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Interlune plans to mine for Helium-3 on the moon.      Image © shutterstock/Lia Koltyrina.

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German scientists have made a world-first breakthrough – using Helium-3 to reach high-energy conditions needed to study fusion.

It is another significant milestone as interest grows in Helium-3, a rare and expensive variant of Helium.

Helium-3 was found at elevated levels in Gold Hydrogen’s South Australian tenement last year.

The Akap Energy website says the German researchers used powerful radio waves "to energise helium-3 particles inside a reactor, mimicking the behaviour of particles that would be produced in a real fusion power plant".

The experiment helps scientists better understand how to keep hot gases stable inside a fusion reactor – a major challenge in creating clean, limitless energy.

"Importantly, this research relies on helium-3 as an input. As fusion energy and space science advance, demand for helium-3 is expected to grow," the article says.

Full press release from Forschungszentrum Jülich, the research centre overseeing the testing, here.

Meanwhile, a company committed to moon exploration for Helium-3 has taken another big step in its planning.

Interlune has unveiled a prototype lunar excavator, designed to mine helium-3 on the moon by extracting and processing 100 tonnes of lunar regolith per hour, in a four-step process to isolate helium-3 from moon dust.

With prices estimated at US$20mm/kg, Interlune plans to mine and return several dozen kilograms annually to Earth. It has signed commercial contracts to start supply in the next few years.

No information on the size or weight of the machine was released, nor details of how and when it will be taken to the moon.

Scientists make Helium-3 breakthrough