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Page added on March 1, 2015
Could the Moon Hold the Key to the World’s Energy Crisis?
The worlds largest energy consumers are deeply aware of the urgency of addressing their energy trilemmas – how to balance energy security, energy equity (access and affordability) and environmental sustainability. Helium 3 might be the answer they are looking for.
Over the last few decades, the world’s energy situation has been dominated by feelings of uncertainty and fear. Tensions loom as global energy demands are expected to increase eight-fold by 2020, parallel with rapid population growths, particularly in India and China.
Powering economies the size of China by burning massive quantities of fossil fuels or increasingly relying on nuclear power is becoming extensively unsustainable and self-damaging. This is not to mention that oil production is expected to peak in the next decade. Alternative energy sources are becoming much more of a necessity than a mere alternative.
What is Helium-3?
On December 2, 1992, the American Geophysical Union published an article in Science Daily claiming there was an isotope of great value on the Moon: a light, non-radioactive isotope of Helium with two protons and one neutron. The unique atomic structure of Helium-3 makes it possible to use it as fuel for nuclear fusion (the process that powers the sun) to generate vast amounts of electrical power without creating the radioactive byproducts produced in conventional nuclear reactors.
Fusion power is a primary research area of plasma physics, where it is seen as a means of producing vast quantities of clean energy. Scientists confirm Helium-3 will be able to power fusion reactors, which are expected to be developed within the next 40 years.
The abundance and potential of Helium-3 has attracted the competitive interests of countries such as China, Russia, US and India. The US is leading the research. NASA funds 16 facilities for the commercial development of space throughout the US. The Center for Space Automation and Robotics department at the University of Wisconsin in Madison was the first to envision the idea of mining Astrofuel from the Moon in 1986.
Experts have estimated that forty tons of liquefied Helium-3 brought from the Moon to the Earth would provide sufficient fuel for fusion reactors to meet the full electrical needs of one quarter of the world for a year. Estimates show 1,100,000 metric tons of Helium-3 on the lunar surface and that 40 tons of Helium-3 is enough to fill the cargo bays of two space shuttles, which would be the equivalent of bringing back to Earth approximately 2 billion barrels of oil.
Based on these estimates, the potential energy of a ton of Helium-3 would be equivalent to 50 million barrels of crude oil. Helium-3 based fusion could drastically reduce global dependence on fossil fuels and help governments meet environmental sustainability goals at a much quicker and more effective rate.
Legal Framework
The legal framework surrounding lunar exploration and extraction is complex. On the January 27, 1967 the US, Soviet Union and UK signed the Outer Space Treaty (OST). Having reached 102 parties in 2013, the OST is formally a treaty that governs the principles and activities of states in the exploration of outer space.
The wording of the treaty is ambiguous and leaves room for debate. The OST strictly prohibits countries from exercising territorial sovereignty over the Moon or other celestial bodies. These are considered a common heritage of mankind. The OST does not, however, prohibit resource extraction, leaving lawyers room for re-interpretation.
The main factor to consider is that space exploration is no longer solely the domain of governmental agencies. Private companies are attracting investment to develop regular, reliable and affordable travel to space, stimulated additionally by rewards such as the Google-Lunar X Prize.
Others are actively planning manned missions for lunar mining. A company called Shackleton Energy Co. has ambitions to build space fuel stations and to sell rocket fuel, mined from lunar ice caps in orbit, by 2020.
Lawyers and industry experts are pushing to reform the existing treaty into a new comprehensive piece of legislation.
Commercialization and social impact
In a study submitted to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2006, researchers analyzed the financial viability of Helium-3 harvesting missions. Researchers stated that a good measurement of financial viability is maximum return on investment described as the ratio of the project lifetime net gains vs. total capital investment.
For this analysis the most important parameter is the projected lifetime of the project. Estimates suggest that approximately 1 billion metric tons of Helium-3 would last over 300 years, giving investors plenty of time for major financial breakthroughs.
Given that world population is predicted to reach 12 billion by 2050, the world’s increased standard of living, and increased dependence on oil, fossil fuels are not going to last forever.
The development of Helium-3 would alleviate dependency on fossil fuels, not to mention the non-polluting properties of Helium-3. It could also have a substantial impact on international relations.
If mining legislation is carefully planned and structured on the basis of common benefit, it could potentially soften tensions in the political and economic affairs of competing nations, which are increasingly centered around energy security concerns.
