Helium-3 can be synthetically created from decaying tritium, which raises the question of whether mining the moon for helium-3 is necessary, given the high costs and complexities involved. Currently, the majority of helium-3 in the U.S. is sourced from decaying tritium, primarily derived from nuclear weapons. Tritium is produced by irradiating lithium-6 and lithium-7 with neutrons, a process that is currently more cost-effective than lunar mining. However, the demand for helium-3 is low at present. If advancements in technology increase the demand for helium-3, particularly for applications like fusion power, and if space travel costs decrease significantly, lunar mining could become economically viable in the future.