XPost: sci.space.policy   
   From: g_d_pusch_remove_underscores@xnet.com   
   Copy: khallow@hotmail.com   
      
   khallow@hotmail.com (Karl Hallowell) writes:   
      
   > g_d_pusch_remove_underscores@xnet.com (Gordon D. Pusch) wrote in message   
   news:...   
   >> "Joseph S. Powell, III"  writes:   
   >>   
   >>> How about huge He3 collectors at either a solar orbit closer to the sun, or   
   >>> at one of the LaGrange points, with a surface area of, say, one of the   
   >>> theorized Solar Power Sattelites envisioned in the 70's -   
   >>   
   >> _WAY_ too small, given the miniscule flux of He3 involved.   
   >   
   > Well, what happens if you get really close? That is, you graze the   
   > photosphere? Assuming that you have a collector that handles 5000 K   
   > temperatures. Hmmm, still bet the He3 concentrations are extremely   
   > small.   
      
   Youbetcha. He3 is a rare isotope, cosmically speaking --- only 1.37 ppm of   
   all helium is He3.   
      
      
   > Probably makes more sense to use solar cells instead.   
      
   Especially since we haven't a =CLUE= how to burn He3 in a fusion reactor,   
   and if Todd Rider's Ph.D. Dissertation is correct, there may be be fundamental   
   thermodynamic reasons why =ANY= He3-burning "reactor" smaller than a brown   
   dwarf   
   will consume more energy than it generates...   
      
      
   -- Gordon D. Pusch   
      
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