Lunar He-3.

[trekkiedane]

There are threads about collecting solar energy in space and on the moon in this forum.

They had me thinking that I don't know a lot about the idea of mining Helium-3 on the moon, and since google turns up with the usual mishmash I was wondering if anyone in here could link me to a few good articles on the subject. -Please!

 

[Neopeius]

Apparently, Helium-3 fusion doesn't leave radioactive waste like Deuterium, but there also isn't much of it on Earth. There seems to be lots on the moon.

Of course, we don't have fusion powered plants of *any* kind, and are not likely to for an indefinite period of time.

My prediction: We will not go to the moon to mine Helium-3, but lunar resources may some day be used in support of in-space development.

 

[trekkiedane]

^My prediction is that the first person (/multinational company/nation) to start mining the stuff owns the future energy supply to Earth -pretty much like the arabs own the present -only much more so.

There's really no reason to use fusion reactors in space as there's an abundance of solar energy up there -and it's relatively simple to harvest.

Who was it that suggested having automated robots turn the lunar surface into gigantic photo voltaic farms? -as the needed materials and the sunlight is there and the efficiency really doesn't matter that much up there.

People -afaik- thought George Bissell to be a loon for wanting to actually drill for 'rock oil' back in the day, What I'd like to have is a few sources about lunar He-3 at this point in time, no matter how ridiculed the idea is in mainstream science/tech community.

 

[Neopeius]

trekkiedane said:
^My prediction is that the first person (/multinational company/nation) to start mining the stuff owns the future energy supply to Earth -pretty much like the arabs own the present -only much more so.

There's really no reason to use fusion reactors in space as there's an abundance of solar energy up there -and it's relatively simple to harvest.

Who was it that suggested having automated robots turn the lunar surface into gigantic photo voltaic farms? -as the needed materials and the sunlight is there and the efficiency really doesn't matter that much up there.

People -afaik- thought George Bissell to be a loon for wanting to actually drill for 'rock oil' back in the day, What I'd like to have is a few sources about lunar He-3 at this point in time, no matter how ridiculed the idea is in mainstream science/tech community.

If solar power really is all that useful, once a network is set up, it will be used instead of fusion to power the Earth.

The problem is the chicken and egg phenomenon. No one is going to try to mine Helium-3 without actual, working fusion technology already.

 

[Arrqh]

trekkiedane said:
^My prediction is that the first person (/multinational company/nation) to start mining the stuff owns the future energy supply to Earth -pretty much like the arabs own the present -only much more so.

The anime series Planetes actually takes a look at this issue.

The countries that are most likely to be the ones who can mine resources from space are the ones that are already rich and have active space programs (or multinational companies with large amounts of interests in such countries). Countries who's economies are currently based completely around selling oil would probably suffer severe economic collapse if this were to occur (assuming He-3 on the moon turns out to be a viable fusion energy source).

 

[watermelony2k]

Even if the exploitation of offworld resources does not bring much profit back to earth itself, it will still at least lower the costs of space exploration -- make fuel and manufacture offworld on site, etc.

 

[trekkiedane]

OK; I've been reading a bit more on aneutronic fusion and now have a little better understanding as to why it's not the big thing in the science community I thought it would be. It seems to be much more difficult to do than the 'conventional' fusion.

I still like the idea though

Oh, If you have not seen it yet: Horizon: Moon for sale -Part 1/2 and Part 2/2