Has anyone heard or know of the fact that apparently, there is a compound not found on earth, that can be processed to become a sort of non lethal fuel. It can be burned or used without polluting.
China has become aware of this and they are working very hard to get to the moon ...and start mining.
I hear a spaceship full of this stuff, will provide electricity for a city the size of New York for six months.
Anybody know about this stuff and what it is called and if this is true? Sounds very Buck Rogers to me. Lemme know
2007-12-24 18:27:08 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
This is real pie-in-the-sky stuff! According to Wikipedia China launched its Lunar Orbiter in October. Again, according to Wikipedia, construction has begun on the ITER fusion reactor, which is expected to produce more energy than that needed to initiate the reaction. By the time moon-mining operations get underway, there may be a reactor capable of using the fuel.
2007-12-24 21:09:48 · answer #1 · answered by Helmut 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, definately. I studied.
When compared to the earth the moon has a tremendous amount of helium-3. When helium-3 combines with deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen) the fusion reaction proceeds at a very high temperature and it can produce awesome amounts of energy. Just 25 tonnes of helium, which can be transported on a space shuttle, is enough to provide electricity for the US for one full year.
Helium-3 is deposited on the lunar surface by solar winds and would have to be extracted from moon soil and rocks.
To extract helium-3 gas the rocks have to be heated above 800 degrees Celsius. 200 million tonnes of lunar soil would produce one tonne of helium. Only 10 kilograms of helium-3 are available on earth.
These facts are already known to scientific world and thats why not only China, India is also planning lunar robot in 2008.
2007-12-25 02:34:51 · answer #2 · answered by funfun f 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