Heavy equipment space race heats up with new Vermeer lunar excavator [update] — SkimNews
![Heavy equipment space race heats up with new Vermeer lunar excavator [update]](https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/05/vermeer_excavator.png?w=1200)
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- Interlune and Vermeer announced an expanded strategic partnership (08AUG26) to develop infrastructure for a permanent lunar presence and helium-3 harvesting, building on an earlier joint development agreement.
- The full-scale prototype Interlune excavator is designed to ingest 100 metric tons of rocks and dirt per hour, digging up to three meters below the lunar surface to extract helium-3 for shipment back to Earth.
- Vermeer pulled ahead of Japan's Komatsu in developing heavy-duty lunar excavation equipment, according to Interlune CTO Gary Lai, who said the high-rate helium-3 excavation needed "has never been attempted before."
- Komatsu showed a scaled prototype of its competing fully electric lunar excavator at CES 2025, after announcing plans in 2023 to tackle the moon's extreme surface temperatures (110°C to -170°C) where internal combustion engines cannot operate.
- Interlune has raised $18 million to date from sources including US Department of Energy grants, NASA TechFlights, and a 2023 NSF Small Business Innovation Research award, with a first lunar mission planned before 2030.
- Rob Meyerson, Interlune co-founder and CEO, framed the expanded work as moving "from developing prototypes to repeatable, scalable systems" for the Moon Base, with a 2028 delivery target aligned to NASA's program plan.
Why it matters: Earth's helium supply — critical for semiconductors, EV manufacturing, and optics — is running out, and the source frames lunar helium-3 extraction as the next space race. Interlune and Vermeer are now positioning themselves with a 2028 delivery target, while Komatsu's earlier 2023 announcement and CES 2025 prototype show Japan racing for the same lunar mining real estate.
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