Interlune aims to extract Elio-3 from the moon. Will this startup succeed in the ambitious company to feed quantum IT and nuclear fusion?
The interlune startup, founded in 2020 by former Blue Origin engineers, has a bold goal: Extract Elio-3 (³he) from the moon. This rare isotope (Isotopes are atoms with equal number of protons, but different number of neutron), deposited in the lunar regolite with a sunny wind and found in the samples of the Apollo missions, is now considered a possible Key resource for quantum IT and, in perspective, for nuclear fusion. But the road is far from simple.
Colossal enterprise. According to the estimates of the US Geological Survey, To obtain even a kilogram of Elio-3, it is necessary to process up to one million tons of lunar rulers: a challenge comparable to terrestrial mining action on an industrial scale.
“It is a huge company,” explained Laszlo Keszthelyi, geologist of the USGS, “but technically possible”. Despite the initial skepticism, including that of some co-founders, the CEO of Interlune Rob Meyerson said that the growing demand for Elio-3 for advanced applications justifies the investment. The company plans to use robotic harvests as large as SUV, powered by solar energy, to dig up to three meters in the lunar surface. “We will not devastate the moon,” Meyerson specified, “we will leave the ground like an alleged field”.
High altitude business. Currently Elio-3 has an estimated market value of around $ 20 million per kilogram. Interlune initially focuses on the sector of quantum calculation, where Elio-3 is used as a cryogenic fluid to cool quibits at temperatures close to absolute zero.
“It is our main demand area,” Meyerson explained. The startup does not exclude future developments in the context of nuclear fusion, advanced medical technologies and safety sensors. “There are many promising uses,” he added, “but the quantum computing is what generates interest today”.
Arriving missions SUlla surface of the moon there is a relatively abundant quantity of Elio-3 (³he) compared to the earth, mainly due to the “sun wind”, a flow of particles emitted by the sun. And it is precisely within the latter that there are also light ions (the ions are atoms to which one or more electrons have been torn), including Elio-3. The earth, with its atmosphere and magnetic field, protects the surface from these particles. The moonon the other hand, has no atmosphere or a significant magnetic field, therefore the surface it is exposed directly to the sun wind and the helium-3 can accumulate over time.
The first concrete goal is one Lunar mission in 2027 To test the collection of the Elio-3 on a small scale. By 2029, Interlune hopes to install a Moon pilot system. The company intends to exploit the transport services of the NASA CLPS program and has already collected approximately 18 million dollars in private funds, as well as public funding, including contributions from NASA, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. To test their machinery in low-severity conditions, Interlune has carried out parabolic flights with the Zero-G Corporation, using a modified Boeing 727. Its robotic harvests, still in the patent phase, are designed to work in hostile environments and to be transported to a single mission of the Spacex starship.
Skepticism. Former astronaut Jack Schmitt, one of the last men to have walked on the moon and today president of Interlune, supports the project since the seventies. But the scientific community remains cautious. Keszthelyi, of the USGS, recently conducted an evaluation of lunar resources, classifying the helium-3 as “presumably unrecoverable”. The concentrations detected in the Apollo samples vary from 2.4 to 26 parts per billion. “We need a huge amount of material to obtain little product,” he warned.
Also according to Chris Dreyer, director of engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, The main challenge will be the efficiency of the extraction: “It is necessary to analyze large portions of the lunar territory to find the right deposits”. Dust, extreme thermal cycles and logistical complexities represent non -trivial obstacles.
Lunar bet. The Interlune team has received new funds for Develop a technology capable of separating the Elio-3 from the Earth’s Eliowhile the design of tools to sift and treat the reglite on site continues.
“There are no huge quantities to have an economic return,” Meyerson said. “We think we can provide tens of kilograms a year, and and those prices, is a sustainable market.”
