According to Futurism, Helsinki-based cryogenics company Bluefors has signed an agreement with space startup Interlune to purchase up to ten thousand liters of lunar helium-3 in a deal potentially worth $300 million. The two superpowers are racing to return to the Moon, with the US targeting 2028 and China aiming for 2030, creating a geopolitical competition with high stakes for resource control. Helium-3, a stable isotope extremely rare on Earth but more common on the Moon due to solar wind bombardment, could fuel nuclear reactors or cool quantum computers. Interlune plans to send a multispectral camera to the lunar surface next year aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin-1 lander to measure helium-3 concentrations, while other companies like Blue Origin are also mapping lunar resources including water ice. This emerging lunar economy faces significant technical hurdles, including processing millions of tons of regolith and transporting equipment at astronomical costs.
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The Real Prize: Energy Dominance Beyond Earth
What makes this $300 million bet particularly strategic isn’t just the immediate commercial value—it’s the long-term energy security implications. Helium-3 represents a potential fuel source for nuclear fusion reactors, a technology that the European Space Agency notes could revolutionize energy production if successfully developed. The nation or corporation that controls access to these resources could effectively dictate the terms of future space-based energy markets. More immediately, as NASA’s lunar economy vision suggests, establishing reliable power sources on the Moon is essential for sustained presence, since lunar nights last two Earth weeks, making solar power insufficient for continuous operations.
The Daunting Engineering Challenges
While the vision is compelling, the practical obstacles remain monumental. Processing lunar regolith for helium-3 extraction requires developing entirely new mining technologies that can operate in vacuum conditions with extreme temperature swings. The energy return on investment must be positive—meaning the energy required to extract, process, and transport helium-3 back to Earth shouldn’t exceed what the material can produce. Current space mining analyses suggest we’re still years away from proving economic viability. The transportation costs alone, even with reusable rockets from companies like SpaceX, could render early operations financially marginal at best.
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The Birth of Extraterrestrial Capitalism
This deal represents a fundamental shift in how we conceptualize space exploration. We’re witnessing the early formation of a true space-based economy where resources have recognized market value before extraction even begins. The Blue Origin partnership with Luxembourg for orbital resource mapping and Interlune’s planned 2025 mission indicate that multiple players are positioning themselves across the value chain. What’s emerging isn’t just a race to the Moon, but a competition to establish the foundational infrastructure and property rights frameworks that will govern space commerce for generations.
The Uncharted Legal Territory
The most significant barrier to lunar mining may not be technical but legal. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 prohibits national appropriation of celestial bodies, but says nothing about corporate resource extraction. This creates a legal gray area that international legal experts are only beginning to address. The first entity to establish operational presence could effectively create de facto property rights through operational control and safety zones around their facilities. This precedent-setting dynamic makes early movers like Interlune particularly significant—they’re not just testing technology but potentially establishing the legal framework for future operations.
The Surprising Quantum Computing Angle
Bluefors’ involvement reveals an immediate terrestrial application that could bootstrap the lunar economy. As a cryogenics company specializing in quantum computing systems, they have a direct commercial interest in helium-3 for cooling applications. The company’s announcement specifically mentions powering “the next phase of quantum industry growth,” suggesting that near-term revenue might come from terrestrial high-tech applications rather than fusion energy. This creates a potential stepping stone business model where early lunar operations could be funded by premium terrestrial markets while longer-term energy applications develop.
What Comes Next in the Lunar Gold Rush
Over the next 12-24 months, watch for three key developments: First, the data from Interlune’s 2025 mapping mission will either validate or challenge the economic assumptions behind these ventures. Second, we’ll see whether other nations establish clear legal frameworks for space mining, following the precedent set by the US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015. Third, as Interlune’s technical approach demonstrates, the focus will shift from theoretical resource estimates to practical extraction methodologies. The companies that succeed will be those that solve the end-to-end logistics chain, not just the mining technology itself.
