Interlune: The Origin Story

The transformative era in space development that is now upon us, with its genuine promise for improving and even rejuvenating life on Earth, may very well be traced to what has been little more than a historical footnote.

Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong, after collecting the first Moon rocks in July 1969, also gathered 17 scoops of lunar soil from a five-by-three square-meter area directly below the right window of the Lunar Module Eagle. 

As I learned while working at NASA in the 1990s, it was a consequential move. Packed into that fine regolith collected from Tranquility Base during the first Moon landing was one of the most valuable natural resources we know of: Helium-3, the light, stable isotope of Helium, containing two protons and one neutron.

At the time, there were hopes that the Space Shuttle program could spur a commercial space economy, and Helium-3 was considered one of the most valuable resources that could be developed.

Helium-3 is in such short supply and high demand that it costs more than $20 million per kilogram. On Earth, it comes primarily from the decay of Tritium, which is used in the production of nuclear weapons, which makes it exceedingly limited. 

But Helium-3 is relatively plentiful on the Moon. And its potential for revolutionizing our way of life is better understood than ever. 

It can power a new era in clean energy with nuclear fusion, assist in advancing human knowledge through quantum computing, and enable breakthroughs in medical imaging that help tens of millions of people receive better diagnoses and treatment.

But only now do we have the capability to harvest large quantities on the Moon. Between steadily lowering costs of space launch services and ongoing investments in lunar infrastructure (like landers, rovers, and power and communication networks), we can bring Helium-3 back to Earth in a responsible and sustainable way.

That is our mission at Interlune, where we have enlisted what we believe is the singular team to advance the technologies, help lay the essential policy and regulatory foundation, and mature the business case for what, in a few short years, could be one of the biggest commodity businesses in history.

From research to reality

“It was beginning to become apparent, even in the early part of this century, that there were going to be other markets for Helium-3.” – Interlune Executive Chairman Harrison “Jack” Schmitt 

Perhaps no one has advanced the vision for securing Helium-3 from space more than Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, our executive chairman. 

Jack spent three days exploring the lunar surface in December 1972 on Apollo 17 as the only geologist to walk on the Moon.

He is the author of “Return to the Moon,” a primer published nearly two decades ago that represents the first business plan for lunar resource development. 

I first met Jack at the Huntsville, Alabama, airport the day after he gave a rousing keynote speech at the Wernher von Braun Memorial Dinner. I later invited him to join Blue Origin's Science Advisory Board, and our relationship grew steadily from there.

Jack has been studying the potential applications of Helium-3 since 1986, when he was enlisted in a research project by Professor Gerald Kulcinski, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

The focus was on Helium-3’s potential application in nuclear fusion. It is from a research proposal that the University of Wisconsin’s Fusion Technology Institute submitted to NASA in 1994, titled “Interlune-One,” that our company name was derived.

In recent years it has become clear that there are other ready-made and game-changing applications for Helium-3.

After 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security mandated the use of Helium-3 for radiation portal monitors at U.S. border crossings. This resulted in a shortage of Helium-3 that has never been solved. 

Other key applications of Helium-3 include medical imaging, where the gas can improve the effectiveness of MRI and potentially save countless lives. Superconducting quantum computing is enabled by Helium-3 because it allows dilution refrigerators to chill down to near absolute zero temperatures, reducing errors and making the next generation of computer calculations and simulations possible.

Leading the way

‍‍‍“We knew we had lessons to learn in terms of the policy environment and the regulatory framework in order to do this for the first time. Bringing that along as you develop the technology and business is key.” – Interlune Chief Operating Officer Indra Hornsby 

I next enlisted Indra Hornsby, a veteran aerospace executive and commercial space lawyer who has held senior posts at MDA, Rocket Lab, and Spaceflight Industries.

Indra, working closely with Jack, swiftly set out to assess all the relevant legal and diplomatic precedents relating to space operations, including the Space Resources Utilization Act of 2015, and identify where they might need to be modernized to account for an endeavor only now possible at an industrial scale and ensure we are pursuing it in an enduring way. 

Since joining forces in 2020, Indra has taken the lead in building an operation ready for growth. She has been working with government entities to ensure that we will operate on solid legal grounds and shape a regime for cooperative cis-lunar development for decades to come.

Capturing demand

“Lowering the cost of space access is key to any high, large scale transformative commercial space business.” – Interlune Chief Technology Officer Gary Lai

‍“Helium-3 can transform the world by enabling quantum computing, medical imaging, border security, and energy abundance and a sustainable climate for everyone in the future.” – Interlune Product Head James Antifaev

With the nearing arrival of Starship and other launch vehicles, and the growing Artemis program, it was time to focus on building a transformative commercial space business.  

We needed a technology leader and my first choice was Gary Lai, whom I first met when he joined Kistler Aerospace as an intern while he was completing his studies at the University of Washington. I later recruited him to Blue Origin, and Gary led our advanced studies team before going on to lead the development of New Shepard – and then he flew to space on it. 

Gary brings a unique mix of skills in both finance and engineering, so after raising the first pre-seed round of investment, we brought on Gary in the Fall of 2022 to define our architecture and our technology roadmap.

At the same time, we brought on James Antifaev, a business development and emerging markets professional whom Indra had worked with at MDA. James had worked at innovative companies ranging from Maxar to Google and, during a phone call to reconnect on business opportunities, Indra proposed the idea of having James join our small team to advise on sales and business development. His role grew from there. 

Following the close of our pre-seed round in September 2022, we invited both Gary and James to join the team as co-founders - Gary as our CTO and James as our Head of Product.

Gary's first task was to define an architecture that allows us to extract Helium-3 and bring it back to Earth at a price point that generates a positive gross margin. There were also obvious technological challenges associated with extracting Helium-3 from the Moon’s regolith. Gary set out to test our key assumptions, answer the key questions, and then scale the architecture. 

James's first task was to test our market assumptions with key customers. He reached out to market leaders in fusion energy, medical imaging, and quantum computing. Our biggest surprise was the demand for Helium-3 in the superconducting quantum computing market. The race was on!

With Gary and James on board as co-founders, we were able to establish the architecture and project the business reality in five years and beyond. By early 2023, we had signed letters of intent that soon amounted to more than $1 billion. 

We were able to show that there is real demand and that allowed Interlune to advance to the seed funding round, raising $15 million led by Alexis Ohanian’s firm Seven Seven Six. Like us, our investors are thinking very big and have confidence that we can do what no space company has before and do it in a responsible and sustainable way that benefits us all.