| Considering the danger represented by the climate | | | | by-products. This gas could also be used for |
| changes and the global warming phenomena scientists | | | | powering spacecrafts.Commercially unfeasibleMan on |
| and businessmen worldwide started to look for | | | | MoonThe US goverment and some European |
| alternative energy sources. Besides the wind power | | | | countries as well have studied the energy potential of |
| or the nuclear energy is has been recently taken into | | | | the Moon. And yet it is highly unlikely that any |
| consideration a new power generating substance: | | | | government or group of states will spend the money |
| helium 3.What exactly is helium 3? Helium 3, an | | | | necessary to go to the Moon and establish a base on |
| isotope of helium, a gas used to inflate balloons, has | | | | it to support scientific research or the construction of |
| a nucleus with two protons and one neutron. The | | | | the first production facilities. Hopefully the next few |
| solar wind, the rapid stream of charged particles | | | | years will witness a media campaign to support the |
| emitted by the Sun, strikes the planets and their | | | | enterprise in the context of the global warming and |
| sattelites in the solar system and thus helium 3 is | | | | the lack of terrestrial resources. Human society is |
| deposited in the superficial soil (also called regolith). As | | | | straining to keep pace with its ever increasing energy |
| the Moons atmosphere is not very dense this flow | | | | demands which are expected to increase eightfold by |
| of particles easily penetrates the gas layer and | | | | 2050 as the population swells toward 12 billion. The |
| reaches the ground. Over millions and billions of years | | | | moon and its resources just may be the answer.At |
| that adds up. But for its denser protective gases | | | | the moment the most important aspect that prevent |
| layers the Earth would have been under the direct | | | | the exploitation of the lunar resources is the money. |
| action of the Sun too thus being contaminated by | | | | The long term investors have to consider spending a |
| toxic products.Louie Alvarez and Robert Cornog | | | | lot of it for 10 to 15 tears before any adequate |
| discovered helium 3 in 1939 but it was only 1957 | | | | return of investment. Companies in the field of |
| when it drew the attention of researchers. It has | | | | energy production are reluctant to consider investing |
| been estimated that only a few hundreds pounds | | | | in such an enterprise. The other element that |
| exist on Earth, most the by-product of | | | | encourages skepticism is the lack of appropriate |
| nuclear-weapon production. Experts estimate that | | | | technologies. The fact is that once applied for |
| there are about 1 million tons of helium 3 on the | | | | economical purposes not only in labs and used on |
| Moon, enough to provide the world with power for | | | | large scale these technologies become very |
| thousands of years from now on. The equivalent of | | | | expensive. Both proponents and skeptics have to |
| a single space shuttle load (25 tons) could supply the | | | | consider that for example to produce 70 tons of |
| entire United States energy needs for a year, | | | | helium 3 one million tons of lunar soil would need to |
| according to Apollo 17 astronaut and Harrison | | | | be heated to 800 C to liberate the gas.If successful |
| Schmitt.The advocates of this energy source support | | | | the researchers efforts to find new alternative |
| the idea of building reactors based on the reaction of | | | | resources on the Moon could pay off the interested |
| deuterium and helium 3 even in the middle of a big | | | | investors but as we said before nobody is prepared |
| city. It is said that the fusion reaction using this gas is | | | | to invest money in soap balloons and the Moon in the |
| very efficient and it releases very little radioactive | | | | sky. |