In the movie Moon, we meet an astronaut called Sam Bell. He's been living on a remote moon station for three years and is responsible for mining a substance called Helium 3, which is a gas used to power the fusion reactors of the future, giving us nuclear power without the dangerous nuclear waste. The film focuses on Sam as he counts down to the end of his time on the station, when he’ll be returned home. Without spoiling the film too much for you, Sam discovers something rather shocking about his very existence, and suddenly he finds himself fighting for his life, and stopping what seems to be a pre-programmed path to disaster.

Scientifically, it turns out that mining the moon isn’t as ridiculous a concept as it may seem. A Californian company, Moon Express, has that very goal well within its sights, by testing a model of its first lunar landing craft at the Kennedy Space Centre this year, with the support of NASA engineers. 

NASA have introduced a programme they’re calling “Catalyst”, designed to encourage American companies to work with it to get to the moon, where they can deploy their products and see what the moon has to offer us back on Earth. The current participants are Moon Express, Astrobotics Technology, and Masten Space Systems. All three are working with NASA to develop commercial robotic spacecraft, ventures previously reserved solely for government agencies and not open to the general public.

Naveen Jain, 55, the company co-founder and chairman, hopes to get his mining craft on its way to the moon during 2016. A veteran of multi-national companies like Microsoft, Mr Jain is vocal in his belief that “Success is not defined by the size of your bank account, but by the number of lives you make a positive difference in”. Joining him in the company is Andrew Aldrin, the 55-year-old son of famous American astronaut Buzz Aldrin. It’s not just his name which Moon Express wanted either – Aldrin has a long history of working to help commercialise space technology. They’ve already signed a contract to take over a building called Space Launch Complex 36, located at Cape Canaveral, where they work on lander development and flight test operations. Mr Jain is delighted that NASA are willing to collaborate with his company and give the project its best chance of success. He believes that the moon holds a literal gold mine of materials, waiting to be discovered. At the top of his wish list is gold, followed closely by cobalt, iron, palladium, platinum, tungsten and our old friend from Moon, Helium-3. If he’s correct, there’s a lot of money to be made from mining on the moon. In April this year, palladium, popular in electronic manufacturing and industrial purposes, hit $784 per ounce. 

Of course, while the moon mining aspect of the film does seem quite plausible, let’s not spoil it by pondering bloopers such as the fact that, within Sam’s space station, there’s enough gravity for him to walk about just like you would on earth. That’s another article entirely!