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

MtnBiker

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Sep 28, 2003
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By Vladimir Radyuhin


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."


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First we will put up SDI, then mine the moon and if anybody tries to horn in on our action ............ KABLOOEY:blowup:
 
I heard about this. The possibilities are endless with this helium-3 stuff. However, and i know it's a ficticiou movie, but remember what happened when they tried to build stuff on the moon in 'The Time Machine' We need to be real careful about this.
 
20 years? Will it really take that long to develop the technology? Extraction equipment, base, cargo vessel? Or is it a matter of when a demand for helium-3 arises?
 
"Russia can well afford an economically profitable and inexpensive project to mine Helium-3 on the Moon,"

Who's he trying to fool? They can't even afford the ISS.

The moon also represents vast strategic importance. It's sufficiently far from the Earth that any surface launched missle could be detected and intercepted easily before it represented any danger to a Lunar base, and gravity (dumb) bombs could be simply dropped to Earth with subtle, nearly undetectable nudges from high orbit. Sheathed in radar deflecting cases they would be impossible to detect or stop. The moon, in concert with a web of high orbit satellites, is the perfect choke point. Finally, it would be important as the final deterent to a full scale nuclear attack; even after the complete annhiliation of the United States, there would still be the possibility of a response.
 
..Dubbyuh's "Moon PLan" is nothing but a cheap campaign gimmick to make him look like a "True Visionary", although nothing could be further from the truth. He's so blinkered by his own narrowness of vision that he can't see past the next sound bite, let alone the next election.

Anyone that actually believes his "To the Moon and Beyond" rhetoric needs to check themselves into the nearest psych ward for evaluation of possible cognitive impairment disorder.
 
Originally posted by Bullypulpit
..Dubbyuh's "Moon PLan" is nothing but a cheap campaign gimmick to make him look like a "True Visionary", although nothing could be further from the truth. He's so blinkered by his own narrowness of vision that he can't see past the next sound bite, let alone the next election.

Anyone that actually believes his "To the Moon and Beyond" rhetoric needs to check themselves into the nearest psych ward for evaluation of possible cognitive impairment disorder.

Why don't you tell us specifically why this won't work? Can you do that?
 
Originally posted by Bullypulpit
..Dubbyuh's "Moon PLan" is nothing but a cheap campaign gimmick to make him look like a "True Visionary", although nothing could be further from the truth. He's so blinkered by his own narrowness of vision that he can't see past the next sound bite, let alone the next election.

Anyone that actually believes his "To the Moon and Beyond" rhetoric needs to check themselves into the nearest psych ward for evaluation of possible cognitive impairment disorder.
Oh sure and when things do start progressing toward the project there will be cries of "Bush is just doing this so his buddies at Haliburton and Bechtel will profit. Its not enough that they rape the earth's environment they have to do it to the moon as well."
 
Originally posted by MtnBiker
Oh sure and when things do start progressing toward the project there will be cries of "Bush is just doing this so his buddies at Haliburton and Bechtel will profit. Its not enough that they rape the earth's environment they have to do it to the moon as well."
these will be the same people that dont think that we should be exploring space inthe first place. the same ones that line their hats with tin foil, lock theselves in their basements for 20 years at a time.
 
That would be fascinating if we could use Helium 3 to replace non degradable sources of fuel for nuclear fission. If it's possibe and economic as they say (in that i have my doubts), sign me up. Anything to get ride of that toxic waste.
 
Originally posted by jimnyc
Why don't you tell us specifically why this won't work? Can you do that?

Well, like every other scheme Dubbyuh has floated since he was selected, it will either be under-funded or unfunded.
 
Originally posted by Bullypulpit
Well, like every other scheme Dubbyuh has floated since he was selected, it will either be under-funded or unfunded.

Just sounded to me that you were saying this goal wasn't realistic. I was curious why exactly you felt that way.
 
Originally posted by Bullypulpit
Well, like every other scheme Dubbyuh has floated since he was selected, it will either be under-funded or unfunded.
That would only be if Hillary Clinton and her foolish colleagues regain control of our congress!

I've got it, how about taking every sycophant on welfare, medicare and other forms of government handouts, shipping them to the moon and making them work for a living!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Well, like every other scheme Dubbyuh has floated since he was selected, it will either be under-funded or unfunded.

Well he funded the tax cuts and the war. Now what programs might you be speaking of ?
 
Finally, it would be important as the final deterent to a full scale nuclear attack; even after the complete annhiliation of the United States, there would still be the possibility of a response.

See the man is a visionary !
 
To be honest I don't know why Bullypit you don't support this. I mean frankly if it is true, we (well, you, I'm Canadian) should support this initiative as it has three greats incentives:

1. Replace toxic Uranium with Helium which is a noble gas solving a vital environmental problem with nuclear power.
2. Apparently cost of Helium 3 even on the moon is cheaper than uranium, an ecnomic bonus.
3. Put stimulus on a NASA which results is jobs and future spinoffs for exploration and scientific research.
 
Those are good points Isaac. Exploring and improving technology that can benifit us, regardless of who is in the White House, is a good thing.:)
 

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