That isotope, helium-3, is rare on Earth—measured in just tens of kilograms per year—but plentiful in the Moon’s surface dust after eons of solar-wind bombardment. It carries strong potential as a clean-fusion fuel, and its cryogenic properties already underpin ultra-low-temperature quantum processors, high-definition lung MRI scans, and neutron detectors that police global trade lanes. At roughly $50 million per kilogram, demand is throttled not by interest but by supply.

A new agreement with NASA will give Magna Petra access to flight-qualified hardware for its first lunar prospecting mission. If Max’s phased, partner-heavy plan holds, that hardware could help deliver the first commercially mined lunar commodity back to Earth before the decade ends.

The NASA partnership that de-risks first contact

Under a new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Magna Petra will field-test the agency’s lunar-hardened Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO). The instrument—previously flown on government missions—will validate the company’s AI-driven “digital twin” of helium-3 distribution.

“We’re mounting this NASA instrument on a rover… as the rover transits the lunar surface,a rake on the under-side disturbs the regolith, creating plumes of isotopes,  and the instrument reads the composition,” Max said. NASA retains a research windfall; Magna Petra avoids years of in-house sensor development. “By combining public-sector ingenuity with private-sector agility, this agreement allows us to ground our science in real-world data,” Max says. 

He then widens the lens to explain why the arrangement matters to investors outside the space sector: “We’re an energy/–resource/ logistics company, not a ‘space company.’ This is a resources and energy play—we just happen to be doing it in space.” In other words, he views the Moon as nothing more exotic than an upstream mine site; launch vehicles are the trucking fleet, and cislunar transit is the rail link. The collaboration with NASA is simply the first step in proving that this supply chain can move a high-value commodity—helium-3—from an off-planet quarry to energy and technology markets on Earth.

A phased, partner-heavy flight plan

Before Magna Petra can ferry helium-3 to Earth, it has to progress through a disciplined sequence of milestones that balance scientific validation, commercial risk, and capital efficiency. The plan unfolds in five clearly defined phases—each one leveraging specialized partners for launch, transit, instrumentation, or surface operations—so the company can focus squarely on the missing piece: proving and scaling lunar isotope extraction as a viable business.

Digital-twin groundwork (2024 – 2025)

Magna Petra’s first task plays out on the desktop. An in-house AI team refines a “digital twin” of the Moon, ingesting four-and-a-half billion years of solar-wind models, isotope-migration data, and NASA spectral archives. “The model gives us a first-pass map of helium-3 distribution and density,” Jeff Max says, “but ground truth still matters.”

Recon Mission 1 – South-polar prospecting (2027)

The company’s maiden landing will ride to a south-polar site aboard ispace’s Mission 3 lander. A small rover, fitted with NASA’s flight-qualified MSOLO mass spectrometer, will rake the regolith; liberated gas plumes will flow into the instrument for real-time analysis. “We’re literally shaking loose the dust and reading what comes off,” Max explains, noting that polar regions combine long solar-wind exposure with permanently shadowed cold traps.

Recon Mission 2 – Equatorial validation (2027/8)

A second mission, scheduled for 2027/8 on ispace’s next flight, repeats the experiment at an equatorial location. Comparing data from two widely separated latitudes will confirm—or correct—the digital-twin predictions. “If the model nails both sites, confidence leaps for every pixel of that map,” Max says.

Capture-and-return demonstration (2029 – 2030)

With deposits verified, Magna Petra’s next step is a capture-and-return mission. A proprietary low-energy plume-capture device aims to gather tens of kilograms of helium-3, store the gas in pressure vessels, and deliver it to Earth via a sample-return capsule. Max puts the economics bluntly: “A 20-kilogram cargo at today’s prices approaches a billion dollars of revenue against a mid-nine-figure mission cost.”

Industrial scale-up (2031 and beyond)

Success unlocks an industrial phase early in the next decade. Multiple capture units—delivered by commercial landers, serviced by cislunar transports, and operated in parallel—would create a regular commodity pipeline from the lunar surface to Earth. “I’m not reinventing launch or landers,” Max emphasizes. “SpaceX provides launch, and our cislunar partners handle transit. We focus on the part no one else is doing—harvesting the isotope and proving it can pay for itself.”

