- Moon mining could become a multibillion-dollar industry.
- The moon holds resources like rare earth elements, water ice, and helium-3.
- But astronomists say large-scale lunar mining could be bad news for scientific research.
Mining the moon for water, helium-3, and rare earth elements could become a multibillion-dollar industry in the near future, but astronomers warn it risks coming at the expense of scientific discovery.
The NASA-sponsored Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimates that the moon holds untapped resources worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
These include water ice, which could support lunar habitation or be converted into rocket fuel, and rare earth elements, which are a key component in modern electronics.
Perhaps the most lucrative lunar prospect is helium-3, a non-radioactive isotope that holds the potential to be used for nuclear fission.
Helium-3 traded for about $2,500 per liter in 2024, according to the Edelgas Group.
"That's a huge market, in principle, and something is coming along very fast," Martin Elvis, a senior astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, told Business Insider.
He also said that lunar law is "very much" like the Wild West, where a "bad incentive" now exists that encourages those who reach mining sites first to "exploit" them quickly before anyone can catch up.
Resource-rich, scientifically valuable
NASA, China, and several private companies aim to mine the moon within the next decade. However, astronomers warn that large-scale operations there could make studying the universe more challenging.
The moon has scientifically significant sites that could also be rich in lunar resources, creating a potential clash between money-making ventures and scientific research.
These areas include the far side of the moon, a radio-quiet environment ideal for studying the cosmic Dark Ages, the time before there were stars and galaxies.
Elvis said the moon's permanently shadowed regions near its poles are also "special places for astronomy." But they're believed to be rich in water ice — crucial for future space exploration — once again making them highly valuable for resource extraction.
Ongoing human activities, such as water extraction or deploying rovers for mineral mining, could introduce vibrations that disrupt delicate lunar studies, Elvis said.
"Mining for water is probably the worst," he added.
A loose legal framework
While legal frameworks exist — such as the Artemis Accords, a non-binding set of principles established in 2020 and signed by over 50 countries — Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, told BI these agreements come with their own challenges.
One of the details of the Artemis Accords was actually explicitly permitting space mining, provided it complies with the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and is done in a "safe and sustainable" way, he said, "effectively allowing people to set up camps in different places on the moon to extract resources."
According to Elvis, there is a relatively brief window of time to "inject the need for science" into the lunar mining debate. One suggestion he had was introducing protected planetary parks on the moon's surface.
Massey, meanwhile, stressed that any future regulations should emphasize astronomy's value and better protect scientific research, rather than focusing solely on the financial prospects.
"There should be more stakeholders than just the wealthy and companies that want to do this," he said, adding: "The stakeholders ought to include all of us — just as all of us have a stake in terrestrial environments."
