treasure of the moon that can give us unprecedented energy
It is estimated that we do not know what is in 95% of the Universe. And yet, the 5% we already know is full of possibilities that can completely change our lives. In recent years, it has been suggested that helium-3 is one of them. (He-3), but the scientific community is divided. Some people believe that we must achieve this at any cost. And others think it’s crazy to bet on it because they think it’s almost impossible to make it truly useful and profitable.
“Helium-3 is a gas, a lighter isotope of helium-4, which is the most abundant. But relatively recently They began to consider the possibility of using it as an energy source., although today this is more theoretical than practical. There are already several experimental reactors working to make this a reality, but as far as I know they have had relatively little success,” says José Pablo Salas, professor of applied physics at the University of La Rioja and PhD in physics at the University of La Rioja . Zaragoza.
But a problem immediately arises: there is very little of this element on Earth. “Our planet, protected by the atmosphere and magnetic field, has shields from the gradual entry of helium-3 to the surface under the influence of the solar wind. However, it is estimated that There may be some remaining in the mantle and core, which in some cases may escape. and get stuck in rocks, as was recently discovered in lava from the Baffin Islands in Canada,” details Jesús Martínez-Frías, an expert in planetary geology and astrobiology at the CSIC Institute of Geological Sciences (IGEO).
On the Moon, the opposite is true, because there is no magnetic field or atmosphere. So Over thousands of years, He-3 accumulated on its surface. Geological studies of samples collected during the Apollo missions and solar wind interaction models have shown that The satellite can hold from one to one and a half million tons. Juicy booty. Some estimates say that this amount could satisfy global energy demand for 250 years. But in addition, it can also be used to meet the needs of future space missions and aerospace fusion propulsion applications.
“The easiest way to make He-3 is to heat regolith—a fine powder made up of materials that are not yet part of the soil and cover the lunar surface—with solar energy to about 700°C. Although We recently discovered that we can extract about 50% of He-3 just by stirringwhich requires much less energy,” explains Gerald Kulczynski, professor emeritus of nuclear engineering and director of the Institute of Fusion Technologies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA), who assures that the scientific community “took some time to understand the scale of He-3 on the Moon,” despite the fact that “his reactions have been known for almost 50 years.
Kulczynski received the Public Service Medal in 1993 and the Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2010, both awarded by NASA, the organization to which he served from 2005 to 2009 as an Advisory Council member. And today it is one of the world’s leading advocates of the He-3’s potential as an energy source. In fact, it is home to the world’s first helium-3 fusion reactor, which has been operating for several decades.
The expert is convinced that first of all “we need to return to the Moon.” And, as he himself recalls, we are close to this, because both the USA and China are implementing projects to deliver people to the satellite in the coming years. When we achieve this, according to Kulchinsky’s estimates, It will take us another 10 years to start producing Ge-3. While everything is in the hands, he said, the progress made by private companies, which although “have large sums of money” are completely opaque when it comes to reporting their results.
“My opinion is that in the next 10 years we will know which deterrent system is better. And this can be done with the small amounts of He-3 that we have on Earth. Once this is done, it will depend on how quickly we can demonstrate mining on the Moon. In my opinion, this is just a guess at this point. It will be 15 to 20 years before we see significant amounts of He-3 on Earth.. “Then it will depend on how quickly advanced fusion devices using He-3 can come to market,” says Kulczynski.
The debate that divides scientists
Kulchinsky is optimistic, but many other experts don’t see it so clearly. And this will not happen because the He-3 has no potential advantages. “Today the most advanced is the nuclear fusion of deuterium and tritium, which releases neutrons. What happens is that these high energy particles have no electrical charge. So it’s hard to stop them and we need to do it. this is because otherwise they damage all matter around them, including us. They are like projectiles that hit everything around them. Another proposed alternative is the synthesis of deuterium and helium-3, which has an advantage.j. And helium-4 will be generated, which releases protons instead of neutrons. And since they do have an electrical charge, we could easily stop them using electromagnetic fields,” concludes Salas.
But this system, according to the professor, also presents problems. Because if the synthesis of deuterium with tritium requires reproducing the conditions of the Sun in the laboratory until reaching a temperature close to 150 million degrees, then for the synthesis of He-3 with deuterium it is even more difficult: we will need to reach temperatures of about 600 million degrees. That is four times more. Not to mention that the former will be much more “effective” than the latter.
“I think helium-3 is very far away because we need technological requirements to extract it, which will take time to achieve. However, I do not exclude that in the future we will be able to achieve this,” comments Martinez-Frías, who explains that using the moon’s resources is “much more feasible and scientifically sound” when it comes to other things, such as using regolith to build runways, roads, highways, radiation shields, substrate for plant and food growth, extracting oxygen and other strategic elements from existing minerals (especially oxides and silicates). And in general, for all types of geological applications, to complement the habitability of a future semi-permanent base.
Salas notes in a similar vein: “If we got the power from the He-3, it would be very efficient. can only begin to be appreciated when we have efficient fusion reactors.that we know how they work and that they produce energy in huge quantities. Until then, I think this is all a bit far off. Energy via He-3 is not a widely discussed topic in science today. They focus on the synthesis of deuterium and tritium. “That’s where the money is being invested and where countries and consortia are working.”