Star Trek and Helium-3, Will Moon Mining Save the World?

Star Trek (2009)’s box office has already reached $80 million, received unanimously glowing reviews, as well as a few that might be over-the-top, such as the one that declared it is now cool to be a Trekkie. Now that space exploration is once again in the popular imagination, however, it might be useful to consider what, if any, contribution space science might be able bring to the energy, economic and environmental challenges that face mankind here on earth.

Many are probably aware that the earliest research with solar photovoltaics was a result of the space program. Some are no doubt aware that the monitoring of the effects of global warming would be considerably more haphazard and certainly less scientific without the use of satellite surveillance. Few, however, are likely aware that the Apollo 17 moon landing in 1972 revealed a potential alternative energy source that could provide almost unimaginable power production that would come with an almost neglible environmental risk. Best of all for Trekkies, exploitation of that resource would necessitate mining on the moon, a staple of sci-fi lure.

The crew of Apollo 17 returned to earth with a sample of moon rocks weighing 244 pounds. In 1985 a team from the Fusion Technology Institute at the University of Wisconsin at Madison analyzed that sample, as well as a smaller sample from Apollo 11 and discovered that lunar soil contains a significant amount of an isotope of Helium, known as Helium-3.

Helium-3 is an isotope of Helium created by the solar wind. It is extremely rare on earth where the earth’s atmosphere, for the most part, protects the planet from solar wind. Those small amounts of Helium-3 that have been found on earth, however, have been extremely intriguing to scientists who postulated that the unique atomic structure of the isotope could allow it to be used for nuclear fusion reactions. Those scientists calculated that the amount of heat released by those reactions would be amazingly energetic.

Best of all the fusion reaction produced by Helium-3 is neither radioactive or productive of radioactive by-products. Scientists believe that a Helium-3 fusion power plant could safely operate in the heart of a large city.

The fusion reaction that allows Helium 3 to produce vast amounts of energy is nicely illustrated at the Artemis Project (private enterprise on the moon) website.  The Artemis website estimates that one Space Shuttle loaded to its maximum capacity or 25 tons, could provide for all of the energy needs of the United States for one year, at our current rate of consumption. At today’s prices the value of that payload would be $75 billion, making each ton of helium-3 worth in the neighborhood of $3 billion. The worldwide demand would be approximately 100 tons per year or four shuttle payloads (the extraterrestial equivalent of one fully loaded railroad boxcar), at a projected value of $300 billion.

The most vocal advocate for Helium-3 in the US is former Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who penned an article on the subject for Popular Mechanics in 2004. It was Schmitt who scooped a sample known as 75501 of lunar soil from the rim of the moon’s Camelot crater. The Camelot name might be seen either as ironic or apt depending on whether or not Helium-3 lives up to its incredible promise.

The greatest obstacles facing the exploitation of Helium-3 are, as one would suspect, technical. The first would be building of the fusion plants themselves. Wikipedia estimates that, barring unforeseen breakthroughs, it will be 2050 before the technology to build such plants is ready. Then there is the moon mining itself. The Popular Mechanics article estimates that it would require a lunar mine of approximately three quarters of a square mile about 9 feet deep to provide enough Helium-3 for a city the size of Dallas electrical energy for one year if current assumptions about Helium-3 concentrations in the lunar soil hold. Very likely, however, some areas would be richer in Helium-3 and some poorer. While a comprehensive lunar prospecting project would be able to determine which areas would be the most economical to mine, just the idea of a such a project envisions a potential international diplomatic squabble over which nation or nations will be able to lay claim to sections of the moon.

Aside from Schmitt and the scientists at the University of Wisconsin there has been relatively little official interest in Helium-3 on the part of the United States government. NASA’s mission to build a permanent lunar base by 2024 may, in fact, be in serious jeopardy. A government which has displayed a far greater interest in Helium-3 is the Chinese government. To a lesser extent, the European Space Agency, Russians and Indian governments have almost expressed strong interest in Helium-3.

Indeed, there is a great deal of speculation on the web that primary impetus behind the Chinese space program, which just recently became only the third nation to put astronauts in space, is their interest in Helium-3 development and their hope to be able to plant a Chinese flag on the moon as soon as possible. DailyGalaxy.com reported that the Chinese have announced plans to map every inch of the surface of the moon in its bid to exploit Helium-3’s potential. “Ouyang Ziyuan, the head scientist for the Chinese lunar mission, gave an unequivocal mission statement of his nation’s interest in Helium-3 and at the same time gave warning that China might not plan to share the resource. “We will provide the most reliable report on Helium-3 to mankind,” he remarked, “Whoever first conquers the moon will benefit first.”