Helium-3 is a rare gas, with a trading price of approximately 2.8 billion yen per kilogram. This resource is expected to be used as a coolant for quantum computers and as a fusion fuel, triggering a new space race. Due to its near-impossibility of being mined on Earth, the U.S. startup Interlune, led by a former Blue Origin executive, is taking on the challenge of the world's first commercial lunar mining. Behind this grand plan are technical challenges and the chances of winning a huge business.
■ The plan to mine helium-3 on the moon has been launched In the lobby of Seattle-based Interlune, there is a desktop 3D model about 90 centimeters wide. The model shows how the company will achieve lunar mining, displaying an angular autonomous car scraping the lunar regolith and releasing gases containing valuable helium. In addition, solar panels are installed on a wheeled platform. Next to it is a box resembling a military missile launcher, which contains a small rocket for sending gas-filled bottles back to Earth.
● Helium-3 worth $10 billion annually However, Interlune's efforts are no joke. The helium-3 the company aims to mine on the moon is an isotope closely related to the helium used in party balloons, a rare material useful in industrial fields. According to data from the consulting firm Edelgas Group, the trading price of helium-3 was $2,500 per liter, or about $19 million per kilogram, by 2024. CEO Rob Meyerson predicts that if the company's five mining machines go into operation, they could produce at least 10 kilograms of helium-3 annually, worth nearly $200 million.
■ Harsh environments and high costs hinder the difficult path to commercialization However, this achievement faces many challenges. Although the concentration of helium-3 on the moon is higher than on Earth, it is still not abundant. Even if it can find high-concentration areas, it must develop machines capable of processing hundreds of thousands of tons of regolith (lunar soil) and transporting them to the moon to ensure commercially viable quantities. This work also needs to be fully autonomous because there are no human workers on the moon. Lunar dust is more abrasive than any other substance on Earth, placing a heavy burden on the machines. "This is exactly where we are," said Interlune CEO Meyerson to Forbes. Another important tool for the company is a cryogenic distillation device, which resonates with the roaring sound of compressors and high-pitched noises. It is estimated that the helium-3 content in the gas obtained by grinding lunar regolith is less than 1%, with concentrations estimated to be between one billionth and hundreds of billions of a billionth.
Therefore, to separate it from the helium and hydrogen used in balloons, all the gas needs to be cooled to -268 degrees Celsius or lower, liquefying other gases and extracting only helium-3. "This may be our biggest challenge, but we are making great progress," said Interlune's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Gary Lai. But even if the first lunar mining site is built, "it is still unclear whether it is economically feasible," said Professor Chris Dreyer from Colorado School of Mines. The cost and reliability of the equipment are unknown, and we also don't know how much helium-3 is actually in the regolith, and how it will affect the profitability of the business. "It's not surprising that you don't make a profit on your first few attempts, but it's possible if you proceed slowly," he said. Several startups, such as Starpath and iSpace, have already been working to use lunar water and minerals to manufacture rocket fuel and structures.
Additionally, companies like AstroForge are trying to extract precious metals from asteroids to alleviate the burden of Earth mining. However, despite many challenges, Interlune is considered one of the most successful companies in the business of bringing resources back to Earth. One reason is that the company already has means to monetize its technology before achieving lunar mining.
■ Diverse applications of helium-3 from quantum computers to nuclear fusion
Helium-3 is light and valuable, and is widely regarded as the first resource to enter space. This element is produced in the furnace of the sun and brought to the moon by the solar wind, but on Earth, it does not reach the surface because it is blocked by the atmosphere and magnetic field. Scientists are studying methods to recover helium-3 from the decay of tritium used in nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants, but the annual amount is less than 20 kilograms.
The main use of helium-3 is as a safety scanner to detect neutrons emitted by nuclear bombs and smuggled radioactive materials. Since 9/11, tens of thousands of detectors have been deployed in ports and border crossings.
However, as another application, the demand for its strong cooling ability is increasing. Companies such as Google, Amazon, and IBM are using helium-3 to cool quantum computers to near absolute zero and operate more efficiently. The ultimate goal is to use helium-3 as a fuel for fusion power generation, producing energy without radiation.
● Co-founder of Reddit also invests
Interlune has raised a total of $18 million (about 26 billion yen), including $15 million (about 22 billion yen) raised in a seed round led by Seven Seven Six, a venture capital firm founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, in 2024. Caitlin Holaway, a partner at the VC, believes that mining helium-3 on the moon is inevitable and believes that Interlune's outstanding management team has the experience to implement the plan.
The Department of Energy, which controls the supply of helium-3 in the United States, signed a contract this spring to receive 3 liters of helium-3 from Interlune at market price by 2029. Mebel also manufactures cooling systems for quantum computers, and the company has signed a contract to purchase thousands of liters over the next decade.
However, to realize this plan, more funding is needed. CEO Meyerson did not specify the exact scale, but Professor Dreyer from the Colorado School of Mines, who has signed a NASA research contract with Interlune, estimates that "hundreds of millions of dollars (tens of billions of yen)" will be necessary to deploy the company's envisioned complete mining system (five excavators and processing equipment, solar panel arrays for power, and transportation).
● Ensure funding by monetizing ground technologies before reaching the moon
The company plans to obtain part of the funding by providing its technology to customers before landing on the moon. Interlune promotes to companies that extract helium from natural gas, their distillation equipment can separate out very small amounts of helium-3. CEO Meyerson believes that customer companies using this mechanism can produce one kilogram of helium-3 annually, worth about $20 million.
