Glen Martin: Earth Has 29 kg Of Helium-3. The Moon Has 1.1 Million Tons.

There are 29 kilograms of helium-3 in the entire US strategic reserve. Global production is roughly 20 kilograms per year. The only reason we have any at all is because tritium inside nuclear warheads decays into it and the Department of Energy bleeds it off for resale.

Quantum computing will need 300 to 400 kilograms per year. Fusion reactors could need thousands of tons. The Moon has an estimated 1.1 million tons sitting on the surface, continuously recharged by solar wind. Glen Martin is the CEO of the Extraterrestrial Mining Company.

In this conversation with Mark and Jeremy he explains why helium-3 is the most valuable isotope on Earth, how you mine a gas that sits three metres deep in lunar dust, why China has already landed twice on the Moon's richest helium-3 deposits and brought samples home, why McKinsey projects 46% of the global energy mix will come from fusion by 2050, and why helium-3 is the "beaver pelt" that will kick open the entire cislunar economy.

--

📺 Watch on YouTube

--

Timestamps

(00:00) Trailer

(02:45) What is Helium-3, and why are we mining the Moon?

(05:29) Why there’s almost no Helium-3 on Earth, and a million tons on the Moon

(09:01) How Helium-3 could be harvested from lunar dust

(10:33) Fusion without fallout: the clean-energy promise of Helium-3

(13:01) Space-based solar power and fusion: two paths to future energy.

(17:56) How private companies plan to finance Moon mining

(21:52) The new space race: U.S., China, and the competition for lunar fuel

(25:03) Can treaties prevent conflict over Moon resources?

(27:37) AI, autonomy, and the machines that will mine the Moon

(29:31) NASA’s commercial lunar payloads and the rise of space infrastructure

(31:08) What lunar regolith tells us about Helium-3 reserves

(33:35) The trillion-dollar question: who profits from space resources?

(36:17) Curiosity, wonder, and the future of human exploration

(40:01) Technology, morality, and the choice to be good

--

• ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠

• Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠

• Follow us on ⁠X⁠

• Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠

• Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠

• Read our ⁠Substack⁠

Email: [email protected]--