For billions of years, solar winds have bombarded the Moon. Over time, this constant onslaught of charged particles has caused helium-3 to accumulate in the lunar surface. This isotope is rare on Earth, and rising demand from several industries—including quantum computing—has incentivized some companies to explore the possibility of lunar mining.
One such company is Interlune, a Seattle-based startup that aims to extract natural resources—primarily helium-3—from the lunar surface. Interlune eventually hopes to sell its harvested helium-3 to government and commercial customers in the national security, medical imaging, fusion energy, and quantum computing industries—and it just struck a major commercial deal.
The largest purchase of lunar resources yet
On Tuesday, Interlune announced a partnership with Bluefors, a leading manufacturer of dilution refrigerators and one of the world’s largest consumers of helium-3. Its continuous cooling systems use helium-3 to keep quantum computers running at the ultra-low temperatures required for maintaining qubit stability and reliable operation.
As the quantum computing industry moves toward commercialization—with tech giants such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft reporting progress in scaling—the demand for helium-3 is set to rise. Bluefors agreed to purchase up to 10,000 liters of helium-3 annually from Interlune between 2028 and 2037. This substance trades at around $2,500 per liter, according to a 2024 estimate from The Edelgas Group. The deal is the largest purchase of lunar resources to date.
“A majority of the quantum technology industry relies on Bluefors systems to operate and accelerate development,” Rob Meyerson, Interlune co-founder and CEO, said in a company release. “We are excited to help Bluefors continue advancing companies toward unlocking scientific and medical discoveries made possible only by near-absolute-zero temperatures.”
How Interlune plans to mine the Moon by 2028
Meyerson, former president of Blue Origin, founded Interlune in 2020 alongside former chief architect Gary Lai and Harrison Schmitt, the only living member of Apollo 17. Ever since that mission, Schmitt—a geologist—has advocated for humanity to harness the Moon’s helium-3 reserves.
Interlune has spent the past five years working toward that goal. The company has raised over $18 million in venture funding to develop robotic harvesters and launch a demonstration mission in 2027 as well as a pilot plant by 2029, according to SpaceNews.
This funding and the clearly laid-out roadmap are promising, but it remains to be seen whether Interlune will overcome the steep technological, logistical, and financial challenges of lunar mining by 2028. Though the prospect has garnered plenty of buzz in recent years, very few companies have made real progress toward achieving it.
What’s more, some experts argue that the value of mining the Moon’s helium-3 is overblown. The fact is, we don’t know for sure how much is up there. And although the highest concentrations measured in the Apollo and Luna samples are greater than Earth’s, they’re still very low.
For now, the Moon’s helium-3 is more promise than product, but Interlune’s deal with Bluefors signals rising demand from the quantum computing industry—and could mark a major step toward a new era of space resource extraction.
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