This issue of The Quarterly features Rob Meyerson, the former president of Blue Origin and current CEO of Interlune, interviewed by Mike Mahoney, director of space and defense at Teague. Rob’s company Interlune is aiming to be “the first U.S. company to commercialize resources from space,” and is developing technology to extract Helium 3 and other materials from lunar soil.
Let me know what you think of our third issue by replying to this email—I’d love to hear your feedback.
Enjoy,
Lucinda
MIke Mahoney, Teague
Rob Meyerson, Interlune
Mike Mahoney:Let’s get right into it, Rob. What has made helium 3 such a valuable resource that it is now justifiable to mine it from the Moon? Can you talk about some of the uses of H3 that are driving this need?
Rob Meyerson:Helium 3 is rare on Earth… it sells for $20 million per kilogram. It has applications in cryogenics research and superconducting quantum computing—it’s used for keeping things extremely cold. It’s also used in border security, as a radiation portal monitor for border crossings. After 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security steered most of the helium 3 in the US stockpile into border security, resulting in a very large shortage, and now it’s rationed by the Department of Energy. It’s hard to get because it is produced on Earth from tritium decay, and that is what has ultimately drove the price up to where it sits today.
Helium 3 is plentiful in space, though, because it’s produced in the Sun’s natural fusion process. Helium 3 and other gases are transported through space via the solar wind, and have been implanting the Moon for billions of years. Now that companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and others are developing systems to get to the Moon, where helium 3 is more abundant, the idea of going to the Moon to harvest it becomes a reality.
MM: You mentioned that helium 3 has applications in quantum computing. Like lunar mining, quantum computing is not a fully realized technology yet, but it’s inching closer. Will quantum computers be coming online and needing a steady supply of helium 3 right when Interlune is ready to provide it?
RM: Our forecast is that by the end of this decade, everything is going to line up to send industrial machines to the Moon, to harvest helium 3 at a moderate industrial scale; providing 20 kilograms of helium 3 per year, which is about 10 times the current global production. Experts are projecting we could have functional quantum computers in 3 to 7 years. Progress is being made every year.
"Our forecast is that by the end of this decade, everything is going to line up to send industrial machines to the Moon."
Our business is dependent on NASA's continued investment in the Artemis Program, building big cargo landers, small landers, lunar rovers, and more. But we think everything's going to line up by 2030.
MM: Just 10 years ago, Interlune’s goal may have been dismissed by most as science-fiction, but now, clearly judging by your grant awards and seed funding, you’re being taken very seriously. What has happened in the space industry to make Moon mining remotely realistic?
RM: I would say even five years ago, this idea would have been dismissed out of hand. We would have heard “get out of my office” or “Don't even ask!” What's happened is...
We had fun at CES and the Detroit Auto Show this month. Here are a few of the events we'll be at soon—reach out to the folks below if you’d like to connect.
.png?upscale=true&width=560&upscale=true&name=Portrait%20Layouts%20Square%20(3).png)
