Among the founders of the company are former employees of Blue Origin and an astronaut of the Apollo 17 mission.
Interlune plans to become the first company to extract natural resources from the Moon and sell them back to Earth. Initially, the startup will focus on Helium-3, an isotope of helium produced by fusion on the Sun.
In an interview with Ars Technica, Rob Meyerson, one of the founders of Interlune and former president of Blue Origin, said that the company hopes to use its facility in one of the future commercial missions to the Moon with the support of NASA. It is planned to be launched in 2028, with full operation starting by 2030.
This week, Interlune announced that it has raised $18 million — $15 million of which was in the latest round led by Seven Seven Six, a venture capital firm founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
Helium-3 — the resource that Interlune is targeting — can be used on Earth for quantum computing, medical imaging, and potentially as fuel for fusion reactors. Helium-3 is transported to the Moon by the solar wind, while the Earth’s magnetosphere deflects this particle stream. On our planet, it exists in very limited quantities (as a result of nuclear weapons testing, nuclear reactors, and radioactive decay), and the cost per liter reaches several thousand dollars.
Interlune is also planning a mission with a separate module that will assess helium-3 concentrations in selected areas.