Helium 3: The Moon as an Energy Source

Gas prices are rising and the cost of heating your home continues to increase. Today, we are in an age of questioning. Our resources are declining and causing the prices of comforts to rise beyond acceptable rates. Is this something that can be avoided?

In effect we are paying more now to continue heating and fueling our possession while still polluting the earth. The process of obtaining the material necessary for heating and fueling destroys the ecosystem and affects jobs and health. Yet since early in the last decade, scientists have known of other alternatives to the destructive ones used now. We use these alternatives in remote locations on a very low scale. Have we become so addicted to fossil fuels that funding and research, in a proactive sense, cannot be enacted for the betterment of our society?

NASA has recently announced that its current mission statement is to build a permanent base on the moon. Scientists have pointed out that the resources available on the moon outstrip the benefits of resources found on the earth. In fact, they believe that it has the potential to solve the world's dependence on fossil fuels.

A potential gas source, called Helium 3, found on the moon's surface could hold the key to meeting and exceeding future energy demands as the earth's fossil fuels head towards a state of non-existence. Helium-3 is deposited on the lunar surface by solar winds and would have to be extracted from moon soil and rocks. Twenty-Five tons of Helium 3, is enough to provide electricity for the US for one full year. Scientists further state that the moon contains ten times more energy in the form of Helium 3 than all the fossil fuels on earth.

So, if the potential is known and the technology to use Helium 3 as an energy source exists, why are we still damaging the earth in an attempt to meet the needs of a growing civilization? Scientists admit that the reactor needed to process Helium 3 is not yet efficient and that the rate of the research currently would bring its introduction in another 30 years. However, all agree that with proper funding, the process would be reduced to 10 years.

Therefore, the question then becomes one of the choices between the continued inventing of weapons for the military and a push towards research for, and invention of, machines or processors that manipulate new resources for energy and fuel. It is estimated that by the year 2050, the earth will have a crisis pertaining to energy sources. To state the obvious, that is only 43 years from now.

Alternative energy and fuel sources have been a constant issue for many years. One needs to question why solutions have not been created. Solar Energy, Hydro-Electric Power, and Wind Energy are currently viable forms of alternative energy sources. They exist and in remote locations, they are used. Their reliability, however, makes these sources of energy not fit for mainstream use. The potential for Helium 3 to be mined from the moon and used as energy sources here on earth far outweighs any debate on continued mining for fossil fuels here on earth. In just 10 years, the thought of pollution free energy can be a reality.