US Patent Issued to Interlune on Sept. 8 for "Lunar regolith processing system for mining and beneficiation" (Washington, New Mexico Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,729,625, issued on Sept. 8, was assigned to Interlune Corp. (Seattle).

"Lunar regolith processing system for mining and beneficiation" was invented by Gary Lai (Seattle) and Harrison H. Schmitt (Albuquerque, N.M.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A mobile mining platform for operation on a lunar surface can excavate and deposit regolith into a mill. The mill can agitate at least a portion of the excavated regolith to release volatile gases from the portion of the excavated regolith, without heat being applied to the portion of the excavated regolith. A refinery can perform molecular separation of the released volatile gases. In some embodim...