26 Comments on "Could the Moon Hold the Key to the World’s Energy Crisis?"
penury on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 4:00 pm
And so the dreams continue. Life as we know it must continue or else/ What could possibly be better than what currently exists? We must continue to produce all the energy that our world of Homo Saps needs to power our TVs and I Phones, to allow unlimited warfare and assure the survival of the 1%. What a load of horse pucky. This human specie is doomed. After we suceed in destroying the resources of this planet we will never have another to destroy. Humans are going away, and it can’t be too soon. A more worthless specie has never existed.
j1 on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 4:11 pm
Helium? Just drill her head.
Davy on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 4:49 pm
More BAUtopium hopium that human exceptionalism through technology and innovation will save us. In reality technology is the problem. We can’t discard it cold turkey because our world today is a modified Anthropocene global ecosystem with a population in overshoot. Yet, we need to stop the technological fantasy that has no basis in reality. We must stop the grasping for hope in a new and more advanced technology to save us. We must turn to back to nature and those technologies closer to nature. Today’s technology has no future. It has reached it apex.
The technology these acedemics should be promoting is the type of the last few hundred years. If some of the money being spent on the most technologically advanced of human efforts like space programs, fusion, biotech, and electronics could be diverted to revival of the old skills and technologies we maybe could get somewhere.
This is why I am a broken record on a crisis to shake BAU to its core. We have to discredit these techies. They are leading us down a path that will end badly. There is no hope for modern technology to save us. Not the energy intensive complex kind that awes us. Not the kind Hollywood preaches. We can no longer scale these technologies and we can no longer power it.
Soon society will not be able to support the vast centers of knowledge and information. These complex technologies will quickly decay into the entropic haze of descent. How much longer will these techies preach their false hope of technological salvation? I feel we are near the time of inflection. A paradigm shift in a new direction is near.
Perk Earl on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 4:58 pm
The Moon?! There are so many articles now of wild tech energy ideas it’s obvious things are not good on the home front. In spite of the numerous other articles disclaiming peak oil, apparently there are those aware of our difficult circumstances willing to conjure up all sorts of extremely expensive ideas.
Remember the article a while back claiming the future would be in underwater cities? Desperation is pervading the landscape.
Perk Earl on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 5:02 pm
Oh, there was that other article also about putting solar panels on the Moon and sending microwave energy pulses back to Earth. Sure, don’t worry about the fact there’s no atmosphere to stop small and large meteorites that will damage the panels or the cost of building supports to span huge deep craters, just finance it! LOL
Dredd on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 5:47 pm
“Could the Moon Hold the Key to the World’s Energy Crisis?”
No.
Plantagenet on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 5:54 pm
What would the ERoEI be on building a base on the moon to mine H+3 and send it back to earth?
I’ll bet the ERoEI would be strongly negative.
Makati1 on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 5:57 pm
EROEI. Net energy after build out, maintenance, meteors, etc. is ???. We cannot even send our astronauts to the space station without Russian vehicles. To the moon on a regular basis? Hahahahahaha!
The techie dreams only get more and more “out there” as the end approaches. Pun intended.
Apneaman on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 6:32 pm
Crisis cult mentality. More to come.
SilentRunning on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 7:01 pm
Only problems with this fantasy:
1) We have no working fusion reactors to fuse He3, generating power, so the EROEI would be 0.
2) We have no idea how many thousand (millions?) of tons of lunar regolith would have to processed to generate 1 ton of He3 – but a reasonable assumption is: a big number. Thus, He3 from the moon will have an enormous cost.
3) Adding to the enormous cost: Every pound of mining equipment will have to blasted into earth orbit, then blasted down to the lunar surface. The product returned will have to be blasted back to lunar orbit, then to earth-orbit insertion. Thus the cost to mine will be enormous. Multiplying by the previous enormous, we can see that the cost of lunar He3 will be: enormous squared.
Also remember that human operators will need to be on the moon to install, repair and operate said mining equipment. Last time we had people on the moon, the cost was enormous – just to keep 12 men there for a total time of a few days. This would involve a much larger crew operating for months/years at a time so an additional factor of enormous or enormous^2 will be involved.
In conclusion: The total cost for lunar He3 will be somewhere between enormous cubed to enormous to the 4th power.
SilentRunning on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 7:04 pm
And even if this enormous^4 power costly He3 were being delivered today, it wouldn’t generate watt 1, since we exactly 0 functioning fusion reactors to burn it.
Speculawyer on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 7:32 pm
Well, the moon can help . . . install tidal power collectors in the places where that is possible. Not many places where you can do that though.
