China plans manned moon landing around 2017: Looking for Helium-3, page
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reply posted on 5-11-2005 @ 03:02 PM by ZPE StarPilot
Any good moon orbiting satellite with the proper sensors can find the Helium-3. There is a lot of it on the surface. NASA has moon maps of where it is. Helium-3 is also found in Titanium deposits on the Moon. Some of those samples were returned to Earth on one of the Apollo Moon missions.

"The red indicates an abundance of helium-3 on the Moon's surface."


A reactor using Helium-3 might be developed, if we had any Helium-3 to try it. We don't have any here on Earth. It's all on the Moon. Having some might just speed the process up.


It has been estimated that helium 3 would have a cash value of $5.7 billion a ton in terms of its current energy equivalent to oil at <$40 per barrel oil.

At $40,000 to $60,000 per kilo for transporting materials from Earth to the Moon, it is not cost effective to go to the Moon even for pure gold (Au), at today's price of <$15,500 per kilogram. He3 equivalent energy value in today’s dollars is $5.7 Million per kilogram making this venture for the He3 fusion reactant worth the effort and cost.
www.direct.ca...




The energy content of helium-3 is so high that one space shuttle returning to Earth with 20 tons of helium-3 represents $320 billion (1991 $) to an Earth-based energy market. 20-tones per year (under the assumed colonization strategy) is the approximate amount of helium-3 required to support growth of one colony on Mars and outposts at each of the gas-giant planets.
American Geophysical Society - Prospecting for Helium-3 on the Moon


My opinion: Recent observations about the North and South poles of the Moon, indicate that there are a few worthy places to establish a permanent base on the Moon. Not just anywhere, but rather a few very specific locations, of only a few square miles, are premium territory, for various reasons.

Go to the Moon to stay. Then start mining operations to pay for it.

I'll say it again: China is at the Gemini stage of development. And having skipped most of the previous research. They still display the ability to have launch failure rates as high as 20%, one in every five launches. They are barely in low Earth orbit. They have a long ways to go.


reply posted on 6-11-2005 @ 04:27 AM by Simon666
Originally posted by ZPE StarPilot
A reactor using Helium-3 might be developed, if we had any Helium-3 to try it. We don't have any here on Earth. It's all on the Moon. Having some might just speed the process up.

Wrongo. There is plenty of helium 3 on earth for research purposes. It can among others be produced by extracting it during natural gas production. Another important source is decay of tritium in US nuclear weapons, which produces 15 kg per year, more than enough for any research reactor. Further, there is no need at the time to "speed the process up" as there is not even a research reactor yet that can maintain the tens of millions of degrees for long enough to have a break even for the lowest temperature fusion reaction, which is deuterium-tritium. Further, you do not need to develop a commercial reactor using helium 3 with a research reactor using helium 3, p-6Li fusion that requires temperatures of the same magnitude could suffice to prove the concept. Further, some people present helium 3 as a non polluting fuel, this is not true. The neutronicity of the reaction is just around 20 times or so less. This means you'll still have radioactivity and reactor wall damage, but just a lot less. It is hence dubious whether the enormous costs of developing a fusion reactor using helium 3 that requires temperatures several times higher than for deuterium tritium fusion, plus the astronomical costs of mining helium 3 on the moon, would offset the rather marginal costs of the higher storage and disposal of nuclear waste when using the a lot easier to achieve deuterium-tritium fusion.

So in short:
1. There are significant amounts of He3 on earth, just not enough to power several commercial reactors using it IF those were to exist.
2. There is even no immediate need for He3 to develop a nuclear reactor using it.
3. D-He3 fusion requires higher temperatures, which is even more difficult in times of cost to develop.
4. He3 still produces neutrons, just less.

Hence, is the cost of developing D-He3 fusion and mining He3 less than the higher storage of nuclear waste for D-T fusion? I don't think so.


reply posted on 27-8-2008 @ 11:50 AM by Anonymous ATS
reply to post by NotheRaGe


United States by year 2018 will have no money to put people on the moon. Interest payment on national debt will eat out all the budget. United States is an early stage of Titanic right after hitting an iceberg. Prepare to jump ship.



reply posted on 27-8-2008 @ 12:44 PM by bigfatfurrytexan
Don't count China out, guys. They have lots of money, and are using American ingenuity. As a matter of fact, the US is deeply in bed with them whether we admit it or not. Check out what James Baker is doing, from a post of mine in another thread:

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
I have an update from China. Strangest thing. This poster at a locally run forum (the region is less than 200k people) has really provided me a lot of spectacularly good links. Two of them deal with the China connection.

I am willing to bet that the Chinese government is willing to provide a substantial amount of autonomy (at least initially) to a scientist like Dr. Li, who can provide technology that gives a competitve edge. They are moving full speed ahead with stem cell research and could end up being a sponsor of human cloning.

Below is a joint Chinese/US effort:

High Frequency Gravity Waves

It is Chinese with English translations. Could one of our mathematicians have a perusal at the math and theory and provide some feedback?

I have a patent related to this, as well...but haven't finished with it yet. I will post it tomorrow (when i can use my desktop system and get into my full suite of applications).

...snip....



Shortly after this i emailed Dr. Baker, and here is his reply:



Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2008 22:46:48 -0800
Dear Mike: I really appreciate your interest in High-Frequency Gravitational waves. I have not heard from Dr. Ning Li for several years. In Huntsville several years back her husband prepared what my wife and I consider the best Chinese meal we have ever had. At the time I was evaluating her work on HFGWs/superconductors for the US Army. According to them she never presented them with a final report on the $500,000 contract that they paid her. I have no idea where she is or what she is doing. I am working with a Professor Fangyu Li from Chongqing University . You can find information on our activity at www.GravWave.com. Regards, Robert Baker


I recommend you go to the Gravwave.com website. As well, peruse the thread i have linked to, as there are powerpoint presentations and stuff for the Chinese officials.

Why do i bring this up? Two reasons:

1. Dr. Baker is one of the foremost gravitational researchers in the world. As well, he runs the UCal Berkeley department on such research, and acts in the capacity of "Talent Agent" for the US Military. He is a "headhunter" and funnels deserving scientists (and their research) into DARPA for further development.

2. If you visit the Gravwave.com webpage you can locate the following page:

www.gravwave.com...

scroll down, you will see Buzz Aldrin listed as a "senior scientific advisor".

Invest Now Or Lose Space Race To China/Russia

Buzz is VERY convinced that China will be going to the moon, and before the US returns. He has stated that the next men on the moon will speak Chinese.
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