SEATTLE - Interlune Inc. in Seattle has secured a $6.9 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Space Technology Mission Directorate to develop a lunar payload suite for in-situ resource measurement and extraction technology demonstration.
The firm-fixed-price award, issued through NASA’s Game Changing Development program, spans 18 months and focuses on developing instrumentation to analyze volatile gases embedded in lunar regolith. The payload will support future resource utilization efforts by measuring gases released during thermal processing of lunar soil, including helium-3 and hydrogen.
System integration
The system integrates multiple subsystems relevant to aerospace electronics and sensing, including a mass spectrometer derived from NASA’s Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations architecture, a multi-spectral imaging system for estimating helium-3 concentrations, and avionics to support onboard data acquisition and processing.
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Mechanical subsystems include a robotic arm and scoop for sample collection, particle size-sorting hardware, and thermal and mechanical extraction devices designed to release solar wind volatiles trapped in regolith.
Company officials indicated that the payload will directly measure gases released from heated lunar regolith on the Moon’s surface, providing data on volatile concentrations and the energy required for extraction. This information is expected to inform both scientific understanding and engineering models for scalable in-situ resource utilization systems.
Under the contract, Interlune will design, build, and test engineering development units and flight hardware. The payload is scheduled for launch in 2028 aboard a commercial robotic lander under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
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The effort builds on prior work conducted under NASA’s Flight Opportunities program and the National Science Foundation, where prototype systems were validated in reduced-gravity conditions using parabolic flight campaigns.
Artemis aims
Data collected during the mission will support NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration objectives, particularly in resource prospecting, surface operations, and infrastructure development. The results are also expected to contribute to the design of full-scale helium-3 harvesting systems and other lunar resource extraction technologies.
Interlune reports it has secured nearly $500 million in binding purchase agreements for helium-3 from government and commercial customers, including the U.S. Department of Energy and quantum computing firms, signaling growing demand for isotopes relevant to advanced energy and computing applications.
NASA’s Game Changing Development program focuses on advancing emerging technologies that enable future exploration architectures, including sustained human presence on the Moon.
