Rob Meyerson and Gary Lai, two former Blue Origin employees, have left the company to create their own venture that is focused on lunar helium-3 mining. Few, if any, companies have actually tried to exploit a notion that seems to have been pondered for eons.

While incredibly rare on Earth, helium-3—an isotope used in nuclear fusion—is abundant on the Moon, where it is produced by the solar wind that the Sun emits. It can be used for nuclear fuel, cryogenics, and medical imaging, among other things.

Helium-3 will be mined by Interlune and sold to Earthly businesses. The company’s objectives and the fact that it has raised $15 million USD in funding since 2022 were disclosed by founder and former president of Blue Origin Meyerson in a recent interview with Ars Technica.

“Then we want to put a pilot plant in place by 2028, and by 2030 start to operationalize and return quantities of helium-3 to support the markets on Earth,” he said.

The business wants to measure the amount of helium-3 and try to extract some using a lunar “demonstrator mission” that will be launched in 2026. According to the article, Blue Origin might be brought on board to aid with the operation, or Interlune might collaborate with SpaceX.