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Solves Fossil FuelsHelium-3 solves fossil fuel dependence D’Souza, et. al, ’06, [ Marsha R., Diana M. Otalvar, Deep Arjun Singh, February 17,“HARVESTINGHELIUM-3 FROM THE MOON,” An Interactive Qualifying Project Report submitted to the faculty of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-031306-122626/unrestricted/IQP.pdf , accessed July 5, 2011, BJM] Energy is the most important driving force for powering industrial nations. In fact, a measure of a country’s industrialization is its annual energy consumption. Fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and natural gas are the chief means by which most nations get their energy. Because of the world’s increasing standards of living and its increased dependence on oil, fossil fuel amounts might not last longer than a few decades. Also with the world’s population expanding to almost 12 billion by the year 2050, our oil demand will also increase drastically. Oil has become a key issue in the political and economic affairs of many nations especially after the United States second war with Iraq. In such cases of crisis, the development of He-3 will alleviate the dependency on crude oil. Fossil fuels also release a lot of harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that have detrimental effects on the atmosphere, whereas the usage of He-3 fusion technology will be a great substitute to the fossil fuels as it doesn’t release any harmful byproducts. In addition to the non- polluting properties of He-3 fusion on Earth, the mining of He-3 from the Moon will not contaminate the Moon as the gases that are released during the extraction process (water and oxygen) aren’t harmful, and instead could be used for sustaining a lunar colony as outlined in the technical section. Spinoff TechHelium-3 would yield spinoff technology D’Souza, et. al, ’06, [ Marsha R., Diana M. Otalvar, Deep Arjun Singh, February 17,“HARVESTINGHELIUM-3 FROM THE MOON,” An Interactive Qualifying Project Report submitted to the faculty of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-031306-122626/unrestricted/IQP.pdf , accessed July 5, 2011, BJM] He-3 also has long term and short term benefits for society. In the near term applications, it can help in medical research. A useful product of He-3 fusion reactions is the production of isotopes that are very useful in the biomedical field. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is one such field. This process uses the isotopes from He-3 fusion reaction like He-4 in its working. He-4 has a much longer half-life and it can be stored for a much longer periods of time compared to other isotopes. By using He-3 isotopes we can 75 reduce the radioactive exposure to patients compared to the regular isotopes that are used in PET that emit radioactive waves (Hurtack, 2004). It can also be used for environmental restoration, detection of chemical and radioactive wastes, cancer therapy and defense. For intermediate term applications, it can be used for the destruction of toxic fissile materials, to harness space power and to supply energy to remote energy stations. In the long term it can have applications in propulsion technology, hydrogen production, synthetic fuel applications, base load electrical power plants and small electrical power plants (Kulcinski, 2001). The advantage of initially using He-3 fusion for non-energy applications is that the cost base is different for specialized applications and He-3 can be competitive in the short run. This would then open the ground for further cost reduction and prepare He-3 fusion to enter the energy marketplace at competitive prices. Fusion FeasibleWith current investments, fusion will be possible Gass, 7/4 [Henry, Staff Wriiter for The Ecologist, “Plan to strip mine the moon may soon be more than just science-fiction” http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/962678/plans_to_strip_mine_the_moon_may_soon_be_more_than_just_sciencefiction.html , accessed July 5, 2011, BJM] ‘You can strip mine the Moon and you can cook out the Helium-3.’ What's more, he says, nuclear fusion using Helium-3 would be cleaner, as it doesn't produce any spare neutrons. ‘It should produce vastly more energy than fission reactions without the problem of excessive amounts of radioactive waste.’ Scientists have so far only been able to sustain a fusion reaction for a few seconds, but with nothing near the scale or energy yield necessary to be replicated for commercial use. With billions invested into its potential, many scientists believe it will eventually be perfected - at which point demand for Helium-3 is likely to 'explode'. Helium-3 is available in such low quantities on earth that even though nuclear fusion doesn’t even work properly yet, it is still worth US$16 million per kilo ‘We’re going to have to go somewhere else to get it,’ continues Genge, ‘and the easiest place to go is the Moon.’ Plan solves REEPlan solves REE dependence Spence, 10 [Ann, Staff writer, Ceramic Tech Today, “The next frontier? Lunar mining for rare earth elements?” http://ceramics.org/ceramictechtoday/2010/11/16/the-next-frontier-lunar-mining-for-rare-earth-elements/ , accessed July 5, 2011, BJM] Lunar mining may be in our not-so-distant future, as evidence of rare earth elements is clear, and China tightens its exports, increasing demand worldwide. “We know there are local concentrations of REE on the moon,” Carle Pieters, a planetary scientist in the Department of Geological Sciences at Brown University, and principal investigator for NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper, told Space.com. “[W]e have not sampled these REE concentrations directly, but can readily detect them along a mixing line with many of the samples we do have.” According to a Missouri University of Science and Technology press release, Leslie Gertsch, a space mining expert and deputy director of the Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center at Missouri S&T believes that mining in space is essential to the survival of our species. According to Gertsch, REE are not presently detectable by remote instruments. However, thorium is a known lunar element and leads Gertsch to conclude that associated rare earth elements exist on the moon’s surface due to similar geochemical properties that caused them to crystallize under the same conditions. “Presumably REE mixtures could be produced on the moon and shipped to Earth for more specific separation. Neither potential mining methods nor the economics of this particular approach have been studied, to my knowledge,” Gertsch concluded. Gertsch believes that the moon was actually a part of the Earth and exists now as an aftermath of a collision. If this is true, the moon would naturally share common resources with the Earth. However, just the presence of REE wouldn’t, by itself, trigger a lunar mining stampede. There is plenty of earthly REE around, including in the U.S. The problem with REE is that typically they aren’t found in “veins” or other heavy concentrations. Thus, even the term “concentration” must be used in the relative sense, i.e., China’s ores aren’t rich with REE but have relatively higher concentrations of REE than the U.S. Because refining the ores is a difficult and expensive process, the value and benefit of purifying REE-containing ores is determined by the market value of specific REE contained therein. Thus, one big question is whether the lunar concentrations are significantly better than on earth, and whether the full cost of transportation, mining and refining lunar REE make sense. Dale Boucher, director of innovation at Northern Center for Advanced Technology, summed the situation up, telling Space.com, ”It seems that there is significant quantity of REE’s in North America, [it's] just not profitable to refine them … yet. What value is the strategic element in this? Can one put a price on this? If so, it may be economically viable to explore the moon and extract the REE.” Pieters says its conceivable to her that mining on the moon could occur 20-50 years from now Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 493.63 Kb. Share with your friends:
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