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#1 2004-06-06 18:05:55

Trebuchet
Banned
From: Florida
Registered: 2004-04-26
Posts: 419

Re: Helium3 - Why do we need to go to the moon...

I always hear we need to go to the moon for the helium-3, but what the hell's the point? When you think about it, the process of manufacturing it is far simpler than moving it around the solar system.

Helium-3 is the decay product of tritium, which has a half-life of about 12 years. Tritium can be manufactured by irradiating lithium in nuclear reactors. So why not just generate tritium, like we already do, combine it with oxygen to form super-heavy water, stick in in a tank, stick the tank in a cellar as if it were a cask of wine, and drain off the helium-3 as it's produced?

Simpler than flying to the moon for sure...

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#2 2004-06-06 23:37:34

Euler
Member
From: Corvallis, OR
Registered: 2003-02-06
Posts: 922

Re: Helium3 - Why do we need to go to the moon...

Isn't tritium one of the most expensive substances in the world?

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#3 2004-06-07 01:45:03

Trebuchet
Banned
From: Florida
Registered: 2004-04-26
Posts: 419

Re: Helium3 - Why do we need to go to the moon...

Yes. However, it's still cheaper than importing stuff from the frickin' moon.

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#4 2004-06-07 05:57:07

smurf975
Member
From: Netherlands
Registered: 2004-05-30
Posts: 402
Website

Re: Helium3 - Why do we need to go to the moon...

Isn't tritium one of the most expensive substances in the world?

But he said the idea was to make tritium by

irradiating lithium in nuclear reactors.

which produces tritium.

Now don't ask me about how much lithium costs as I have no idea nor how the process works. As IANNS (I Am No Nuclear Scienctist)


Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?

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#5 2004-06-07 13:58:00

Euler
Member
From: Corvallis, OR
Registered: 2003-02-06
Posts: 922

Re: Helium3 - Why do we need to go to the moon...

I am not sure what the actual price of tritium is, but I know that it is significantly more expensive than plutonium, and it should easily be worth more than the cost of transporting it form the moon, if it can be mined easily.  Tritium is an important part of thermonuclear (fusion) explosives, and is used in very small quantities on watch faces and intrument pannels.

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#6 2004-06-07 14:07:56

GCNRevenger
Member
From: Earth
Registered: 2003-10-14
Posts: 6,056

Re: Helium3 - Why do we need to go to the moon...

Making most anything in bulk by way of nuclear decay is extremely expensive... if the stuff is readily available in pound quantities on the Moon, it really might be cheaper to shovel it up and haul it back.


[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]

[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]

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#7 2004-06-08 03:13:40

Trebuchet
Banned
From: Florida
Registered: 2004-04-26
Posts: 419

Re: Helium3 - Why do we need to go to the moon...

The helium isotope in question is deposited in the lunar dirt by the solar wind in tiny quanitites, so you would need to dig up many tons of dirt, seperate out the helium then seperate the helium-3 from vastly more common helium-4, then send it to the Earth. Those steps presuppose a lot of machinery from Earth, so (considering the cost of shipping said machinery from Earth, and supporting the base to run all that stuff) you would need to be exporting a lot of He-3.

It's probably cheaper just to irradiate the lithium and wait for radioactive decay to produce your helium-3. Certainly if you're not consuming large amounts of the stuff.

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