Moon gas could meet Earth's future energy demands: Scientists

Hindustan Times ^ | 11/26 | Jay Shankar (AFP)

[Atlantic Friend]

The trick is to get 25 tonnes. hey, I thought helium was a very light particle, so how come the Moon, which has a weaker gravity than the Earth, has helium resources galore ? Does someone know ?

[Haro_546]

maybe because of the higher radiation.

[MichaelP]

No atmosphere! the particles aren't diffused.

Mike

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"Just 25 tonnes of helium, which can be transported on a space shuttle..."

It will need to be a severely redesigned shuttle. I would think that the current system would be incapable of re-entry with that size payload.

[DennisR]

"Helium 3 is deposited on the lunar surface by solar winds and would have to be extracted from Moon soil and rocks."

Undoubtedly a nontrivial task - but that is beside the point, I guess.

[patriot_wes]

"Why spend all that money when I have a gas-producer extraordinaire right here?"

insert photo of Hillary here!

[Haro_546]

Those 25tons need to be extracted from the soil.

[Erasmus]

How do you even weigh a ton of helium when it wants to float away, off the scale?

You put the scale on the ceiling, of course.

[cripplecreek]

Helium 3 is a promising fuel source for our future but it's a long way off. Ive read that a container the size of a single payload bay of a space shuttle could power the entire planet for a long time.

On the other hand. Once we become technologically advanced enough to mine Helium 3, we may be using something even more efficient.

[Army Air Corps]

Huzzah! We were there first. "Finders keepers" and all...

[Haro_546]

51 State: THE MOON

[Xenalyte]

You have a Boston terror - I mean terrier? Idn't they great? The Dread Boston Salty knows just how cool he is.

[RightWhale]

It's regolith. Did any post explain how much regolith would have to be processed to get an ounce of He3?

[Lockbar]

What are we going to use to bring the gas back? I guess we could pack the gas in 55 gallon drums and ship it back on the "space elevator" some Tech-Kooks have been talking about.

[Army Air Corps]

Sure, but will it be a red state or a blue state? :-)

[johnny7]

He's got that 'look' on his mug... “Don't it smell wonnnderful?!’

[OldFriend]

We ought to send the dems up there to check it out!

[Tennessee_Bob]

But if we take all the helium 3 out of the moon, what will hold it up in the sky?

[Boundless]

> "Just 25 tonnes of helium, which can be transported on a
> space shuttle, is enough to provide electricity for the US
> for one full year," said Taylor, who is in the north Indian
> city of Udaipur for a global conference on Moon exploration.

Thus destroying the credibility of the entire article,
entirely apart from the fact that practical fusion has
been 10 years away for the last half century.

The shuttle cannot go to the moon, much less go & return.
It can't even get out of low earth orbit.

By the time there existed a heavylift out&return system,
it would be cheaper to use it to loft orbiting solar
collectors, and beam the energy down ...

... which gets to the major political issue. Adding to
the insolation (or importing nuclear sources) will add
to the heat burden of the planet. There will be no will
to support either until it is clear that global warming
is not happening, or is, but is not human-caused.

[Willie Green]

Nothing.
It'll probably drop back down to Earth.
But that's no probem...
It really isn't very big when it's deflated like that.