{"id":17055,"date":"2026-02-04T22:27:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/interlune-digs-into-the-development-of-an-excavator-for-helium-3-and-construction-projects-on-the-moon\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T22:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:27:28","slug":"interlune-digs-into-the-development-of-an-excavator-for-helium-3-and-construction-projects-on-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/interlune-digs-into-the-development-of-an-excavator-for-helium-3-and-construction-projects-on-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Interlune digs into the development of an excavator for helium-3 and construction projects on the moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1260\" height=\"815\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/260204-interlune2-1260x815.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-912688\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/260204-interlune2-1260x815.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/260204-interlune2-768x497.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/260204-interlune2-1536x993.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/260204-interlune2.jpg 1570w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">Interlune and Vermeer worked together to test a full-scale prototype of an excavator with auxiliary components. (Interlune \/ Vermeer Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Interlune is leveraging a $150,000 NASA contract to develop develop lunar trenching and excavation technology \u2014 and although the primary goal is to extract valuable helium-3 from moon dirt, the project also signals the company\u2019s broader play for lunar infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Interlune\u2019s work on the Small Business Technology Transfer Phase 1 contract, done in partnership with the Colorado School of Mines, demonstrates that the Seattle-based startup\u2019s business model isn\u2019t limited to helium-3. In the years ahead, the technologies pioneered by Interlune for resource extraction can also be used for building roads, base camps and other construction projects on the moon.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the excavator that\u2019s the focus of the NASA funding \u2014 known as the Scalable Implement for Lunar Trenching, or SILT \u2014 will support Interlune\u2019 plan to sift through tons of lunar soil. But it will also support NASA\u2019s Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable lunar presence in the 2030s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re looking at some other tools that would move regolith around, or prepare a site for making a road or building a radiation berm, burying a certain piece of infrastructure like a nuclear reactor,\u201d Interlune CEO Rob Meyerson told GeekWire. \u201cSo, we\u2019re very interested in participating in the Artemis program in broader ways, and we think the technology we\u2019re developing for helium-3 extraction can support that.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Resource That Makes Going to the Moon Worth It | What The Future\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jEPi9VKf-jA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Lunar helium-3 extraction leads the list of Interlune\u2019s priorities because Meyerson and the company\u2019s other founders believe that could be a lucrative line of business.<\/p>\n<p>Helium-3 can be used in quantum computers, medical imaging systems, nuclear weapon detectors and even future fusion reactors \u2014 but it\u2019s so rare on Earth that it sells for up to $20 million per kilogram. Interlune is betting that it can make a profit by extracting helium-3 that\u2019s deposited on the moon by solar wind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the U.S., we produce one kilogram of helium-3 per year from tritium decay, give or take,\u201d Meyerson said. \u201cOn the moon, we intend to extract 10 kilograms of helium-3 per year from our first helium-3 harvesting operation in the 2030s. And if we had helium-3 fusion, we would need 100 kilograms of helium-3 to power a city the size of Seattle for one year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The excavator development project builds on work that Interlune has conducted in partnership with Vermeer Corp., an Iowa-based industrial equipment manufacturer. Last year, the two companies unveiled a full-scale prototype for an excavator that would be capable of ingesting 100 metric tons of moon dirt in an hour.<\/p>\n<p>Under the terms of the NASA contract, Interlune and the Colorado School of Mines will focus on optimizing the excavator\u2019s design for the lunar environment and minimizing its power consumption. Work on the current phase of the project is due to wrap up by mid-2026, and if the results are sufficiently positive, Interlune could get the go-ahead for follow-up funding.<\/p>\n<p>Meyerson cited other areas where Interlune\u2019s work on the core technologies for its lunar harvesting system is attracting government support:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Texas Space Commission provided a grant of up to $4.8 million to support a facility in Houston that focuses on creating better substitutes for moon rocks and soil. \u201cThe first one will be a regolith simulant that has implanted solar wind in it. \u2026 And we\u2019re working on a device that will actually implant helium and\/or hydrogen into the regolith,\u201d Meyerson said.<\/li>\n<li>The Department of the Air Force\u2019s AFWERX program granted Interlune a $1.25 million contract to work on a new method to separate helium-3 from domestic helium for use in cooling quantum computers. \u201cWe\u2019re working very closely with the Air Force Research Lab, and we\u2019re also working with an industrial gas partner that we haven\u2019t announced yet,\u201d Meyerson said. \u201cWe would plug into their helium plant and extract helium-3, and so that\u2019s a very important project for us.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>NASA\u2019s TechFlights program awarded $348,000 to support reduced-gravity testing of Interlune\u2019s regolith-processing system.<\/li>\n<li>Interlune won a $246,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to work on its soil-sorting technology.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Interlune was founded in 2020 by Meyerson, a former president of Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture, and other aerospace veterans including Apollo 17 moonwalker Harrison Schmitt. The team has since grown to about 25 employees in Seattle, Houston and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>So far the company has brought in $18 million in seed funding, and it recently reported raising more funds through a Simple Agreement for Future Equity, or SAFE. \u201cWe elected to do this because we wanted to raise some additional money in anticipation of some of these contract awards, like the one we\u2019re talking about today. And we\u2019ve got some more announcements coming,\u201d Meyerson said.<\/p>\n<p>A multispectral camera built by Interlune in partnership with NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center could begin surveying lunar terrain for helium-3 as early as this summer. Interlune says it already has more than half a billion dollars\u2019 worth of purchase orders and government contracts for helium-3.<\/p>\n<p>Meyerson said helium-3 will be a \u201cgreat first product\u201d for Interlune. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut once we get established on the moon, and we have all this infrastructure on the moon \u2014 excavating and sorting and extracting and separating \u2014 we can then start to evolve and add capability to produce water and split that into liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can extract metals, rare earths and silicon, and help with construction and excavation, like we\u2019re doing under this NASA contract. Those are all important adjacent services that will help to build the in-space economy. And we think that is going to be huge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interlune and Vermeer worked together to test a full-scale prototype of an excavator with auxiliary components. (Interlune \/ Vermeer Photo) Interlune is leveraging a $150,000 NASA contract to develop develop lunar trenching and excavation technology \u2014 and although the primary goal is to extract valuable helium-3 from moon dirt, the project also signals the company\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[304,4354,4339,14,625],"class_list":["post-17055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-artemis","tag-helium-3","tag-interlune","tag-mining","tag-moon"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17055"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}