Helum-3, it's where the action is will be.*
From GeekWire, February 4:
Interlune is leveraging a $150,000 NASA contract to develop develop lunar trenching and excavation technology — and although the primary goal is to extract valuable helium-3 from moon dirt, the project also signals the company’s broader play for lunar infrastructure.
Interlune’s work on the Small Business Technology Transfer Phase 1 contract, done in partnership with the Colorado School of Mines, demonstrates that the Seattle-based startup’s business model isn’t limited to helium-3. In the years ahead, the technologies pioneered by Interlune for resource extraction can also be used for building roads, base camps and other construction projects on the moon.
For example, the excavator that’s the focus of the NASA funding — known as the Scalable Implement for Lunar Trenching, or SILT — will support Interlune’ plan to sift through tons of lunar soil. But it will also support NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable lunar presence in the 2030s....
....MUCH MORE
*Previously:
March 2018 - News You Can Use: "Learn How to Build a Nuclear Fusor"
November 2019 - "The race to mine the moon is taking off — even though no one’s sure if it’s possible"
March 2024 - "This company intends to be the first to mine the moon"
May 2024 - "Mining helium-3 on the Moon has been talked about forever—now a company will try"
July 2024 - As L'Institut Polytechnique de Paris points out in their Challenges of Extraterrestrial Mining series regarding another element (May 2022):
Helium‑3 from the lunar surface for nuclear fusion?
