How Lunar Soil Could Power the Future by Michaela Vargova

The fuel in this case is considered helium-3. A continuous supply of this matter can be found in the solar wind. Unfortunately, the Earth's magnetic field deflects the particles of helium-3 away. Earth itself has very little of helium and could collect only a small portion of it. Situation seems to be different on the moon. The solar wind has collected there 1 million to 5 million tons of helium-3. However, a concentration of it in the lunar soil is very small. In translation it means, that hundreds of millions of tons of lunar soil has to be processed to release a ton of helium.
Whole current nuclear power is established on fission (of a large nucleus into smaller nuclei). The alternative to fission is fusion. A process of fusion remains in two small nuclei coming together and creating a bigger nucleus. During that process a notable amount of energy is released. A commercial fusion reactor has not been built anywhere in the world yet. Only a construction of a prototype called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) has just begun.
Extraction of helium from the lunar soil requires heating the dust particles to around 700 degrees Celsius. It is assumed, such a mining operation would release cca 300 times more energy than it uses. Only 40 tons of this stuff has enough potential energy to cover the U.S. electricity demand for a year. However, burning helium-3 requires higher initial energy than it is habitual in common nuclear reaction. This is due to helium-3 is not considered to be a possible fuel at this time. Anyway, most researchers agree it could be the first fuel used in fusion reactors.

by Michaela Vargova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.<br><br><font size=2>These news are original content from young talents around the world and are selected for you by Chris Cantell.</font><br>

edited by Beata Biskova