[AZLiberty]

What are the chances that environmentalists will allow strip-mining on the moon? Or is there a way to extract He3 from lunar soil without disturbing the soil?

[null and void]

Or is there a way to extract He3 from lunar soil without disturbing the soil?

Bake it out with sunlight???

[NonValueAdded]

What are the chances that environmentalists will allow strip-mining on the moon? Or is there a way to extract He3 from lunar soil without disturbing the soil?

I've heard a few other space evangelists give a similar account. Picture a crawler that scoops up the top one foot of moon soil, dumps it in a chamber where it is heated to release the He³ which is captured and the soil is redeposited behind the crawler. Sort of like a space combine.

One shuttle's worth of He³ would power the earth's energy needs for a year - how many years for Moon Base Alpha? What language will be spoken there?