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Moon gas could meet Earth's future energy demands: Scientists
Hindustan Times ^ | 11/26 | Jay Shankar (AFP)

Posted on 11/26/2004 9:20:04 AM PST by Willie Green

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

Udaipur, November 26 -- A potential gas source found on the Moon's surface could hold the key to meeting future energy demands as the Earth's fossil fuels dry up in the coming decades, scientists said on Friday.

Mineral samples from the Moon contained abundant quantities of helium 3, a variant of the gas used in lasers and refrigerators as well as to blow up balloons.

"When compared to the Earth the Moon has a tremendous amount of helium 3," said Lawrence Taylor, a director of the US Planetary Geosciences Institute, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

"When helium 3 combines with deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen) the fusion reaction proceeds at a very high temperature and it can produce awesome amounts of energy," Taylor said.

"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.

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: energy; fusion; helium3; space
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To: MichaelP

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 ?


21 posted on 11/26/2004 9:36:17 AM PST by Atlantic Friend (Cursum Perficio)
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To: Atlantic Friend

maybe because of the higher radiation.


22 posted on 11/26/2004 9:37:56 AM PST by Haro_546 (Christian Zionist)
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To: Atlantic Friend
No atmosphere! the particles aren't diffused.

Mike

23 posted on 11/26/2004 9:38:42 AM PST by MichaelP
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To: Willie Green
"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.

24 posted on 11/26/2004 9:38:44 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (The way that you wander is the way that you choose. The day that you tarry is the day that you lose.)
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To: Willie Green

"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.


25 posted on 11/26/2004 9:38:54 AM PST by DennisR (Look around - there are countless unmistakable hints that God exists)
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To: Xenalyte
"Why spend all that money when I have a gas-producer extraordinaire right here?"

insert photo of Hillary here!

26 posted on 11/26/2004 9:39:50 AM PST by patriot_wes
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
Those 25tons need to be extracted from the soil.
27 posted on 11/26/2004 9:41:33 AM PST by Haro_546 (Christian Zionist)
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To: Willie Green
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.

28 posted on 11/26/2004 9:41:42 AM PST by Erasmus (Hey vegans! Plants have feelings too!)
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To: Willie Green

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.


29 posted on 11/26/2004 9:42:14 AM PST by cripplecreek (I come swinging the olive branch of peace.)
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To: Haro_546

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


30 posted on 11/26/2004 9:46:45 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Half a league, half a league rode the MSM into the valley of obscurity)
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To: Army Air Corps

51 State: THE MOON


31 posted on 11/26/2004 9:49:03 AM PST by Haro_546 (Christian Zionist)
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To: VRWCTexan

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


32 posted on 11/26/2004 9:49:37 AM PST by Xenalyte (I'm thinkin' of a master plan . . .)
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To: Haro_546

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


33 posted on 11/26/2004 9:50:20 AM PST by RightWhale (Destroy the dark; restore the light)
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To: Willie Green
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.
34 posted on 11/26/2004 9:52:38 AM PST by Lockbar (March toward the sound of the guns.)
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To: Haro_546

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


35 posted on 11/26/2004 9:52:44 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Half a league, half a league rode the MSM into the valley of obscurity)
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To: Xenalyte
He's got that 'look' on his mug... “Don't it smell wonnnderful?!’
36 posted on 11/26/2004 9:55:44 AM PST by johnny7 (“We blowed 'em up(Kerry/Dashcle) real good!” -John Candy aka; Carl Rowe)
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To: Willie Green

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


37 posted on 11/26/2004 9:56:38 AM PST by OldFriend (PRAY FOR MAJ. TAMMY DUCKWORTH)
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To: Willie Green

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


38 posted on 11/26/2004 10:13:41 AM PST by Tennessee_Bob (Come on you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?)
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To: Willie Green

> "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.


39 posted on 11/26/2004 10:20:27 AM PST by Boundless
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To: Tennessee_Bob
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.
40 posted on 11/26/2004 10:21:55 AM PST by Willie Green
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