Interlune
Helium-3 is extremely rare on our planet, but it can be very useful for advances in quantum computing and nuclear fusion. To solve this problem, a team of scientists turns to the moon.
Helium-3 is an expensive product because it has just costs thousands of dollars per liter. According to it, it is on Earth on a ratio of about one part per million parts of Helium-4.
On Earth, it is rarebut in other areas of the solar system is abundant. In the sun, for example, helium is formed as a byproduct of nuclear fusion. Only we couldn’t extract it.
This element can be very important for the development of quantum computers and for future nuclear fusion reactors.
“Our goal is to be the first company to market space resources,” says a US startup, A, wants to start extracting helium-3… from the moon. And already in 2027-they even have a name for the mission, Prospect Moon.
And “it’s potentially viable,” says Clive Neal, a professor at the University of Notre Dame. “But what we don’t know is what is the real solar wind content of this lunar soil ”.
Measure the real levels of lunar helium-3, as well as other gases that may be incorporated on the lunar surface, is one of the main objectives of the mission. “They are incredibly valuable,” comments the scientist.
But it is not just for measurement that turns to the Interlune team: they also want Evaluate the accuracy of our lunar maps that predict where it is likely to find the isotope-which are currently based on remotely obtained data-and also test Interlune Helium-3 extraction technology.
And there is an advantage, according to Neal, to do this extraction on the moon and not on Earth: our natural satellite has no biodiversity. “There is no life thereSo why do we need to preserve the environment? ”, He interrogates.
