Link: starbulletin.com | News | /2007/02/18/.
SAN FRANCISCO ยป In this city famous for the Gold Rush, a University of Hawaii researcher joined a former Apollo astronaut yesterday in touting the mining of a resource on the moon that holds the promise of cheap, clean abundant energy on Earth.
The resource is helium-3, a rare isotope on Earth that is plentiful on the lunar surface due to billions of years of exposure to the solar wind.
Hey im getting ready to construct my very own reactor. Im a freshman too. Any advice?
Sounds great. Bussard’s inertial confinement fusion will make that a very doable kind of enterprise.
You asked: “Yeah, but… how are they gonna GET there?”
Here’s the plan for the ride:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html
Here’s the plan for the outpost:
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/163896main_LAT_GES_1204.pdf
Here’s the thinking on He-3: http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/HumanExplore/Exploration/EXLibrary/docs/ISRU/06Energy.htm
Or contact the folks at JP Aerospace, I am sure they would love to get in on lightweight energy sources that will utilize their near future capabilities: http://www.jpaerospace.com/