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Helion Energy, a startup developing engines powered by nuclear fusion, is certain to pique the interest of sci-fi fans. But the more important question for Helion President Philip Wallace is whether the same can be said of venture capitalists. That’s because the Seattle-based company is on the hunt for $20 million in financing to build a full-scale model of its fusion engine. That engine, which the company currently has a prototype of at one-third scale, works by forming hot, ionized hydrogen gas. The gas is then electromagnetically accelerated to greater than 1 million mph and collided in a burn chamber...

NASA’S NEW SHORTCUT TO FUSION POWER Lattice confinement fusion eliminates massive magnets and powerful lasers PHYSICISTS FIRST SUSPECTED more than a century ago that the fusing of hydrogen into helium powers the sun. It took researchers many years to unravel the secrets by which lighter elements are smashed together into heavier ones inside stars, releasing energy in the process. And scientists and engineers have continued to study the sun’s fusion process in hopes of one day using nuclear fusion to generate heat or electricity. But the prospect of meeting our energy needs this way remains elusive. The extraction of energy...

Synopsis: Due to outdated international law (1967 Outer Space Treaty) Trump administration to work with other like minded nations to settle on a new agreement called the "Artemis Accord" going forward to place bases and industry on the moon and other celestial bodies. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine pokes Obama in the eye.

The rover landing is one step in an envisioned series for ISRO that includes putting a space station in orbit and, potentially, an Indian crew on the moon. The government has yet to set a timeframe. The rover landing is one step in an envisioned series for ISRO that includes putting a space station in orbit and, potentially, an Indian crew on the moon. The government has yet to set a timeframe. “We are ready and waiting,’’ said Sivan, an aeronautics engineer The mission would solidify India’s place among the fleet of explorers racing to the moon, Mars and beyond...

This week the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation known as the SPACE Act of 2015 (The U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act), which recognizes and promotes the rights of U.S. companies to engage in the exploration and extraction of space resources from asteroids and other celestial bodies. That’s a huge win for private space exploration companies, especially for companies with upcoming plans to tap into the economic potential of the moon. That’s because the legislation, in its definition of “space resources,” is sufficiently broad to include resources found on the lunar surface. In short, the moon could now be...

A huge fault in the Earth's crust near Los Angeles is leaking helium, researchers have found. They say the unexpected find sheds new light on the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone in the Los Angeles Basin. It reveals the fault is far deeper than previously thought, and a quake would be far more devastating. It follows a report from the U.S. Geological Survey has warned the risk of 'the big one' hitting California has increased dramatically.

UC Santa Barbara geologist Jim Boles has found evidence of helium leakage from the Earth’s mantle along a 30-mile stretch of the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone in the Los Angeles Basin. Using samples of casing gas from two dozen oil wells ranging from LA’s Westside to Newport Beach in Orange County, Boles discovered that more than one-third of the sites — some of the deepest ones — show evidence of high levels of helium-3 (3He).Considered primordial, 3He is a vestige of the Big Bang. Its only terrestrial source is the mantle. Leakage of 3He suggests that the Newport-Inglewood fault is deeper...

Newt Gingrich told Floridians this week that that under his administration the US would have the first permanent base on the moon. An American moon base could provide America with enough Helium-3 to provide for all of country’s energy needs Nations and private companies are racing to be the first to scout the moon for Helium 3, a rare gas which could make almost unlimited, clean fusion energy a reality. Some experts estimate there a millions of tons in lunar soil — and that a single Space-Shuttle load would power the entire United States for a year. Both China and...

Imagine a safe, clean nuclear reactor that used a fuel that was hugely abundant, produced only minute quantities of radioactive waste and was almost impossible to adapt to make weapons. It sounds too good to be true, but this isn’t science fiction. This is what lies in store if we harness the power of a silvery metal found in river sands, soil and granite rock the world over: thorium. One ton of thorium can produce as much energy as 200 tons of uranium, or 3.5 million tons of coal, and the thorium deposits that have already been identified would meet...

WASHINGTON — The United States is running out of a rare gas that is crucial for detecting smuggled nuclear weapons materials because one arm of the Energy Department was selling the gas six times as fast as another arm could accumulate it, and the two sides failed to communicate for years, according to a new Congressional audit. The gas, helium-3, is a byproduct of the nuclear weapons program, but as the number of nuclear weapons has declined, so has the supply of the gas. Yet, as the supply was shrinking, the government was investing more than $200 million to develop...