To execute each phase, Max refuses to reinvent core services others already excel at. “I’m not going to build launch—SpaceX does that fine… If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” That ethos extends to cislunar transport (ispace and others), surface mobility (partner discussions with Toyota and others), and sample-return logistics.

Funding realities: space timelines versus venture horizons

Today the world ekes out only 20-60 kilograms of helium-3 per year, distilled from aging nuclear warheads in the United States, Russia, and China. “Helium-3 today on Earth is super expensive… it can sell for as much as $50 million a kilo,” Max noted, a price that throttles broader commercial use. Magna Petra’s business model targets that bottleneck: collect the isotope where it is plentiful and return it to the markets that need it.

Max remains candid about the financial gap between deep-space project cycles and standard venture-capital return windows. He warns that the Venture Capital ecosystem “have effectively become bankers,” seeking three-to-five-year exits that clash with eight-year technology-readiness ladders common in space tech. That mismatch strands many deep-space ventures in what Max calls “the valley of execution”—too capital-intensive for quick software-style returns, yet too commercial to live on grants alone.

Helium-3 extraction offers a rare bridge: a lunar exploration mission with an Earth-side commodity revenue stream, large enough to satisfy investors without perpetual government grants. Because the isotope already commands ≈ US $50 million per kilogram on Earth, a single 20-kilogram return payload could gross about US $1 billion, while Max pegs the demonstration mission at roughly US $230 million—an undeniably attractive margin.

“It’s still exploration,” he notes, “but the economic return lands back on Earth, not in a closed space-only loop”. In other words, helium-3 provides a commodity payoff that arrives early enough to fit within a fund’s second term, effectively bridging the gap that has stalled other lunar-resource concepts such as water or oxygen extraction.

To align incentives across that timeline, Magna Petra relies on three capital channels:

• Strategic hardware contributions: Public agencies provide access to flight-qualified instruments—NASA supplies MSOLO, for example—in exchange for priority access to the new science these devices collect on the Moon.
• Mission-level equity stakes: Long-horizon investors commit capital directly to the demonstration flight and receive a proportional share of any helium-3 revenue that payload generates.
• Partner-aligned investment: Strategic partners are paid in the currency that matters most to them—be it money, mission data, flight heritage, or brand visibility—so long as the mix advances the mission and meets their objectives.

Combined, the model de-risks execution and accommodates investor time horizons: government assets compress early capital needs, strategic partners lower cash burn by supplying proven hardware or services, and the first commercial cargo of helium-3 promises a payday soon enough to satisfy even “banker” VCs—something few other exploration missions can claim

Why Helium-3 Matters—And the Milestones Magna Petra Aims to Hit

Even the most compelling technical promise hinges on two things: a clear value proposition for end-users on Earth and a step-by-step plan that actually delivers product into their hands. Helium-3 checks the first box, offering clean fusion fuel, quantum-grade cryogenics, sharper medical imaging, and better nuclear-contraband detection. Magna Petra’s task is to check the second—moving from verified lunar deposits to kilogram-scale returns and routine deliveries.

Clean power without radioactive waste

Helium-3 fusion converts mass directly to electricity with no long-lived radioactive by-products. “When you fuse two helium-3 molecules … you generate the highest amount of energy per gram of fuel of any source that exists, and you generate zero radioactive waste,” Jeff Max told us. If Magna Petra can ship even a few tens of kilograms per year, grid-scale reactors gain a fuel that sidesteps the disposal and public-acceptance problems that dog deuterium–tritium designs.

The cryogenic backbone for quantum computing

The same isotope boils at 3⁰ K, making it “the only refrigerant that’s been identified for dilutive cooling for quantum data centers.” Quantum processors need millikelvin environments to keep qubits coherent; a reliable lunar supply would remove today’s cost and volume bottleneck, opening the path to industrial-scale quantum clusters.

Sharper images and safer borders

Hospitals already use helium-3 as an inhalant for ultra-high-contrast lung MRI, but scarcity drives prices to roughly US $20 000 per patient scan, limiting deployment. Border agencies face a similar pinch: neutron detectors that “light up if there’s a container … with nuclear material in it” rely on the isotope, yet annual global production hovers between 20 kg and 60 kg. An Earth-bound medical and security market therefore waits for volume, not demand.

