Could Helium3 be what the USA needs ?

[Modelworks]

Watching late night tv I caught something discussing the moon and the amount of He3 it contains. The benefits of He3 are massive amounts of energy that is clean and cheap provided you can get the material.

With the economy of the USA tanking and oil prices rising and oil reasonably soon running out what are the obstacles to undertaking mining of He3 on the moon. I read India is already preparing to in the next 5-10 years start surveying the moon for the possibility.

The way I see it the USA has/had one of the most prominent space agencies in the world with many very talented engineers . Would it make sense for the USA to push every dollar we can into a He3 project to start mining the moon ? If the USA could mine the moon then the sales of He3 would more than recover the cost and provide a surplus of funds that could pull the country out of debt. We would need to do it all out though, not some half hearted attempt. In the mean time it creates jobs and gives people hope that they are working towards building a future for the country rather than the negativity we currently hear about budgets and finance. Think of it as the way Saudi Arabia got its start with the start of oil drilling. They had to invest millions in infrastructure but the payoff was huge.

We currently I think still have the edge in space tech and could become the worlds supplier of He3 if we worked at it. We worked together as a country to build the first atom bomb, constructing whole cities to do it, it would be sad if we just sat by and let other countries like India take the lead.

 

[rcpratt]

Fusion ain't easy.

 

[artikk]

Affordable fusion technology is still decades away. Implementation might take even longer due to Fukushima incident as well.

 

[DCal430]

If we need to start going to other moons and planets for resources we are doomed.

 

[Bateluer]

If we need to start going to other moons and planets for resources we are doomed.

. . . Uh, that just means we are growing up.

Unfortunately, with the US pretty much ending its manned space program, the Chinese will strip mine the Moon for He3.

 

[MovingTarget]

We have enough material here on earth until we get fusion tech up to the point of viability. Then we can get He3 from the moon. We just aren't at a point where we can use it large-scale yet. We really need to be ramping up fusion research.

 

[Ape]

Sounds great but we wont see that in our life times.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

The problem with having to go to the Moon to get it is that it seems like obtaining it would consume more energy than would be acquired.

 

[lord_emperor]

Affordable fusion technology is still decades away. Implementation might take even longer due to Fukushima incident as well.

Need some positive press to differentiate the technologies.

 

[Hammerman]

The new company will be called BH (British Helium) and they will screw something up and cause the moon to lose its orbit and the earth will be screwed.....

 

[wuliheron]

Fusion research has already passed the break even point where they can now get more energy out of the reaction then they put into it and H3 would be the perfect fuel that produces as little radiation as possible. However, collecting that fuel and shipping it back to earth from the moon would cost a fortune and it is yet another nonrenewable resource.

Right now its solar power that looks the most promising and by 2015 it should be comparable in price with other forms of energy. Collectors that are widely used today are maybe 18% efficient so the room for improvement is tremendous. Imagine going from 30 miles per gallon to 120 or more and you get the idea.

 

[Doppel]

The hell. We can't even get hydrogen cars going properly, and now mining the moon is going to save us?

 

[Freshgeardude]

He3 from the moon is too expensive.

it litterally costed 25.4 billion dollars (back in the 1960s-early 70s) to bring back 382 kg of rock.

how do you expect a bankrupt economy to somehow spend, what would most likely top over 200 billion dollars to even start a recovering of He3 from the moon?


adjusted for inflation, [SIZE=+1]What cost $25400000000 in 1973 would cost $123231696048.49 in 2010.

[/SIZE]http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

123 billion.


yea 200 billion was a rough estimate, which looks to be wayyy off. probably 500 billion[SIZE=+1]
[/SIZE]

 

[WhipperSnapper]

The new company will be called BH (British Helium) and they will screw something up and cause the moon to lose its orbit and the earth will be screwed.....

They'll be a mining explosion that blows up half the moon, like in the movie Star Trek VI, and all life on our planet will die within 50 years. Unfortunately, unlike life in the Star Trek universe, we won't have the ability to GTF Off the planet.

 

[wuliheron]

They'll be a mining explosion that blows up half the moon, like in the movie Star Trek VI, and all life on our planet will die within 50 years. Unfortunately, unlike life in the Star Trek universe, we won't have the ability to GTF Off the planet.

We already have the ability to GTF off the planet. At least, those with enough money do. The rest of humanity can slave away at creating the rockets in order to save their worthless butts. SSDD.

 

[Linflas]

He3 from the moon is too expensive.

it litterally costed 25.4 billion dollars (back in the 1960s-early 70s) to bring back 382 kg of rock.

how do you expect a bankrupt economy to somehow spend, what would most likely top over 200 billion dollars to even start a recovering of He3 from the moon?


adjusted for inflation, [SIZE=+1]What cost $25400000000 in 1973 would cost $123231696048.49 in 2010.

[/SIZE]http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

123 billion.


yea 200 billion was a rough estimate, which looks to be wayyy off. probably 500 billion[SIZE=+1]
[/SIZE]

But what would it cost once the infrastructure was in place so you are not overcoming earth gravity to launch rockets to the moon? Once there is a commercial reason for colonizing the moon and using the resources there it will become reality and the costs will drop accordingly.

 

[QuantumPion]

We need to get D-T fusion working before worrying about He3 fusion. But it it could be a viable power source for the distant future (50-100+ years from now).

 

[wuliheron]

But what would it cost once the infrastructure was in place so you are not overcoming earth gravity to launch rockets to the moon? Once there is a commercial reason for colonizing the moon and using the resources there it will become reality and the costs will drop accordingly.

Theoretically you could put self-replicating nanobots on the moon and never have to worry about the cost again. But if we could do that we wouldn't need to send them to the moon in the first place!

 

[silverpig]

The problem with having to go to the Moon to get it is that it seems like obtaining it would consume more energy than would be acquired.

Not at all. You gain tons of energy and make tons of money if you can use it too.

I think I read somewhere that 1 shuttle load of pure He3 could power the entire USA for a year. Imagine what the value of all the oil, gas, and coal burned in the USA in a year is.

Of course you'd need a mining and purification operation going up there.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Not at all. You gain tons of energy and make tons of money if you can use it too.

I think I read somewhere that 1 shuttle load of pure He3 could power the entire USA for a year. Imagine what the value of all the oil, gas, and coal burned in the USA in a year is.

Of course you'd need a mining and purification operation going up there

Oh, wow. Cool. In that case I guess I'm ready to jump on the He3 bandwagon.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Look up Ben Bova in your local library. Tells it like it will be!

 

[Linflas]

Look up Ben Bova in your local library. Tells it like it will be!

I always thought Heinlein had some pretty good ideas in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". Magnetic catapults were used to launch payloads to earth IIRC.

 

[Kirby]

 

[Freshgeardude]

But what would it cost once the infrastructure was in place so you are not overcoming earth gravity to launch rockets to the moon? Once there is a commercial reason for colonizing the moon and using the resources there it will become reality and the costs will drop accordingly.

well the moon orbits around earth, so making a zip line is impossible

so there will always be a cost to collect He3

 

[BurnItDwn]

When we set up the moon base, we need to use clones. Best to keep a bunch of clones on hand!