Interlune, a startup founded by former Blue Origin employees, has announced plans to initiate helium-3 extraction on the Moon by 2029. This rare isotope, found in lunar soil samples, holds promise as a fuel for nuclear fusion reactors and is used in quantum computing to cool equipment to near absolute zero temperatures. Company CEO Rob Meyerson explained that helium-3 was deposited on the Moon’s surface over billions of years by the solar wind, with meteor impacts mixing it into the regolith at depths of up to three meters.
Despite significant technical challenges, Interlune plans to deploy a processing facility on the Moon by 2029, specifically designed to operate in the lunar regolith environment. The patented device, tailored for transport aboard the heavy-lift Starship spacecraft, is projected to extract up to three kilograms of helium-3 annually, a volume the company estimates will make the project economically viable. A preliminary research mission is slated for 2027 to evaluate isotope concentrations and identify suitable deposits.
However, scientists remain skeptical. The concentration of helium-3 in lunar regolith is exceedingly low—ranging from 2.4 to 26 parts per million—necessitating the processing of vast quantities of soil. According to Laszlo Kesthelyi from the US Astrogeology Science Center, the economic feasibility of such endeavors is questionable. Extracting just one kilogram of helium-3 could require processing up to a million tons of regolith, a scale comparable to large terrestrial mining operations.
Interlune is not alone in this pursuit. Other companies, including Japan’s ispace, are also eyeing helium-3 extraction on the Moon. In collaboration with Magna Petra, ispace is actively developing technologies to harvest this valuable resource, which could play a pivotal role in future energy production and high-tech industries.
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