It may look like any average building but behind closed doors could lie the answer to safe renewable energy of the future. Here at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore California, scientists are aiming to build the world's first sustainable fusion reactor by 'creating a miniature star on Earth'. Following a series of key experiments over the last few weeks, the £2.2 billion project has inched a little closer to its goal of igniting a workable fusion reaction by 2012.

Talk of a large-scale U.S. nuclear renaissance in the post-Three Mile Island era has long been stalled by the high cost of new nuclear power plants, the challenges of safeguarding weapons-grade nuclear material, and the radioactive lifespan of much nuclear waste, which can extend far beyond 10,000 years. But a growing contingent of scientists believe an alternative nuclear reactor fuel—the radioactive metal called thorium—could help address these problems, paving the way for cheaper, safer nuclear power generation. Three to four times more plentiful than uranium, today's most common nuclear fuel, thorium packs a serious energetic punch: A single ton of...

The nation that made it to the Moon in 12 years now struggles to build a satellite in that time and is at risk of losing its preeminence in space. Those words come from one of the top four space intelligence lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, chairman of the House Select technical and tactical intelligence subcommittee, who spoke before an audience of some 1,200 intelligence practitioners and industry at the Geoint annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. Ruppersburger noted that 20 years ago the U.S. had 70 percent of the commercial satellite market which is now down to...

n the new film Moon, working on the lunar surface is an unglamourous affair. Sam Bell, played by Sam Rockwell, toils alone in a stark-white base, working as a glorified handyman for Lunar Industries, an ominously glossy corporation that extracts helium-3 from the lunar surface to fuel fusion reactors back on Earth. In this vision of the future, helium-3 supplies the majority of the world's energy needs, a scenario that is not entirely outlandish, as some suspect the moon contains a wealth of the material (see The mine on the moon). While the cost of retrieving the material may be...

Of the 12 men who have walked on the moon, the last to set foot there, Harrison (Jack) Schmitt, is the only one with scientific training (he has a Ph.D. in geology). He has seen and done things most scientists only dream of. Schmitt's work on the Moon in 1972 ranks as one of the most exciting and productive episodes in the history of exploration. His memories of the three days he spent in the Valley of Taurus-Littrow are a priceless treasure trove of scientific and aesthetic insights. Unfortunately, those experiences are not the subject of his new book, Return...

BERLIN, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russian spacecraft manufacturer Energia said Thursday it intends to start extracting lunar reserves of helium-3 to boost terrestrial energy supplies when a re-usable cargo shuttle comes online. Energia head Nikolai Sevastyanov said helium-3 could eventually supplement natural gas and oil, reserves of which on Earth are rapidly being exhausted. "The Moon has vast reserves of helium-3, and this is the closest place to Earth where it can be extracted. This fuel is highly effective and has no equivalents on our planet, where natural resources are not boundless," Sevastyanov said. Sevastyanov earlier said that the...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The race to return to the moon is on. Earlier this month NASA unveiled its mission statement to revisit earth's satellite and create a permanent base there. While it may become the jumping off point for further exploration of our solar system and beyond, there are more earthly prizes in sight, with some scientists believing that it has the potential to solve the world's dependence on fossil fuels. Mining the moon for fuel used in nuclear fusion reactors is among NASA's 200-plus set of mission goals and could precipitate another reason for other countries and private...

Fears over factoids Recent TV programmes have claimed that the Earth could be destroyed by black holes created in particle accelerators and that helium-3 from the Moon could be used for fusion energy. Frank Close warns that these "factoids" must be stamped out before they become accepted as facts. Did you know that when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) comes online at CERN next spring, it could end up creating mini black holes that destroy the Earth? This is not something from a Dan Brown novel, but from a TV documentary broadcast as part of the BBC's Horizon series in...

Paul Thornton's Op-Ed, "Space Program Lunacy," recently caught my eye. Although Mr. Thornton's emphasis was on the need to replace a certain weather satellite rather than "waste billions" on human spaceflight, I instantly felt the need to come to the defense of NASA's plan to return to the moon. (snip) First, let me confess a little bias. When I was a West Virginia lad of 17, I met a Massachusetts lad of 42 by the name of John F. Kennedy. (snip) When he asked for questions, I raised my hand and, for some reason, he noticed me right off. Because...