In Avatar, what is Pandora’s fictional mineral called?

In Avatar, Pandora’s valuable fictional mineral is called unobtanium.

The mineral is found on Pandora and is sought by the Resources Development Administration, or RDA, because of its extraordinary value on Earth. The film presents unobtanium as a room-temperature superconductor, making it a powerful motive for industrial exploitation of Pandora.

The word is an older engineering joke: “unobtainium” describes a material with desirable properties that is difficult or impossible to obtain. Avatar turns that humorous term into a central resource in its fictional economy, usually spelling it “unobtanium.”

Unobtanium is not the same as Pandora’s biological or cultural features. The Na’vi, the moon’s ecosystems, and the mineral each have distinct roles in the story. The mineral’s importance also helps explain why the RDA targets the territory around the Omaticaya clan’s home.