This Startup Is Racing To Be The First To Mine Helium On The Moon
The post This Startup Is Racing To Be The First To Mine Helium On The Moon appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Interlune is developing robots to harvest a valuable gas on the lunar surface that could have a big impact on Earth. In the lobby of Interlune, a 3-foot-wide tabletop diorama shows an idyllic, toy-size version of the mining operation the Seattle startup wants to build on the moon. Boxy autonomous vehicles scrape up the top layer of lunar dirt and crush it to release gas containing a valuable form of helium. Solar panels on wheeled platforms generate power. Off to one side, a box resembling a military missile launcher is loaded with small rockets designed to carry bottles of the gas back to Earth. What Interlune is trying to do is far from child’s play. Helium-3, an industrially prized cousin of the isotope of the gas we use to fill party balloons, is rare on Earth. In 2024 it sold for $2,500 per liter, or roughly $19 million a kilogram, according to a report from Edelgas Group. Interlune CEO Rob Meyerson expects an installation with just five of his mining machines could one day produce at least 10 kg of helium-3 a year, worth close to $200 million. The company faces daunting hurdles to get there. Though there is more helium-3 on the moon, it’s still far from abundant. Even if Interlune can find lunar regions with higher concentrations, collecting a commercially viable amount of helium-3 means developing and transporting to the moon machines that can chew through millions of tons of regolith, the loose debris that covers the lunar surface from billions of years of micrometeorite impacts. Autonomously. With no boots on the ground to repair them as they kick up dust more abrasive than anything on Earth. “That’s one of the things we’re going to be great at,” Meyerson told Forbes. Loud whooshes cut with a high-pitched whine…
The post This Startup Is Racing To Be The First To Mine Helium On The Moon appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Interlune is developing robots to harvest a valuable gas on the lunar surface that could have a big impact on Earth. In the lobby of Interlune, a 3-foot-wide tabletop diorama shows an idyllic, toy-size version of the mining operation the Seattle startup wants to build on the moon. Boxy autonomous vehicles scrape up the top layer of lunar dirt and crush it to release gas containing a valuable form of helium. Solar panels on wheeled platforms generate power. Off to one side, a box resembling a military missile launcher is loaded with small rockets designed to carry bottles of the gas back to Earth. What Interlune is trying to do is far from child’s play. Helium-3, an industrially prized cousin of the isotope of the gas we use to fill party balloons, is rare on Earth. In 2024 it sold for $2,500 per liter, or roughly $19 million a kilogram, according to a report from Edelgas Group. Interlune CEO Rob Meyerson expects an installation with just five of his mining machines could one day produce at least 10 kg of helium-3 a year, worth close to $200 million. The company faces daunting hurdles to get there. Though there is more helium-3 on the moon, it’s still far from abundant. Even if Interlune can find lunar regions with higher concentrations, collecting a commercially viable amount of helium-3 means developing and transporting to the moon machines that can chew through millions of tons of regolith, the loose debris that covers the lunar surface from billions of years of micrometeorite impacts. Autonomously. With no boots on the ground to repair them as they kick up dust more abrasive than anything on Earth. “That’s one of the things we’re going to be great at,” Meyerson told Forbes. Loud whooshes cut with a high-pitched whine…
What's Your Reaction?