Another short-term project that Interlune aims to achieve is creating "lunar soil" on Earth. The company needs a lunar regolith simulant that has been injected with a large amount of gas to test the mining machine. Other companies and government agencies have also requested it to test their own space equipment. Therefore, Interlune has received a $4.8 million grant from the Texas Space Commission and is dedicated to the development and mass production of the regolith simulant.
The concept of former astronaut Schmidt, the mechanical engineering giant Vermeer, the founder of Interlune, and the person who provides advice on the technology is 89-year-old former astronaut Harrison Schmidt. He serves as the company's Executive Chairman. Schmidt was the only geologist to walk on the moon during the Apollo 17 mission (the last manned moon mission in the United States), and has been an advocate for lunar helium-3 mining since the 1980s.
He collaborated with a research group at the University of Wisconsin to explore the possibility of using helium-3 for nuclear fusion and designed the concept of the mining device. When Meyerson left Blue Origin in 2018, Schmidt convinced him to consider lunar mining. He also helped identify outward points in the lunar equatorial region, where the concentration of helium-3 is believed to be two to three times higher than that collected during the Apollo program, and contributed to the development of methods for collecting helium-3 during leap months.
● Agricultural combines are the source of inspiration, but reducing weight and durability are issues Interrune has also found an ideal partner in manufacturing lunar surface excavators. Jason Andringa, CEO of Vermeer, who has sold $1 billion worth of equipment for construction, mining, and agriculture, previously participated in NASA's Mars rovers and has long been interested in providing Iowa-based company's equipment on the moon and Mars. Interlune calls the machine a "harvester," as the mining machine being developed works similarly to an agricultural combine.
The machine inhales the regolith while moving and discharges the processed material behind it. The tracks become the surface of the Earth, as if plowing a field. Its size is comparable to an electric vehicle, weighing several tons, so it is lightweight for a mining machine. Equipment sent into space must be lightweight, but the gravity on the moon is one-sixth of that on Earth, so if it's too light, it can cause problems. When applying downward force during drilling, it's difficult to secure the equipment firmly on the ground. In addition, the instruments must withstand the harsh environment unique to the moon. Most of the lunar surface has not been weathered by wind or water, so its corners are covered with fine dust with sharp edges.
As Schmidt stated, during the Apollo program, this dust wore down the boots of astronauts' suits and the seals of sample containers, hindering the movement of collection equipment. Another issue is that due to significant temperature changes near the lunar equator, metal parts repeatedly expand and contract, reaching temperatures of 121 degrees Celsius during the day and dropping to minus 246 degrees Celsius at night. NASA has established technology to prevent dust from entering mechanical devices on sealed Mars rovers and landers, but they have never done so through broken mining. Professor Dreyer pointed out, "Scientific missions only handle samples in the range of grams."
On the other hand, Interlune's goal is to drill up to 100 tons of regolith per hour with its harvester, and is collaborating with its partner Vermeer to design a robot to replace worn-out parts. How much will this equipment cost? CEO Meyerson only said, "It's too early to discuss now," but Professor Dreyer estimates that the initial harvester will cost around $20 million. However, if mass production becomes possible, the cost could decrease significantly. "From an overall perspective, the cost of the machine itself is not a big problem," said Andringa, emphasizing that the start-up cost of the equipment is the same as before.
SpaceX's large rocket "Starship" holds the key to full-scale operations in the 2030s
■ SpaceX's large rocket "Starship" holds the key, full-scale operations in the 2030s Interlune's development schedule is based on the assumption that SpaceX's large rocket Starship will be able to provide lunar transport services in the early 2030s. The company's goal is to begin full operations by then, but a series of failures in recent Starship test flights threaten the realization of this goal. In addition, one of the reasons Interlune expects future growth is the significant reduction in launch costs brought by Starship. SpaceX initially estimated the cost to reach low Earth orbit at about $100 million, but the ultimate goal is to reduce it to $20 million.
Additionally, the payload capacity will reach 100 tons, which will allow the equipment needed for Interlune's mining base to be transported in one or two launches. Meyerson said that Blue Origin can also use lunar landers or other small aircraft currently under development, which will increase the number of launches and the cost. Another important issue is whether the selection of the mining site is correct. Interlune plans to send the spectral camera on the Astrolab rover to the moon later this year to see if the remote observation of the lunar geology is accurate. In addition, it plans to send a probe mission to one of the candidate sites in 2027 to analyze actual lunar regolith samples.
● Mining helium-3 is just the first step, considering the construction of lunar infrastructure Interlune not only wants to take on the mining work, but also wants to help the United States quickly build infrastructure on the moon. Meyerson said that the drilling technology developed in collaboration with Vermeer can also help build roads on the moon and Mars, as well as dig trenches to lay pipelines. The company plans to eventually expand to the mining of industrial metals, rare earths, and materials used as raw materials for rocket fuel.
The first step is to mine helium-3. Schmidt helped his father (an mining geologist) explore copper and other metals in the American Southwest when he was young. He is now happy that he may be able to realize his long-held dream of digging huge ore deposits on the moon. And he believes it will have a big impact on Earth. "If we have a stable supply, everything new will become possible," said Schmidt.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7547187191954326068/
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