As NASA and its suppliers plan lunar habitats, including patent activity to build a 3D printer on the Moon and use lunar regolith as a building material, a fundamental question arises: Why live on the Moon? Since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, high costs and risks have deterred further manned missions. However, astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who was part of that mission, believes there is a compelling reason to return: Heli-3.
An isotope of normal balloon gas, helium-3 has the potential to power nuclear fusion power plants without generating radioactive waste. It also has other applications in medical imaging and quantum computing. Helium-3 is rare on Earth, but relatively abundant on the Moon thanks to billions of years of deposits from the solar wind. With some estimates of helium-3 prices at $20 million or more per kilogram, mining may provide the economic justification for permanent settlements on the Moon.
Schmitt’s dedication to Helium-3’s potential has led him to add “inventor” to his list of titles. He is a co-inventor of a patent application that was published in June aimed at a lunar regolith processing system. The application describes a 4-in-1 mobile mining rig that includes an excavator, a hopper, a mill and a refinery to extract volatile gases, such as helium-3, from the lunar regolith. The application envisages a future where lunar infrastructure is advanced enough to support large-scale operations, with a separate refinery platform connected by a flexible pipe and power supplied by microwave radiation from a station in a another place on the Moon. However, for the early stages of lunar development, the application suggests that the mining system could be powered by solar photovoltaic panels and could include long-range communication systems for remote operation from Earth.
The patent application is assigned to Interlune Corporation, a startup that emerged from stealth mode in March. The company has quickly gained attention, thanks in part to its leadership team, which includes Schmitt, CEO Rob Meyerson (former president of Blue Origin) and CTO Gary Lai (former chief architect of Blue Origin and co-inventor of the patent application). . Interlune was one of 11 awardees of NASA’s TechFlights program and has received a $348,000 grant to test its mining system in a series of low-gravity aircraft flights.
Interlune’s decision to come out of stealth mode shortly before the publication of its patent application underscores the strategic balancing act all patent applicants face between obtaining a monopoly through the rights patent and maintain secrecy around its technology.
The underlying concept behind the patent system is that the inventor and the public make a trade: the inventor gets a monopoly on his invention for the lifetime of a patent to recoup research and development costs and make a profit, and the public benefits from an appropriate incentive. an innovative activity and have cutting-edge technical knowledge available to the public during the period of validity of the patent and for free use after its expiry. Publication of all issued patents is required of the public as part of this trade. Patent applications are usually published 18 months after the first filing date of a patent application, which was the case for Interlune. The impending publication of his patent application may have influenced the decision to come out of stealth mode.
Patent applicants can sometimes keep their innovations secret longer by filing a non-publication request with their patent application. Patent applications do not grant monopoly rights; an applicant obtains these rights only if the patent application issues as a patent after review by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Accordingly, to maintain fairness between the patent applicant and the public, patent applications are not always published (since they do not grant monopoly rights), but issued patents are always published (since grant monopoly rights). However, a patent applicant loses the right to request non-publication of their application if they file in a different country that requires publication of their application 18 months after filing.
Interlune did not have the option of filing a non-publication request because it also filed an international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent application, a wise choice since its biggest competition may be outside of the United States. In particular, China is actively interested in mining on the Moon. China’s Chang’e 4 mission in 2018 and Chang’e 5 mission in 2020 returned with samples to determine the amount of helium-3 present in the lunar regolith, and China is currently developing a magnetic launch system of 18 billion dollars to launch mined helium. 3 back to Earth.
Could Helium-3 spark a modern space race similar to the California Gold Rush? A dangerous and expensive journey did not deter the 49ers, and the California Gold Rush led to an increase in California’s population and led to California’s admission as a state just two years after the discovery of the gold If history repeats itself, we may soon be asking how to build habitats on the Moon faster and not why habitats need to be built in the first place.
Meanwhile, patent publications are a key resource for finding information that might otherwise be kept confidential, whether you intend to mine the moon or just want to keep up with your competitors here at the earth
Kate Nuehring Su is a partner and patent attorney at the intellectual property law firm of Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP in Chicago. She is a creative problem solver who helps innovative companies and individuals protect their ideas as well as gain competitive intelligence through intellectual property analysis. She can be contacted at knuehringsu@marshallip.com.
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice or a substitute for obtaining legal advice from an attorney. The opinions expressed are those of the author and should not be attributed to Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP or any of its past, present or future clients.
