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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
 Posted - 11/19/2007 : 13:09:19
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I ran across this transcription in my files of a year-old AP piece concerning a new twist on the dream of "fusion power", which is still being actively pursued by both Government agencies and private companies today. Not to be confused with "cold fusion" popularized by the Fleischmann/Pons experiments and largely discredited several years ago.
The details are significantly different, and it doesn't look very likely to come to fruition in the near future. 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished, tho!
Apparently Exxon-Mobil and the gang will have to set up mining operations on the Moon pretty soon in order to get an armlock on the latest potential replacement for their favorite substance.
What do you think, will any of this ever come about?
Race to the Moon for Nuclear Fuel
John Lasker 12.15.06 | 2:00 AM
NASA's planned moon base announced last week could pave the way for deeper space exploration to Mars, but one of the biggest beneficiaries may be the terrestrial energy industry.
Nestled among the agency's 200-point mission goals is a proposal to mine the moon for fuel used in fusion reactors -- futuristic power plants that have been demonstrated in proof-of-concept but are likely decades away from commercial deployment.
Helium-3 is considered a safe, environmentally friendly fuel candidate for these generators, and while it is scarce on Earth it is plentiful on the moon.
As a result, scientists have begun to consider the practicality of mining lunar Helium-3 as a replacement for fossil fuels.
"After four-and-half-billion years, there should be large amounts of helium-3 on the moon," said Gerald Kulcinski, a professor who leads the Fusion Technology Institute at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Last year NASA administrator Mike Griffin named Kulcinski to lead a number of committees reporting to NASA's influential NASA Advisory Council, its preeminent civilian leadership arm.
The Council is chaired by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt, a leading proponent of mining the moon for helium 3. Schmitt, who holds the distance record for driving a NASA rover on the moon (22 miles through the Taurus-Littrow valley), is also a former U.S. senator (R-New Mexico).
The Council was restructured last year with a new mission: implementing President Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration," which targets Mars as its ultimate destination. Other prominent members of the Council include ex-astronaut Neil Armstrong.
Schmitt and Kulcinski are longtime friends and academic partners, and are known as helium-3 fusion's biggest promoters.
At the Fusion Technology Institute, Kulcinski's team has produced small-scale helium-3 fusion reactions in the basketball-sized fusion device. The reactor produced one milliwatt of power on a continuous basis.
While still theoretical, nuclear fusion is touted as a safer, more sustainable way to generate nuclear energy: Fusion plants produce much less radioactive waste, especially if powered by helium-3. But experts say commercial-sized fusion reactors are at least 50 years away.
The isotope is extremely rare on Earth but abundant on the moon. Some experts estimate there a millions of tons in lunar soil -- and that a single Space-Shuttle load would power the entire United States for a year.
NASA plans to have a permanent moon base by 2024, but America is not the only nation with plans for a moon base. China, India, the European Space Agency, and at least one Russian corporation, Energia, have visions of building manned lunar bases post-2020.
Mining the moon for helium-3 has been discussed widely in space circles and international space conferences. Both China and Russia have stated their nations' interest in helium-3.
"We will provide the most reliable report on helium-3 to mankind," Ouyang Ziyuan, the chief scientist of China's lunar program, told a Chinese newspaper. "Whoever first conquers the moon will benefit first."
Russian space geologist Erik Galimov told the Russian Izvestia newspaper that NASA's plan to colonize the moon 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."
Schmitt told a Senate committee in 2003 that a return to the moon to stay would be comparable "to the movement of our species out of Africa."
The best way to pay for such a long-term mission, he said, would be to mine for lunar helium-3 and process it into a fuel for commercial fusion .
In a 1998 op-ed for Space News, Schmitt criticized the 1979 United Nations- sanctioned Moon Treaty, which forbids ownership of lunar territory by individuals or separate nations.
"The mandate of an international regime would complicate private commercial efforts," Schmitt wrote. "The Moon Treaty is not needed to further the development and use of lunar resources for the benefit of humankind -- including the extraction of lunar helium-3 for terrestrial fusion power."
Schmitt declined to comment for this article. But Kulcinski said their lunar helium-3 research is entirely separate from their NASA duties.
"The NAC is purely an advisory council to Dr. Griffin," he said. "It has very broad responsibilities dealing with science, exploration, human capital, education and operations, to name a few. Our appointments to this advisory committee have nothing to do with our specific research interests."
Kulcinski has been studying helium-3 fusion for more than 20 years. When his UW fusion team realized 15 years ago that helium-3 could be extracted from lunar soil, he called it a "rediscovery."
For years Kulcinski tried to convince NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy that they should take lunar helium-3 seriously and invest in its research, but was rebuffed, he said.
But NASA's "Global Exploration Strategy" (.xls) for the moon now states that among the 200 potential goals for future missions includes the study of lunar helium-3 for "fusion reactors on Earth" to "reduce Earth's reliance on fossil fuels."
