IRH 287: Moon Helium-3 & Trump's Quantum Race
On June 22nd, Trump signed two executive orders to win a quantum computing race with China. The mainstream coverage missed something. Quantum computers at scientific scale require Helium-3. Earth's entire annual supply fits in a minivan. The Moon has an estimated one million metric tons of it, and every major space agency is pointed at that surface right now.
The executive orders direct the government to build the first scientifically relevant quantum computer by 2028 and harden every sensitive federal system against quantum-era cryptographic attacks by 2031. Google's president and IBM's CEO were in the Oval Office for the signing. The framing was a technology race with China. That part is accurate. The part nobody reported is what quantum computers actually need to run at scale, where that material exists in abundance, and why the space race suddenly makes considerably more sense when you know.
Two new details emerged this week in the Melissa Casias case. Before she walked out her door on the day she disappeared, she took her toothbrush and her thyroid medication. She left her car, her purse, her keys, and both phones. That is not what someone takes when they are not planning to come back. Her husband has also obtained a protection order against a private investigator harassing the family. Cause of death remains officially undetermined.
