A New Space Startup Wants To Mine and Sell the Moon’s Helium-3
Founded by two former Blue Origin staffers.
Two former Blue Origin employees, Rob Meyerson and Gary Lai, have branched off to launch their own startup dedicated to mining helium-3 on the Moon. A concept that’s been seemingly discussed for ages, few, if any, companies have actually attempted to mine it.
Helium-3 is an isotope used for nuclear fusion and while extremely scarce on Earth, it is plentiful on the Moon, created by the solar wind emitted from the Sun. Some of its uses include medical imaging, cryogenics and nuclear fuel.
Interlune aims to mine helium-3 and then sell it to companies on Earth. In a new interview with Ars Technica, founder and former Blue Origin president Meyerson revealed the company’s goals, as well as that it’s raised $15 million USD in funding since 2022.
“Then we want to put a pilot plant in place by 2028, and by 2030 start to operationalize and return quantities of helium-3 to support the markets on Earth,” he said.
The company is aiming to launch a lunar “demonstrator mission” in 2026 to measure the amount of helium-3 and attempt to extract some. The publication reported that it’s possible Interlune will work with SpaceX or Blue Origin may be brought on board to help facilitate the operation.