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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JohnOAS
SFN Regular
Australia
800 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2007 : 18:53:36 [Permalink]
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Thanks for the link, Dave. BTW, there's also a "full page" link available.
bngbuck, it looks like you've quoted, most of the article. As pretty as SFN is, if I'm going to read a big slab of text, I'd rather do so on a site formatted for that purpose.
A shorter excerpt with a link would be the preferred option. SFN members are generally not afraid to follow links if you entice them properly. There is also copyright to consider too. (link to appropriate bit of the FAQ) If you need help/advice with anything, there are plenty of willing folks around these parts, just let us know.
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John's just this guy, you know. |
| Edited by - JohnOAS on 11/20/2007 16:19:23 |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2007 : 21:12:22 [Permalink]
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It's been a long time since I browsed www.permanent.com I'm not sure if they have an idea on Helium-3 mining.
I'm too busy at work to have the time to check it out.
It's some interesting reading anyway.
I thought at least some of you might enjoy it. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2007 : 21:22:49 [Permalink]
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Dave and JohnOAS.....
Oh dear, I have screwed up again! I am so sorry!
I had copied that piece in a matching font to use a portion in a piece I am writing, and I just put it in, slightly shortened, instead of looking it up and providing the link!
I obviously should of shortened it a good deal more! I just can't seem to learn from my mistakes! Maybe I'll just go to one-liners! |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2007 : 21:36:34 [Permalink]
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JohnOAS.....
Your link to "appropriate bit of the FAQ" drew a blanky on my machine!
However, I found something here Is this what you meant?
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| Edited by - bngbuck on 11/19/2007 22:30:39 |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2007 : 22:02:24 [Permalink]
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Well, it should be substantially less expensive (in terms of power required and money) to get things from the Moon to Earth. And the fuel for fusion reactors will have to come from somewhere...
That said, we probably need to send a lunar survey team with the explicit purpose of finding H3, to see if it is actually there and what would be required to extract it for return to Earth.
Sadly, ITER doesn't even begin construction until next year, with a projected 10 years before it becomes operational, and another 40 years after that before they expect to be able to keep a fusion plant running non-stop. So we have plenty of time to worry about lunar mining.
I have long expressed the opinion that the US should launch a major effort to bring this technology to commercial use faster than the proposed ITER schedule. We need to create a NASA style organization with the explicit purpose, and fund it to the tune of $10B a year (as opposed to the ITER funding schedule of $10B over ten years). Commercialize the technology as fast as we safely can as part of our efforts to leave fossil fuels beind.
Instead, it seems, we will continue burning $200B a year on armed conflict if a republican wins '08 and who knows how much a year on a sure-to-be-bloated national healthcare plan if a dem gets elected in '08. Of course, I could just be overly cynical on these issues....
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2007 : 22:27:56 [Permalink]
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Dr. Mabuse.....
Fascinating website! Thank you. I read through most of the topics, but couldn't find a reference to He-3, so I wrote them a letter asking if they had additional information on helium-3 on the moon! |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2007 : 23:10:40 [Permalink]
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Dude.....
How about $100B a year? Chump change compared to the 1+ TRILLION this fucking war is costing us! (oh, yeah, also some folks killed) Collateral damage! On a loan of the Future!
I recall a famous picture of Benito Mussolini hanging upside down, dead, after the liberation of Italy at the end of WWII! I would like to see a future picture of Cheney hanging upside down, alive, suspended by a rope around his scrotum, at the end of Iraq War II!
I agree regarding your concerns about Dem spending, however, I am fortunate in having the resource to purchase expensive adequate health care insurance at an advanced age! I pray to Minerva (or whomever) that you have a government plan or a lot of money when you reach your 70's. If I were your age I wouldn't want to pay for it either! Unfortunately, at my age, Medicare really doesn't work and all you can do is buy a BC/BS or the equivilant at $200-$300 a month! (That's at Group rates). Double or more if you're flying solo! |
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JohnOAS
SFN Regular
Australia
800 Posts |
Posted - 11/20/2007 : 16:23:02 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by bngbuck
JohnOAS.....
Your link to "appropriate bit of the FAQ" drew a blanky on my machine!
However, I found something here Is this what you meant?
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Yup that's it. I forgot to paste the url between the quotes.
Aside (well, OK, below): If you make this omission, the blank link takes you to another copy of the page on which the missing link(!) originated. Surely a feature protecting against such stupidity/laziness/incompetence on behalf of SFN members should be a top priority!
I've fixed the original too.
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John's just this guy, you know. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 11/20/2007 : 21:50:05 [Permalink]
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bngbuck asked:
Realistically, there is only so much you can do in a year directed toward such a specific goal. I think $10B/year would give a team of scientists (recruit 20 (arbitrary number, get as many as needed) high energy physicists at the top of the field, ask the Nobel institute for a list) and break up the tasks that need to be accomplished, dole out the projects, and set them loose. $10B a year should be very near enough to give 20 or more hired research teams what amounts to unlimited funding as well as being able to issue many grants to universities who submit relevant applications.
Just wishful thinking on my part, I know. Even a dem in office would look sideways at such a plan, then laugh you out the door.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Incredible power from the moon!
