The moon is no longer merely an object of scientific fascination or a political symbol. Gone are the legends that it was made of cheese (according to the British) or that it has a jumping rabbit (according to Mexican indigenous mythology). No, right now, the moon has become a geopolitical and economic battleground.
We are once again in a space race, only instead of planting a flag to demonstrate technological superiority, two great nations are fighting for something much more precious: their mineral and geological deposits.
Yes, we are once again facing a cold space race, only instead of the Soviet bloc, today it is the United States against China. The nation that first reaches the moon and manages to exploit its natural resources will alter the global energy landscape. This is not speculation; both countries are investing billions of dollars in lunar missions with extraction objectives. Although it does not resemble the alien deposits seen in Kubrick’s iconic film 2001: A Space Odyssey, it does offer a glimpse of what space technology will become in the coming decades.
Lunar natural resources
The most precious commodity that these two nations are fighting over is called Helium-3 (He-3), a stable isotope of helium that is exceptionally rare on Earth.
Our planet is protected by a magnetic field, which deflects Helium-3 carried by the solar wind. However, our moon does not have this protection, so it has accumulated large amounts of this gas within its lunar dust over billions of years. Although it may seem silly to us, Helium-3 has been valued by analysts at approximately US$20 million… per kilogram.
Why is Helium-3 so valuable?
China and the US would not invest billions of dollars in this technological advance if it were not highly lucrative. Helium-3 has two very specific applications: the first is that it has great potential as a fuel for neutron nuclear fusion reactors, a process that could generate massive amounts of energy with minimal radioactive waste. The second application—and the one that is really driving the market today—is its role in the quantum industry.
Helium-3 is used in the cooling systems employed in the development and operation of quantum computers. As you can see, Helium-3 has a commercial application that has already led companies to sign historic agreements for the delivery of this lunar Helium-3… even though its exploitation has not even begun. In October 2025, Helsinki-based cryogenics company Bluefors signed a landmark agreement with startup Interlune to purchase up to 10,000 liters of lunar helium-3 annually, with deliveries scheduled between 2028 and 2037.
Water ice and the Moon’s South Pole
Although helium-3 is currently one of the most valuable elements on the Moon, scientists are tracking down water ice on our only satellite. This water could be the key to making permanent colonies on the Moon viable. Not only would it provide drinking water and breathable oxygen to future bases, but it could also be used to generate hydrogen and liquid oxygen through electrolysis.
In other words, the water ice on the Moon would make it possible to use local resources to maintain a permanent colony there, while also creating fuel for rockets. If this were possible, the moon could become an interplanetary gas station, where spacecraft would stop to refuel. This would drastically reduce the cost of missions to Mars and deep space, without having to deal with the atmosphere of our planet Earth.
The private sector is not far behind: Interlune will send a camera aboard Griffin-1 in 2026 to accurately map He-3 concentrations. For now, we will continue to fantasize about colonies on the moon… while leaving researchers with the challenge of extracting Helium-3 from the fine grains of lunar regolith.