Alt. Energy / Space / Moon.
"Russia has staked out plans to recapture its Soviet-era space-race glory and start mining the Moon for a promising energy resource that scientists say could meet the Earth's power
needs for more than a thousand years. Nikolai Sevastyanov, head of Russia's giant Energia Space Corporation, has unveiled plans to build a permanent base on the Moon within a decade and to start mining the planet for helium 3, a sought-after isotope, by 2020. The idea would be to use helium 3 to power thermo-nuclear power stations, harnessing its potency to achieve nuclear fusion. The technology to exploit helium 3 is still under development, but it has been touted by a significant academic school of thought as "the ideal fuel of the future" with several countries expressing interest. The race is now on to be the first to make it work." - guarduk
Excellent. Dream big and go for it. Are US leaders tragically short-sighted in their war quests for oil and their backward thinking plans for a return to dirty coal? The Russians may leave us in the ( moon ) dust if they get this clean fusion power to work. What's so great about helium-3?
"The appeal of helium-3 fusion stems from the nature of its reaction products. Helium-4 is non-radioactive and the lone high-energy proton produced is easily contained using electric and magnetic fields. In contrast, most other proposed fusion processes for power generation lead to the production of energetic neutrons, bombardment with which renders reactor components radioactive. Most of the energy from the conventional fusion reaction is given off in this form, which is difficult to harness for energy ..." - wikipedia
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