How Helium-3 Broke My Heart

Remember when we were told the Moon was full of Helium-3 and we were all going to get rich, solve the energy crisis, and casually power the planet from a lunar mining rig? It was clean, limitless, and just waiting to be scooped up. A perfect plan. Except it was not.

The Economic Illusion

Let’s be clear. This is not about physics or what is technically possible on a whiteboard. This is about the space industry’s ongoing addiction to hype without a business plan.

Helium-3 does exist on the Moon. There are studies. There are theoretical use cases. Some people even made spreadsheets showing dramatic long-term profits. But here is the part that often gets ignored. There is no current market. There is no customer. And there is no business case that stands up to basic commercial logic.

You would need to build, launch, and operate a completely new lunar mining ecosystem. Then figure out how to process and transport a niche material that has no real buyer. All of this with no working system on Earth that can even use the product.

So what are we doing this for? A pitch deck? A headline? A podcast appearance?

The Real Problem

This is not just about Helium-3. This is about a wider pattern in the space industry where people pitch billion-euro dreams without stopping to ask the most basic question: is this a real business?

At ORBITALYX, we work with companies on branding, storytelling, and business development. And what we see too often is this: a team with no traction building a brand around a future that does not exist.

There is a difference between vision and fantasy. Real innovation solves real problems for real people. It creates value. It has a customer. It can survive a funding round, a launch delay, and still deliver.

What the space industry does not need is another moonshot built entirely on vibes and optimism.

Can we please bring back common sense?
Not everything with a PowerPoint and a dream is a business.
Helium-3 may be exciting science, but it is not a business yet.
Until it is, we should focus on solving real, immediate problems.