A commodity anchor for the lunar economy

Most in-situ resource ideas—water ice, oxygen, construction regolith—carry 20- to 30-year paybacks and depend on government procurement. Max argues that helium-3 is different: it “is an exploration mission that has a commercial hook” because the product returns to Earth and commands billion-dollar cargo values today. That near-term cash flow could seed a broader cislunar logistics network, showing private investors a path to profit before the hotel-on-the-Moon era arrives.

Execution: the only metric that counts

For all the promise, Max keeps the scorecard brutally simple: “It’s only ever about execution … Success looks like success.” For Magna Petra the checkpoints are clear:

1. Verified deposits: Reconnaissance rovers must prove the digital-twin maps accurately locate rich regolith pockets.
2. Captured kilograms: The 2029–2030 capture-and-return mission needs to “grab it, can it, and bring it back.”
3. Delivery and use: True victory arrives only when fusion labs, quantum fabs, hospitals, and port authorities receive isotope they can deploy. “Collection is success number one; delivery and use are success number two.”

If those milestones are met, Magna Petra won’t just have mined the Moon; it will have inserted a critical element into Earth’s clean-energy and advanced-technology supply chains.

Looking Ahead

Magna Petra is betting that disciplined execution, not speculative hype, will anchor the first profitable link between the Moon and Earth’s clean-energy economy. If its timeline holds, the company will deliver a commercial cargo of helium-3 before many terrestrial fusion startups switch on their demonstration plants. Whether Magna Petra or another team crosses the line first, the lesson for the lunar resources field is the same: pair a commodity with existing demand, structure capital around early revenue, and partner for everything else.

• Interlune, a Seattle-based startup, has secured two landmark helium-3 supply deals: one with the U.S. Department of Energy Isotope Program and another with Maybell Quantum, its first commercial customer.
• The DOE agreement represents the first government purchase of a non-terrestrial resource, while Maybell plans to use helium-3 for quantum refrigeration starting in 2029 as the demand for scalable quantum computing grows.
• Interlune will process helium-3 directly on the Moon using a lightweight, energy-efficient harvester, with initial deliveries returning to Earth and future operations aimed at building a long-term in-space economy.

A Seattle-based startup with plans of mining the Moon for helium-3 is already booking customers.

Interlune has announced two deals this week signaling that its vision of commercial lunar resource extraction is moving closer to reality. According to the company, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Isotope Program (DOE IP) has agreed to purchase three liters of helium-3 harvested from the Moon by April 2029. In a parallel announcement, quantum refrigeration company Maybell Quantum signed on as Interlune’s first commercial customer, with plans to buy thousands of liters of helium-3 annually between 2029 and 2035.

The deals mark a turning point in the long-theorized promise of lunar resource mining, particularly for helium-3, a rare isotope on Earth but relatively abundant in the Moon’s surface due to its exposure to solar wind. Helium-3 has several high-value uses, including in weapons detection, cryogenic refrigeration for quantum computers, medical imaging, and as a potential clean fuel for fusion energy.

“This inaugural purchase of lunar helium-3 from Interlune demonstrates the crucial need for a larger supply of this resource here on Earth,” said Rob Meyerson, co-founder and CEO of Interlune. “We look forward to continued collaboration with the DOE IP and other government agencies to incentivize Interlune and other companies to provide key isotopes for our nation and to create a long-term in-space economy.”

The DOE contract is historically significant. It represents the first government purchase of a non-terrestrial natural resource, setting a precedent for future public-private partnerships in space mining. The three-liter commitment is large enough to require full extraction and processing on the Moon rather than returning raw regolith to Earth.

“This amount is too large to return to Earth,” said Meyerson. “Processing this amount of regolith requires us to demonstrate our operations at a useful scale on the Moon.”

Maybell Quantum’s agreement, meanwhile, reflects the commercial urgency. As demand for quantum computing accelerates, so does the need for helium-3, a critical component in dilution refrigerators that cool quantum systems to temperatures near absolute zero. Maybell CEO Corban Tillemann-Dick noted that the global quantum computing fleet is expected to grow from hundreds to tens of thousands of systems, all dependent on reliable helium-3 supply.