DMyers on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 7:40 pm
“Given that world population is predicted to reach 12 billion by 2050, the world’s increased standard of living, and increased dependence on oil, fossil fuels are not going to last forever.”
I give the author credit for that recognition.
I thought the section entitled “Legal Framework” was interesting. Here we can see the opening portal to new rounds of conflict. These existing rules are going to be broken. So if such a helium harvest from the Moon were attempted, we would soon see the Moon become the new theater of human wars.
And the emergence of a new black market.
“Fifty bucks, and you can watch today’s Moon Wars on my telescope.”
“That’s against the law. We can only use government approved viewing facilities.”
“Exactly! And to use those, you have to perform a degrading act. But you can see all the stuff they won’t let you see on my telescope. Fifty bucks. It’s worth the dough.”
“You’re going to jail. Here’s a twenty five dollar gift card to Wal*Mart and a twenty five dollar EBT card. I’ve gotta see this. Finally, somethin’ to do.”
I’ve never been one to favor imports of energy or resources from other planets (or moons) to solve our own energy and resource deficiencies. Were we ever to actualize such a wild-eyed ambition, and arbitrarily breach the closed system of Earth, we would be consciously inviting the catastrophe of a thousand unintended consequences.
Apneaman on Sun, 1st Mar 2015 8:59 pm
Galactic-Scale Energy
“The purpose of this exploration is to point out the absurdity that results from the assumption that we can continue growing our use of energy—even if doing so more modestly than the last 350 years have seen.”
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/07/galactic-scale-energy/
Kev cof on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 1:03 am
I hate to tell you all but the US Government already have couple tons of Helium 3, The Technology is about 30yr in advance from what we see everyday.
I may be killed over this but US already have space ship that travel the galaxy…
Northwest Resident on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 1:27 am
I think my idea of launching a giant magnifying glass into earth orbit to focus the sun’s energy onto a giant boiler plate someplace in the middle of nowhere, then using that heat to boil water and churn out electricity, is a great idea. How come my idea doesn’t get mentioned as often as Helium-3 based fusion? Sheesh!
American Idiot on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 4:15 am
Deal with REALITY…
Newfie on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 4:35 am
My company builds space elevators. We will build an elevator to the moon to bring back the He-3. All we need is financing. Invest in Space Elevators Corp and you will be rich.
Westexasfanclub on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 7:13 am
Why the Moon? Why He-3?
I am strongly in favor of bringing hydrocarbons from Titan to Earth. That should be much more efficient because we can use our existing fossile infrastructure.
Titan’s low gravity will make it possible to pump its hydrocarbon lakes into space, where they freeze to blocks that can be brought to Earth simply by the gravity of the sun.
When these blocks enter the Earth’s orbit they will melt and you one can bring them down to Earth through a pipeline that spikes into space exactly like the proposed space elevator.
Please don’t take this post too serious 😉
peakyeast on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 10:07 am
sa@Fanclub: Lovely idea. I absolutely support it.
Now if we combine it with a tried and true method for colonization where we send 3 spaceships – the first with essential staff like phone sanitizers, account executives, management consultants, hairdressers and so forth.
bobert on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 1:36 pm
I think we have a better chance of extracting methane from Uranus!
synapsid on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 6:47 pm
N R and his magnifying glass,
That’s a fine idea, sir. Your interest has been noted.
Do not leave your present location. Remain calm. Wait for the knock on the door.
GregT on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 7:14 pm
NWR,
“How come my idea doesn’t get mentioned as often as Helium-3 based fusion?”
Because your idea is simple enough, that it might actually work.
Keith_McClary on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 7:20 pm
“The moon’s surface area is about 38 million square kilometers.”
“It has been calculated that there are about 1,100,000 metric tons of helium-3 on the lunar surface down to a depth of a few meters, and that about 40 tons of helium-3 – enough to fill the cargo bays of two space shuttles –could power the U.S. for a year”
–> 29 kg/km^2
= 40 tonnes in 1400 km^2
Bob Owens on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 7:55 pm
For the cost of this project we could cover Nevada with solar cells and windmills and power the USA forever. And we actually know how to do this! No rockets or fusion reactors needed!
GregT on Mon, 2nd Mar 2015 8:53 pm
For the cost of all of the military adventurism since 1971, Nevada probably could have been covered in solar cells and windmills a long time ago. We actually already knew about alternate energy back then. There would certainly be much fewer filthy rich Americans though.