{"id":17223,"date":"2024-03-13T21:11:30","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T13:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/interlune-comes-out-of-stealth-with-its-plan-to-harvest-helium-3-and-more-on-the-moon\/"},"modified":"2024-03-13T21:11:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T13:11:30","slug":"interlune-comes-out-of-stealth-with-its-plan-to-harvest-helium-3-and-more-on-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/interlune-comes-out-of-stealth-with-its-plan-to-harvest-helium-3-and-more-on-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Interlune comes out of stealth with its plan to harvest helium-3 and more on the moon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Illustration:
An artist\u2019s conception shows Interlune\u2019s robotic harvester on the moon. (Interlune Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seattle-based Interlune officially lifted the curtain today on its plans to build a robotic harvester that could extract helium-3 from moon dirt and send it back to Earth for applications ranging from quantum computing to fusion power.<\/p>\n

Rob Meyerson, a co-founder of the startup and former president of Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture, told GeekWire that an initial prospecting mission could be launched as early as 2026, with commercial operations beginning in the 2030s.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time in history, harvesting natural resources from the moon is technologically and economically feasible,\u201d Meyerson said today in a news release. \u201cWith our uniquely experienced and qualified team, Interlune is creating the core technologies to extract and process lunar resources responsibly to serve a wide range of customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s announcement confirmed previous reports that Interlune has raised $18 million in seed capital, including angel investments as well as more than $15 million in funding that was reported in a regulatory filing last month.<\/p>\n

That funding round was led by Seven Seven Six, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian\u2019s venture firm, with participation by other investors including Aurelia Foundry Fund, Gaingels, Liquid 2 Ventures, Shasta Ventures and alumni from the University of Michigan (where Meyerson went to school).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe invested in Interlune because access to the ample cache of helium-3 and other precious natural resources on the moon and beyond will unlock or accelerate technological advancements currently hindered by lack of supply,\u201d Ohanian said.<\/p>\n

Katelin Holloway, a founding partner of Seven Seven Six, will join Interlune\u2019s board of directors. \u201cWhat captivates me most [about Interlune] is their unique position to transform decades of technological advancements into near-term reality, giving hope that my grandmother and young sons might soon witness history in their shared lifetime,\u201d Holloway said.<\/p>\n

In addition to Meyerson, Interlune\u2019s founding team includes Gary Lai, who served as Blue Origin\u2019s chief architect and is now chief technology officer at Interlune; executive chairman Harrison Schmitt, who walked on the moon as an Apollo 17 astronaut and served a term in the U.S. Senate; chief operating officer Indra Hornsby, an aerospace executive with previous experience at Rocket Lab and BlackSky; and head of product James Antifaev, a tech executive whose resume includes stints at Spaceflight Inc., Alphabet\u2019s Loon venture and Maxar Technologies.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Blue Origin veterans Gary Lai (left) and Rob Meyerson (center), and Apollo 17 moonwalker Harrison Schmitt (right), are among the co-founders of Interlune. (Lai and Schmitt photos by Alan Boyle for GeekWire; Meyerson photo via ISPCS and YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018This is a big vision\u2019<\/h4>\n

The first outlines of Interlune\u2019s business plan came to light last October, but today Meyerson delved more deeply into the company\u2019s vision for bringing valuable lunar resources back to Earth. \u201cThis is a big vision, but we\u2019re closer than you think,\u201d he told GeekWire. \u201cWe\u2019re just at the very beginning, and we\u2019re going to see a ramp-up of operational missions to the moon here in the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interlune aims to take advantage of other companies\u2019 commercial services for delivering payloads to the moon \u2014 and eventually bringing lunar materials back to Earth as well. The business plan would also leverage existing efforts to develop lunar rovers \u2014 including NASA\u2019s Lunar Terrain Vehicle, or LTV.<\/p>\n

Meyerson said the company\u2019s key technologies have to do with excavating, extracting and separating out helium-3 from lunar soil. \u201cThe methods we\u2019ve created for that use an order of magnitude less power than the common technologies that NASA has been promoting,\u201d he said. Last year, Interlune won a $246,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to work on its soil-sorting technology.<\/p>\n

Helium-3 \u2014 a stable isotope that\u2019s lighter than the much more common helium-4 that fills up party balloons \u2014 has been talked up in recent years as a coolant for quantum computers. It also has national-security applications for detecting nuclear material, and medical applications for lung imaging.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the best-known potential use of helium-3 is as a fuel for commercial fusion reactors. For example, Everett, Wash.-based Helion Energy and Princeton Fusion Systems plan to use helium-3 and deuterium in their reactors.<\/p>\n

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