“Helium-3 will fuel a fundamental transformation in computing,” said Corban Tillemann-Dick, founder and CEO of Maybell Quantum. “In the coming years, we’ll go from a few hundred quantum computers worldwide to thousands, then tens of thousands, and they all need to get cold. To get cold, they need dilution refrigeration running on helium-3.”

Rob Meyerson, Interlune co-founder and CEO said of the agreement, “We are thrilled and honored to book our first commercial order with a company delivering real-world breakthroughs on the ground every day while simultaneously planning for a radically expanded quantum future that’s right around the corner.”

The agreements coincide with the unveiling of the Interlune harvester—which is lighter and less energy-intensive than competing concepts—will excavate and separate helium-3 from lunar regolith directly on the Moon. The company’s design choices, funded in part by the DOE and NASA TechFlights grants, aim to make the system economical to transport and operate in space.

The implications go beyond terrestrial supply chains. With successful demonstration of lunar processing, Interlune could help seed an in-space economy, where helium-3 and other materials are used locally to power missions, fuel reactors, or sustain permanent lunar infrastructure.

The company is planning several lunar missions over the next few years, supported by $18 million in seed funding and government research grants. While initial helium-3 deliveries will be sent back to Earth, future harvests may remain in space to support Moon-based operations or farther exploration, according to the company.

• Magna Petra Corp has been granted access to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s lunar-hardened Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO). This is the first time, a commercial company has been authorized to use this cutting-edge technology.
• The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Magna Petra Corp and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will provide critical data to help the company validate its proprietary lunar “digital twin” – an artificial intelligence model simulating the Moon’s helium-3 distribution over billions of years of solar wind exposure.
• Originally designed to detect water ice on the Moon, the instrument is now being repurposed to assess the presence of helium-3, a rare isotope with vast potential for both clean nuclear fusion energy and quantum computing systems.

Magna Petra Corp., a leader in lunar resources extraction, has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. This agreement grants the company access to a specialized mass spectrometer, which was previously flown on government-led lunar missions. For the first time, a commercial company has been authorized to use this cutting-edge technology. Originally designed to detect water ice on the Moon, the instrument is now being repurposed to assess the presence of helium-3, a rare isotope with vast potential for both clean nuclear fusion energy and quantum computing systems.

The collaboration allows Magna Petra to integrate NASA’s lunar-hardened Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) into its mission framework. This technology will provide critical data to help the company validate its proprietary lunar “digital twin” – an artificial intelligence model simulating the Moon’s helium-3 distribution over billions of years of solar wind exposure. The MSOLO will take direct measurements of gases trapped within the Moon’s regolith (its surface layer), marking a significant step toward establishing a scalable, low-impact supply chain for helium-3 from the Moon to Earth.

In a statement, Magna Petra’s CEO Jeffrey Max described the agreement as “a landmark moment.” He emphasized that it represents a crucial step not only for the company but for the broader field of lunar exploration and resource utilization. He noted, “For the first time, a commercial company has been granted the opportunity to deploy a government-developed instrument in pursuit of validating a resource that could fundamentally transform how we power the planet.” Max added that the integration of public-sector expertise and private-sector innovation would help expedite the development of a sustainable helium-3 supply chain for future fusion energy and quantum technologies.

Helium-3, while scarce on Earth, is abundant in the Moon’s regolith. Its potential applications are highly promising. As an energy source, it could power fusion reactors without the radioactive by-products associated with traditional fuels. It also plays a pivotal role in cooling systems necessary for quantum computing and ultra-low temperature sensor technologies.

Michael Baczyk, Director of Investment Advisory at Global Quantum Intelligence, highlighted the strategic importance of helium-3 in next-generation technologies, stating, “Helium-3 sits at the heart of some of the most transformative technologies of our time. As quantum systems mature and clean energy solutions like fusion edge closer to reality, securing a reliable helium-3 supply chain becomes strategically essential.”

Magna Petra’s mission architecture involves a series of reconnaissance missions followed by a return-validation campaign. The data provided by MSOLO will be crucial in confirming the company’s helium-3 predictions and in laying the groundwork for lunar logistics to support future commercial operations. As the company continues to innovate, this partnership with NASA signals an important milestone in the ongoing development of lunar resource extraction capabilities, offering the potential to revolutionize both energy and computing industries on Earth.

