# Mark Russell

> Mark Russell is the founder and CEO of HyperSciences, a Spokane, Washington company turning a piece of aerospace exotica - the ram accelerator - into a tool that drills through rock up to ten times faster than a conventional rig. A former Blue Origin lead engineer on the crew capsule and a self-described third-generation miner, Russell fires projectiles at hypersonic speed every few seconds to crack rock for geothermal energy, mining and tunneling, and to lob payloads toward space through his sister venture Pipeline2Space. He raised roughly $9.6 million from thousands of small investors and won early backing from NASA and Shell.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at HyperSciences, Inc.
- **Organizations:** HyperSciences, Inc., Pipeline2Space, Inc., Blue Origin (former), Boeing (former), Kistler Aerospace (former)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S., Aeronautical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, M.S., Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Founded HyperSciences, billed as the first company focused on hypervelocity industrial applications, Adapted the ram accelerator - a decades-old aerospace concept - into a working rock-drilling system (HyperDrill), Raised approximately $9.6 million from 3,552 individual investors via SeedInvest equity crowdfunding

## Career timeline

- **1990s-2000s** — Aerospace engineering roles at Boeing and Kistler Aerospace
- **2000s** — Lead engineer and manager at Blue Origin, including crew capsule development
- **2014** — Founds HyperSciences in Spokane, Washington to commercialize ram accelerator technology
- **2015** — Publicly outlines plan to harvest geothermal energy using hypersonic drilling
- **2018** — Wins NASA SBIR Phase I grant ($125,000) and Shell GameChanger backing (over $1 million) for HyperDrill
- **2019** — Closes roughly $9.6 million equity crowdfunding round from 3,552 SeedInvest investors
- **2020** — Pushes ram accelerator toward next development stage and continued fundraising
- **2023** — Latest reported funding round (Series B)

## Achievements

- Founded HyperSciences, billed as the first company focused on hypervelocity industrial applications
- Adapted the ram accelerator - a decades-old aerospace concept - into a working rock-drilling system (HyperDrill)
- Raised approximately $9.6 million from 3,552 individual investors via SeedInvest equity crowdfunding
- Secured a NASA SBIR Phase I grant for a HyperCore ram-accelerator launch system
- Won more than $1 million from Shell Global's GameChanger program for early-stage technology
- Former lead engineer on Blue Origin's crew capsule
- Founded Pipeline2Space to pursue low-cost ram-accelerator launch to suborbital and orbital space

## Latest updates

- **2023-01** — Latest reported funding round logged as Series B for HyperSciences.
- **2020-01** — HyperSciences advanced its ram accelerator toward the next stage of development and continued raising capital.

## Links

- Website: https://hypersciences.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-c-russell/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/hypersciences
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-WCXg31jXQ
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HyperSciences-465598167257249/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/mark-russell
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-11