Newt Gingrich: Gasbag
Posted on 01/28/2012 9:07:59 AM PST by Hojczyk
Newt Gingrich told Floridians this week that that under his administration the US would have the first permanent base on the moon. An American moon base could provide America with enough Helium-3 to provide for all of country’s energy needs
Nations and private companies are racing to be the first to scout the moon for Helium 3, a rare gas which could make almost unlimited, clean fusion energy a reality.
Some experts estimate there a millions of tons in lunar soil — and that a single Space-Shuttle load would power the entire United States for a year. Both China and Russia have stated their nations’ interest in helium-3.
A moon base could also provide America with several rare earth elements. Discovery reported:
As Discovery News reports, thanks to a critical shortage last year, the price of the isotope helium-3 has skyrocketed from $150 per liter to $5,000 per liter.
Helium is used for arc welding and leak detection, mostly, although NASA uses it to pressurize space shuttle fuel tanks. Liquid helium cools infrared detectors, nuclear reactors, and the superconducting magnets used in MRI machines, too. The fear is that, at current consumption rates, that underground bunker will be empty within 20 years, leaving the earth almost helium-free by the end of the 21st century. This could be bad for US industry.
It also bodes ill for the prospect of fusion using helium-3, a rare helium isotope that is missing a neutron. Physicists have yet to achieve pure helium-3 fusion, but if they did, we’d have a clean, virtually infinite power source. Or so the theory goes.
And that’s where the moon comes in. The moon’s lunar soil is chock-full of helium reserves, thanks to the solar wind.
(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...
"We are the pioneers of the world; the advance guard sent on through the wilderness of untried things..."
In the book he is speaking about what it is we are as Americans and what it means to be an American.
This was written over 150 years ago and is still true to this day. As Americans, it is in our very blood to explore the unknown, to push the envelope and never settle for what we have, instead to strive for what could be.
To cut away from our drive to explore(even if it is for financial reasons) is the most un-American thing I can think of. It's who we are and what truly makes us special in this world. It's why every one of our ancestors pulled up their roots from wherever they came from and bet everything on this Country.
Space is the frontier now and to explore it is who we are, and who we have always been.
bttt
I'm still angry that they killed the shuttle without a replacement. Yes it was dangerous but I and probably every astronaut would ride it into space regardless. There are risks to everything we do. This thinking that everything should be risk free is ridiculous. A great goal, no doubt, but it shouldn't stop all activity. When Alan Shepard sat in the first Mercury capsule waiting for launch, he knew how dangerous it was and how many failures there were but he did it anyway. I didn't know he died from leukemia in 1998 according to wiki.
Do they even have swing-sets on playgrounds these days or are they deemed too dangerous?
I would have been a lot more impressed if Gingrich had promised to get us out of the outer space treaty and give industry the go ahead to claim tracts of land and asteroids in space if they can put feet on them and utilize them.
I agree. With our current plans and administration, we'll be the last to get there and probably riding on a Russian or Chinese launch vehicle.
This is going to be portrayed as right wing wackiness. Sort of their version of the Bullet Train and Windmill agenda.
It's hard enough to figure if cold fusion is viable.
Get a laboratory version using H-3 fusion working, scale it; then it will be good to consider moon mining. Then, private money would at least partly pay.
From Wiki:
Velcro is the brand name of the first commercially marketed fabric hook-and-loop fastener,[1] invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral. De Mestral patented Velcro in 1955, subsequently refining and developing its practical manufacture until its commercial introduction in the late 1950s.
I could have sworn it was a benefit from the space program but it's not, weird, eh???
My grandfather had lots of business dealings with Jim McDivitt (Gemini 4 and Apollo 9). I know he was a big supporter of industrializing space as a means of expansion.
There were always kids around at the informal business lunches and men’s breakfast at the church and he always told us that we might work in space some day.
There were always kids around at the informal business lunches and men’s breakfast at the church and he always told us that we might work in space some day.
How cool is that?
I remember those days when the future was wide open, what happened to that, guilty liberals?
What's a couple of billions here and there matter? What a waste; are we going to let the orbit decay like Skylab and Mir? The fact that we have to hitch a ride on a Russian rocket is pathetic.
Now that we've spent so much money, keep it up there until it literally falls apart. It's modular and they've proven they can work in space so what's the problem? I think the idea was floated from the Russians simply so that we'd have to give them more money.
I think McDivitt is where I learned that even a failure is a success if you learn from it. They failed in one objective of Gemini 4 to attempt the first space rendezvous with the second stage of the rocket that launched them.
However they did do some other things that saved lives later on like the first attempt at using a sextant for navigation in space. Ed White made the first space walk on that flight too.
Somebody going to tell me where we’ve got all the fusion reactors we’re going to fuel with this stuff?
Seriously, researchers have been playing with tokamaks and the like for decades, and as best I recall, we haven’t even been able to sustain a fusion reaction for a whole second.
"So in other words, helium 3 fusion is twenty years in the future…"The predictability and grasp of our future is in logarithmic proportion to our willingness to shun the norm,
Newt Gingrich: Gasbag
We should be in a position to land on the moon at a moments notice.
#ck the entitlement crowd that makes such novel operations a financial impossibility.
>> gasbag
Then what do you propose we do regarding POTUS 2012?
It’s my understanding that the idea for Velcro came from a type of weed seed that sticks to clothing or fur.
newt’s behind the curve on nuclear energy. the real deal is thorium. There’s immense quantities of thorium here in the USA and elsewhere on earth. There’s also plenty on the moon and mars.
what’s more there have already been experimental reactors developed to use it. thorium reactors were jewels in the crown of the US nuclear program during its heyday from the 40’ to the early 70’s. a democrat even briefly ran for office on the sole plank of pushing thorium energy. because is cheap and safe and easy to make (compared to uranium).
I propose the Republican party nominate anyone who is non establishment Republican: Santorum, Palin, General Petreus, any army officer, or other professional person who is not a liaryar for that matter. I'm sick of beltway types who have been ensconced in D.C. since forever.
Military officers have a wide range of experience and bring a lot to the table.
Just my two cents since you asked.
Fregards,
OC
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.