discord updates, budget/multisig management, NASA Space Apps coordination with the global team as the official local organizer, and final report.

Initial Team

Role 1: "Event Logistics & Venue Coordinator" Eric Liesegang – Handles venue booking, catering, on-site execution, and coordination with NASA Space Apps local organizers (Founder Haus). Deliverable: Confirmed logistics plan 6 weeks before first event.

Role 2: "Content & Hackathon Lead" Frank Rolim – Program design, creation of MoonDAO Track lunar challenges, coordination of MoonDAO talks (including DAO education) and business showcases. Deliverable: Complete agendas and challenges

Role 3: "Talks & University Liaison" William Schineider Rabelo @schineiderrabelo – Helps deliver talks and builds partnerships with universities (PUCPR and others) to increase academic involvement. Deliverable: Secured university collaborations and talk schedule

Multisig signers

@paloma.lecheta: 0x3112c093B0F89799a7739eC67aAc1a3e162A04FB @ericliesegang: 0xc73d6351803f3067745f51cca2b6eec4428d229e @ryand2d : 0xb2d3900807094d4fe47405871b0c8adb58e10d42

@schineiderrabelo : 0xe6d26d4b4785679e029a406c1e85b2a72e2c603b

Team Bios

Project Lead – Paloma Pinheiro Lecheta @paloma.lecheta: Founder of Founder Haus Florianópolis and the official local organizer for NASA Space Apps Florianópolis (coordinating directly with the global NASA Space Apps team). She brought NASA Space Apps to Brazil in 2017 and has helped accelerate over 1,800 founders in Brazil through her work in tech ecosystems. Investor via JUPTER (including Brazilian space-tech companies). Her team won 1st place globally in NASA Space Apps 2017 with the RadioJuno project. Passionate about space education, civic hackathons, and building decentralized solutions for lunar settlement through initiatives like MoonDAO.

Instagram: @palomalecheta

X: @palomalecheta

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/palomalecheta

Team Member 1 (Event Logistics & Venue Coordinator) – Eric Liesegang @EricLiesegang : Event producer and community manager based in Florianópolis. He coordinates venues and production at Founder Haus and has extensive experience supporting high-quality community events.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-liesegang X: @LiesegangEric

Team Member 2 (Content & Hackathon Lead) – Frank Rolim: Founder of of conecte.ai, with proven expertise in hackathon organization and content creation. Long-time NASA Space Apps mentor and global hackathon winner NASA Space Apps 2024.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolimfrank?originalSubdomain=br Instagram: @rolimfrank

Team Member 3 (Talks & University Liaison) – William Schineider Rabelo @ schineiderrabelo : Engineer, space advocate, translator, and PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR). Ambassador for the Unity Foundation, coordinator of the Brazilian stage of the Art Rocket project, and active member of several space communities. He supports talks and university outreach to strengthen academic ties.

Instagram: @ schineiderrabelo / X: @schineiderrabel

Timeline (Table B)#

Deadline for the project: Q4/26

Budget (Table C)#