The next frontier of finding natural resources might be in an unlikely location: the moon.
What’s happening:
- Natural resource startup Interlune has raised $18M USD in a seed round
- The round was led by Seven Seven Six, the venture capital fund of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian
The big idea:
- Interlune has developed patent pending technology that uses small machines to excavate lunar soil and extract Helium-3 from the moon
- Interlune’s purpose built machines are smaller and lighter than other space resource companies, aiming to make it less expensive to transport their technology into orbit
Why it matters:
- Interlune is aiming to become the first company in the United States to commercialize extracting resources from the moon, starting with Helium-3
- Helium-3 is a critical input for quantum computing, medical imaging, defense technology, fusion energy and more
By the numbers:
- Interlune machines require 10x less power than other technology built for resource mining and extraction in space
Going deeper:
- Interlune’s larger vision is to be able to validate their technology and machinery for extracting Helium-3 and then be able to harvest other resources from the moon including rare earths and energy transition metals
The intrigue:
- The founding team of Interlune includes former talent from Blue Origin and Rocket Lab
