Moon plan to give U.S. control over energy sources

The Hindu ^ | Monday, Jan 26, 2004 | Vladimir Radyuhin

[demlosers]

MOSCOW, JAN. 25. The United States is planning to use the Moon as a source of energy fuel that should help it establish ultimate supremacy on the Earth, a Russian newspaper said.

An ambitious programme to build a manned base on the Moon by 2020 unveiled by the U.S. President, George W. Bush, earlier this month was not a re-election gimmick as American and international media described it, but a strategic economically project, the authoritative Izvestia newspaper said.

A lunar base will enable the U.S. to bring back to Earth shiploads of Helium-3, a valuable fuel for thermonuclear reactors, which is abundant on the Moon but practically absent on the Earth. The newspaper quoted academician, Erick Galimov, as saying that a couple of shuttle spacecraft can bring to Earth enough liquified Helium-3 to meet all global energy needs for 12 months.

"If we had a thermonuclear reactor technology, it would be economically more efficient to deliver Helium-3 from the Moon today than generate power from fossil fuels or uranium," said Mr. Galimov, who heads the Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences. "Using Helium-3 in thermonuclear synthesis may prove the best way to meet global energy needs." The paper draws attention to the fact that the 2020 deadline Mr. Bush set for building a lunar base coincides with the expected construction of a thermonuclear reactor and a global energy crisis. With energy consumption in industrially developed countries growing at a rate of 10 per cent a year, thermonuclear power stations may be the only way to overcome an impending energy crux.

"Helium is ideal ecologically-safe fuel for thermonuclear technology," Mr. Galimov said. "The cost of bringing Helium from the Moon will be a fraction of the price of electric power generated today at nuclear plants." The Moon has an estimated 500 million tonnes of Helium-3 trapped in the upper layers of the lunar rock, whereas the Earth may have no more than a few hundred kg of the isotope, which is moreover embedded deep inside our planet.

The Moon colonisation plan announced by Mr. Bush will "enable the U.S. to establish its control of the global energy market 20 years from now and put the rest of the world on its knees as hydrocarbons run out," the daily said.

However, Mr. Galimov believes that Russia can complete with the U.S. in the race for the Moon. "Russia can well afford an economically profitable and inexpensive project to mine Helium-3 on the Moon," the Russian scientist said. "It will cost a mere $25-30 millions to extract Helium-3 by warming lunar soil and scraping the isotope from the surface with the help of lunar bulldozers

[demlosers]

The Moon colonisation plan announced by Mr. Bush will "enable the U.S. to establish its control of the global energy market 20 years from now

Sounds good to me hehe...

[Travis McGee]

Fair play bump.

[Sabertooth]

FYI

[Simmy2.5]

Sounds great. But I don't remember Bush ever announcing a colonization plan. A plan to stay there yes, but as far as I know, just a little research base. And earth supremacy? Hehe.

Seems someone is jumping the gun here. Though I wouldn't mind a colonized moon, I don't think that is what Bush is calling for.

[Travis McGee]

If it pays its way, I'm all for it.

[ambrose]

Excellent. This is like the government building a road. Businesses then pop up along the way.

[ambrose]

ping.

[cripplecreek]

wont the islamonazis need to find a new whine?

[Travis McGee]

So private businesses will be building the rockets for this mining endeavor? I'm all for that.

[Voltage]

This is good since the Moon is ours..we planted our flag.

[eccl1212]

"The GREAT Satan is defiling the home of our MOON GOD, Alaaaaaahhh!" I can just hear it now...

[ambrose]

We have to build the moon base first. We also have to explore the other planets and moons. We may find something and we may not. If we find something of value, the businesses will then step in.

Where I think we differ is you appear to demand immediate prospective economic benefit, but I believe that exploration is worthy for its own sake. Columbus thought he was going to India, not the New World... who knows what we'll find if we send more probes, and eventually men, to explore the cosmos.

[Tuxedo]

This is actually a great idea! He-3 is very rare on earth and is very costly. It makes a lot of sense, but reactor designs are far from complete, AFAIK. I also don't think you have wastes to deal with either, as you do with conventional nuclear reactors. Gonna be tough for our friends in the Sierra Club to fight them off.

[Terpfen]

Though I wouldn't mind a colonized moon, I don't think that is what Bush is calling for.

I don't think too many people would be hot on the idea of moon colonization without Earth-equivalent artificial gravity. We could create a self-contained colony with Earth-equivalent gravity no problem, it's just that no one wants to put up the money for it. Personally, I'd like to see space developed ala the Gundam model, but I guess we'll be Earthbound with the lefties for a long, long time to come...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Live with it.

[Phil V.]

Though I wouldn't mind a colonized moon . . . the same way the Brits colonized Austrailia - with convicts (or Democrats - sameo, sameo . . .)

[ambrose]

Gundam model?

I don't see moon colonization... not now, and not ever either. I envision lunar outposts and bases where mining work takes place. Sort of like oil rigs out in the ocean.

Mars, on the other hand, is a planet that will eventually be colonized.

[antaresequity]

"It will cost a mere $25-30 millions to extract Helium-3 by warming lunar soil and scraping the isotope from the surface with the help of lunar bulldozers

LOL...30 million bucks won't even pay for ignition systems needed to light the rockets that will get them there...

[okie01]

"Gonna be tough for our friends in the Sierra Club to fight them off."

Count on them to try, though. Because the enviro-orgs don't really exist to "protect the environment". Instead, their purpose is to destroy capitalism.

Well, to tell the truth, that's actually Job 2. Job 1 is to keep the current executives and their associated attornies in $500 suits and Mercedes SUVs.

[lchoro]

According to Academician and member of Council on Space of Russian Academy of Science Eric Galimov, the Moon can provide the mankind with electric power sufficient for 1000 years of use.
"Scientists think that the Earth supplies of oil, gas and uranium will be exhausted in the 2150s, therefore currently the mankind is required to look for alternative sources of energy", he said in an interview to ITAR-TASS information agency.

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/11880_Moon.html