Image credit: Magna Petra

• Helium-3 is essential for dilution refrigerators used by quantum computers, but its scarcity on Earth raises concerns about future supply.
• Interlune intends to mine Helium-3 from the lunar regolith using compact, energy-efficient robotic harvesters designed to extract and process the isotope.
• Mining Helium-3 comes with notable challenges, including low concentrations, abrasive lunar dust, and the need to process large amounts of soil.
• Interlune plans to test Helium-3 extraction with a resource development mission in 2027 and establish a pilot plant on the moon by 2029.

Decades after the Apollo 11 mission, the moon remains a focal point of human ambition—not only for scientific exploration but also for its resource potential. One of the moon’s most intriguing resources is Helium-3, a rare isotope deposited over billions of years as a result of exposure to solar wind and meteorite impacts, embedding it within the lunar regolith.

Helium-3 is essential for quantum technology, particularly for superconducting quantum computers that operate at temperatures near absolute zero.These extreme cooling needs depend on cryogenic techniques that rely on Helium-3, which is scarce on Earth and challenging to produce through tritium decay. As quantum technology development accelerates, concerns about the limited supply of Helium-3 have grown.

Interlune, a Seattle-based company founded in 2020 by former Blue Origin technologists, intends to address this limited supply by mining Helium-3 from the moon. The company is developing energy-efficient robotic harvesters to extract Helium-3 from lunar regolith, digging up soil to a depth of three meters, processing it, and redepositing the material.

In a recent interview, Interlune CEO Rob Meyerson remarked “Quantum computing is the key demand generator for us.” While Helium-3 has potential applications in fueling nuclear fusion reactors, enhancing medical imaging, and improving radiation detection, the company’s primary focus remains on quantum computing, where demand is expected to surge within the next decade.

The Challenges of Mining He-3

Regardless of the existing abundance of Helium-3 on the moon, extraction is anything but trivial. According to the interview, lunar regolith samples brought back during NASA’s Apollo missions reveal that concentrations of Helium-3 are extremely low, ranging from 2.4 to 26 parts per billion. To harvest just one kilogram of Helium-3, Interlune would need to process anywhere from 100,000 to 1 million tons of regolith—an undertaking comparable to operating a large copper mine on Earth.

The uneven distribution of Helium-3 adds further insult to injury. While permanently shadowed regions near the lunar south pole contain higher concentrations, these areas are notoriously difficult to access and operate in. For now, Interlune plans to target regions near the lunar equator, where conditions are more favorable for mining operations.

Other challenges include the abrasive nature of lunar dust, which presents a threat to machinery, and the moon’s low gravity, requiring innovative engineering solutions. Additionally, the uneven distribution of Helium-3 complicates site selection, while the massive scale of operations needed to achieve profitability adds another layer of complexity.

A Lunar Plan of Action

Interlune is taking a methodical approach to these challenges. The company plans to launch a resource development mission in 2027 to measure Helium-3 concentrations at a future mining site and test small-scale extraction techniques. This will be followed by the establishment of a pilot plant on the moon in 2029, designed to prove the scope of mining operations and returning Helium-3 to Earth.

To support its long-term goals, Interlune has secured funding from both private investors and government grants. These include a $365,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop technology for separating Helium-3 from terrestrial helium, as well as a NASA TechFlights grant to advance lunar soil processing technology. Interlune has also been conducting tests in low-gravity environments using Zero-G Corporation’s modified B-727-200 aircraft, which simulates lunar gravity during parabolic dives.

A Ripple Effect Across Industries

Interlune’s pursuit of Helium-3 is both an innovative exercise in extraterrestrial resource extraction an example of how developments in one emerging technology can support another. Quantum computing drives demand for the isotope, which in turn requires innovation in robotics, mining, and space exploration.

While the challenges are steep, the potential rewards could be more than notable. If successful, Interlune’s efforts could not only secure a critical resource for quantum computing but also demonstrate the viability of extraterrestrial resource extraction as a mainstay of the space economy.