XPost: sci.energy.hydrogen, sci.physics.fusion   
   From: g_d_pusch_remove_underscores@xnet.com   
   Copy: softtanks@hotmail.com   
      
   softtanks@hotmail.com (Sanjay) writes:   
      
      
   > There is plenty of energy on moons crust that if we can mine Helium 3   
   > Gas out of Moons crust we can solve all our energy needs for 1000   
   > years.   
      
   Unfortunately, we do =NOT= have the _FAINTEST_ clue as to how to build   
   a fusion reactor that could burn the stuff without a net _LOSS_ of energy.   
   It takes temperatures and plasma densities more than an _ORDER OF MAGNITUDE   
   HIGHER_ than D/T fusion to "ignite" even the "easiest" He3-burning reaction,   
   and it is not clear that such a reactor could =EVER= "break even," since   
   its bremsstrahlung loss rate likewise exceeds its energy generation rate   
   by more than an order of magnitude. Trying to "burn" He3 is like trying   
   to burn soaking wet paper --- it costs more heat than you get out of it.   
      
      
   > A pound of Helium-3 is having energy equivalent of 1 Million ton of   
   > Coal.   
      
   ..But that factoid is of _ABSOLUTELY NO VALUE_ if He3 can't be "burned"   
   in a reactor.   
      
      
   > So after Earth next mining target will be Moon.   
      
   Not unless there is something so valuable there to make it worth the   
   hideously huge expense of mining it and the hideously huge expense of   
   shipping it back to Earth. He3 is =NOT= such a commodity, since it   
   currently has no commercial use except as a cryogenic refrigerant.   
   Furthermore, it would be cheaper to _MANUFACTURE_ He3 on the Earth by   
   "breeding" Tritium and waiting for it to decay than to mine it on the   
   Moon and ship it back to Earth. So quite bluntly, this lunatic idea   
   is pure moonshine.   
      
      
   -- Gordon D. Pusch   
      
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