Should we mine Helium 3 on the Moon?

[Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)]

Our current technology/methods produce as part of the reaction an over-abundance of energetic neutrons that fairly quickly degrade the reactor walls to the point where the walls either have to be completely replaced (dangerous, expensive, time consuming) or the reactor shut down, obviously another bad option. Using Helium 3 as the nucler "fuel" massively reduces this neutron stream thus making the reactor a longer term / lower maintenance unit.

I believe the comment was also made that the half life of waste products produced by helium 3 reaction processes in measured in years, not millennia.

[GrahamL]

At 0.01 ppm, it might be problematic equipping or funding such an operation!

thats so true.. so to get this stuff you have to process a good sized chunk of the moons surface ?... and then ship the refined product back here ?

closer to home .. i believe around 15000 + kids die each day
http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-ba...rnational.html
of hunger and disease ..despite our world produceing enough to deal with both ... I think we have a poor record on being able to deal with the logistics of moveing stuff and probably always will..so forget about the moon.

[nightsky]

G'Day,
I saw the program and I'd say a big "NO" period, and in regards to the real estate.Trust the yanks to start selling something they don't own.or do they??
Cheers
Arthur

[dmizen]

my first post after lurking for ages

im some what concerned that no body has mentioned the change in mass thats potentialy involved.

the loss of mass from the moon durring mining as a result of removing matter must to some extent change the gravitational relationship between the moon and earth the question must be to what extent? signifiact or not?

who much mass are we talking of removing ? is there going to be a loss of mass as a result of the loss of dust into space ?

then there are the consequential changes to the earth- change in tide paterns etc, are these significant or not?

perhaps the mathamaticians out there may care to consider!

david

[Mr. Subatomic]

I'm not a mathematician, but I suspect that the effect will be unnoticeable. I'm only presuming this in the case that Helium-3 is the only, if not, one of the only elements/materials mined on the moon.

[mill (Martin)]

Originally Posted by Mr. Subatomic

I'm not a mathematician, but I suspect that the effect will be unnoticeable. I'm only presuming this in the case that Helium-3 is the only, if not, one of the only elements/materials mined on the moon.

And may be so untill they find something else.
As you know people are a greedy bunch, the more they have the more they want, as soon as something else is found on the moon they can use, it will go back with the helium3 and then we will be in big trouble (moon will get smaller).

[Mr. Subatomic]

I wouldn't worry too much about a shrinking moon, but to put things into perspective, I remember the program explaining how it would be impractical to ming bring back an amount of GOLD from the moon equivalent to the amount of Helium-3! It's just that rare.

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

I gather the He3 is only found in the surface rocks as it is absorbed from the solar wind impacting on the surface.

[astro_nutt]

Consider the cost of transport and mining He3..also think if the which nations of the world will chip in to finance such an operation..but it could also sow the seeds of conflict..(given the track record of world leaders who have gone to war for less that this)
A future power supply is useless until we educate ourselves in the conservation of our current resources...and give a chance for our planet to heal a bit...(re-forest, etc)..after all we still need clean air and water.
Cheers!

[cahullian]

One good thing about mining on the moon would be that there would be a permanent settlement there. Governments won't or can't do it so big business may as well. Use ballast to balance out the loss of mass removed. I for one would use my retirement pension to be burried there.

Gazz

[ving (David)]

we are wrecking this planet, we have littered on mars, so why not go and wreck the moon too... boy do we have something to learn as a species...

[MortonH]

If the entire surface of the moon was mined, would the moon's colour/reflectivity be affected? As an astronomer, sometimes I think about how much more observing we could do if the moon was darker and didn't drown out the whole sky. But from an environmental point of view, this would be very bad for all the animals that rely on moonlight (think of those baby turtles that hatch at full moon...)

Personally, I think the human race should leave the moon alone, but it's not going to happen. If people like George Dubya are prepared to allow oil mining in Alaska, they wouldn't think twice about trashing the moon.

Morton

[JimmyH155]

What's a couple more craters on the moon anyway? We wouldn't even notice. But I agree about the constant launching ov space vehicles from Earth - it would completely stuff up what is left of our atmosphere. No the only way is a space elevator to get us up there (read the Red Mars, green Mars, Blue Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson - fascinating reading) And that's centuries away. Nope, we'll just have to manage with solar power for a while. Stop production of all cars with engines greater than 848cc, and bring back the horses

[GTB_an_Owl (Geoff)]

[ Nope, we'll just have to manage with solar power for a while. Stop production of all cars with engines greater than 848cc, and bring back the horses[/quote]


Maybe you shouldn't laugh about that Jimmy - it's not a bad idea

not only would it cut down on our reliance on oil - it may just prevent a WAR or two

geoff

[Outbackmanyep]

If Australia had anything to do with it, the side facing earth would be made a "National Park" and the other side which we don't see will be mined!

[nightsky]

Originally Posted by Outbackmanyep

If Australia had anything to do with it, the side facing earth would be made a "National Park" and the other side which we don't see will be mined!

G'Day,
Sad but true,if "Little Johnny" has his way thats what would happen,after all he has just "Stole" back land from the Native Australians to use it as a Nuclear dump.
Cheers
Arthur

[Astro78]

If mining the moon for Helium 3 is able to be made profitable (or even feasible) then I say go for it.
The competition and thirst for profit will no doubt accelerate space based technology - seriously who doesn't want to see that?

[Doc]

I guess I'm ignorant of this topic??????? However, He3 is a monatomic gas that is a gas just above absolute zero. Shouldn't it have escaped the lunar rock eons ago ? Is it thought to be trapped in molecular voids such as those provided in buckyballs (C60. etc)?

Doc

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

My understanding is that the He3 is trapped in the material on the surface and is constantly replenished from the solar wind. So mining would entail digging up the top few centimetres of soil and processing it to remove the helium.

[ving (David)]

wrecking this planet... why stop here?


thats sarcasm btw