The company, Golden Spike, aims to get its first mission off the ground by 2020. To help achieve that goal, the startup's leaders are reaching out via the crowdfunding site Indiegogo in hopes of raising $240,000 ­— "a dollar for every mile on the way to the moon," said Golden Spike's president and CEO, planetary scientist Alan Stern.

"Ever since we launched [the company], we've been getting emails and tweets and Facebook posts about, 'How can I help?'" Stern told SPACE.com. "It just seems like there's a hunger out there to participate in grand exploration."