Moonergy

Our increasing demand for energy is causing stream of new research toward a new and more effective source. Nuclear energy is a great source for large amounts energy but is becoming infamous among environmentalists due to its waste problem.

A new way of exploiting nuclear energy has been experimented on. Instead of splicing atoms, they can be fused with higher temperatures. The temeperature required to set the reaction is equal to the core of the sun (tens of millions of degrees C). Nuclear fusion is much more efficient creating more power with a much smaller amount of input. The problem lies in controlling the large amounts of energy (neutrons) that escape. To this time, scientists have been able to create enough energy to light up a whole town but only for about 4 seconds due to the large amounts of neutrons constantly bombarding the reaction chamber. To tame this energy scientists have researched a new substance, Helium 3.

Helium3 is a gas scarce on earth, it is produced on the sun and burst into space. Earths atmosphere deflects most of the gas but the moon (as it has no atmosphere) collects the gas on its surface, and builds up over a period of millions of years. This helium3 rich moon dust is estimated to be more valuable than the biggest diamonds found on earth as a small pebble the size of a pea could be worth 5 million dollars.

Private companies in Russia and China as well as Nasa are now investing heavily on getting man to the moon again. The costs of these new projects are high but this just may solve the problems of increasing energy demand, global warming and high levels of waste. Problems that haunt our very existence.

Is exploiting the moon to meet our energy needs the right thing to do? Should we colonize the moon? What will happen when the worlds super powers all go for the same resource? should billions of tax payers dollars be spent on getting man back on the moon?