Posted on 11/17/2003 4:28:51 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
With the oil age starting to appear alarmingly finite, and with governments all over the planet searching for new energy sources, space scientists are looking at yet another fuel source, this one distributed on the moon over billions of years as birds distributed guano on the island of Nauru.
The energy source is Helium 3, which exists in minute quantities on earth but which has been deposited on the moon by solar winds, a rapid stream of charged particles from the sun, from the dawn of time. Helium-3, or Astrofuel, as scientists have dubbed it, sounds, well, almost too good to be true. All they have to do is figure out a way to go get it, and then to build a plant to transform it to energy once they get it back here.
Estimates of world energy use and recoverable reserves vary widely. Average energy consumption, measured in crude oil, is 71,530, barrels per day against a total known world reserve of about 1.0 trillion barrels. Thus a conservative estimate indicates that commercially viable oil supply could be exhausted in 40 to 50 years although by another estimate there is enough coal in the United States to last another 275 years at current consumption rates. Coal, however, is a dirty fuel that is costly to clean up through filters and scrubbers.
At present rates of consumption, which are unlikely to hold steady forever as alternative fuels come on stream, when the population reaches the 10 billion mark consumption is projected at about 100 to 150 billion barrels of oil per year. Mankind is already looking for energy sources based on solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass and certainly some will continue towards playing a major role in energy production.
Nuclear fusion is the other source of energy, but faces lots of political problems because of the radioactive waste it produces and because it produces a great number of neurons, which damage reactors, cutting their life. On the other hand, a fusion reaction carried through Helium3 releases only one percent of its energy in the form of neutrons. As a result, this type of reactor becomes easy and reduces radioactivity to a very low level, scientists working on the subject say.
Enter Astrofuel, as Helium-3 or He3 has come to be known, which was discovered on the moon in 1969 when American astronauts first arrived, although the link between the isotope and lunar resources was not made until 1986. Scientists describe it as the most efficient known source of power, because 99 percent of the energy can be released as charged particles and thus be converted into electricity with greater efficiency. The level of radioactivity is so low that a complete reactor meltdown would not spread radioactive particles. And the reactor could be dismantled at the end of its useful life to be disposed of like any other ordinary median instruments.
The Center for Space Automation and Robotics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison first conceived the idea of mining Astrofuel from the Moon in 1986. The center, one of 16 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-funded facilities for the commercial development of space, is positioned to manage the project because of the university's already existing fusion, space and life support research program.
Researchers at Madison say they are certain that He3, an isotope of helium with one less neutron than helium itself, could replace fossil fuels. While it is rare on earth, it is available in large quantities on the moon. One tonne, they say, could supply the energy needs of a city of 10 million people when combined in a fusion reactor with a form of hydrogen extracted from water. It is hardly difficult to thus imagine the impact that Astrofuel could have on world energy supplies.
The extremely high power density means that only 28 tonnes of Astrofuel, approximately the payload of the current US Space Shuttle, could supply the entire electrical demand of the US for a year. Even at a selling price of US$1 billion per tonne, the energy cost would be equivalent to oil at $7 a barrel. Unfortunately, the space shuttle is not at this time configured to fly to the moon, and a new space vehicle would have to be developed.
The nation that develops the technology to retrieve Astrofuel could thus find itself in a commanding economic and strategy position in this century. The US already has the research and resource lead for recovery. While some He3 is available on earth, the quantity is not sufficient to be exploited commercially. The US strategic reserve amounts to only 29 kg, with another 187 kg mixed up with natural gas. By contrast, the moon has an estimated reserve of 1.1 billion tonnes of He3 that has been deposited by the solar wind.
The commercial viability of Astrofuel was determined by the Wisconsin´s University Research Center in 1987, a year after its discovery. In 1987 prices, it was found that the US spends $40 billion annually to buy coal, oil, natural gas and uranium to produce electricity. For the megawatt volume of electricity for one year, the US might need to import one spacecraft load of fuel at a cost of $25 billion - about a fourth of the price of crude today at the aforementioned $7 per barrel.
Obviously, billions of dollars would be required or research and development by participating countries and would involve the development of many technologies that currently remain to be created. Foremost among them are superconducting magnets, plasma control and diagnostics, robotically controlled mining equipment, life support facilities, rocket launch vehicles, telecommunications, power electronics, etc. Though the investment seems astronomical, compared to the benefit derived, the justification seems more than adequate.
For one thing, the developed world would no longer be held hostage to the Middle East, where the preponderance of the world´s fossil fuel reserves are located. American scientists have already declared that the moon could be the Persian Gulf of the present century. Two liters of He3 would do the work of more than 1,000 tons of coal.
And who would own this real estate? No doubt, the only affordable source of energy would be completely dominated by American industries. With the collapse of the USSR, Russia´s space program has largely disappeared. The Chinese, who only launched their first man into space last month, are well behind in the race. India, with its fledgling space program even less-developed, is even further behind. The Euroland space program is hardly oriented towards anything beyond launching commercial earth satellites.
It is thus possible that every member of the United Nations could be forced to stand in a queue to receive a quota of fuel fixed by Uncle Sam. All discussion about energy security would take a back seat. The UN will discuss everything, but its members would go on waiting for their quota to arrive. Astrofuel would decide politics, economics and the world order.
The technology to harness He3 as an energy source is a continuing process in the laboratories of the US universities. Miniaturization of He3-driven reactors would take an immense role in the new world order.
Dr Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri is a former professor of international relations at Oxford College in the UK and a guest professor of international relations at the London School of Economics & Political Science.
I think you're right.
It probably should be "fission".
I also think he dismisses fission too quickly in his exotic quest for fusion.
What????
Yes it's true. You see, nuclear fusion researchers discovered long ago that one of the byproducts of the nuclear fusion reaction is slimy little nerve cells that stick to the reactor walls, and can form clumps, like little brains that can leap off the walls and fly through the air killing hapless teenagers, like in that 1950's scifi movie that it inspired. But most problematic is when enough of these neurons clump together and form a giant brain, essentially bringing the entire reactor complex to life and enabling it to run its own, wildly popular daytime talk show. Of course being so influential creates enourmous political problems as both Democrats and Republicans vie for its endorsements. Naturally, all popular talk shows eventually go out of favor, and their hosts become horribly depressed and self-destructive, thus cutting their life.
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