Mining the Moon

Imagine a world that is not dependent on petroleum and fossil fuels, a world which has taken a giant leap forward towards space colonization.

Although this may seem like an impossibility, this utopia is getting closer to becoming a reality and I welcome it with open arms.

Currently The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space Colonization Technical Committee is developing plans to have a moon base established as early as 2015 according to a position statement on www.aiaa.org.

Aside from the obvious interest of lunar colonization, a rare type of Helium called Helium 3 could be mined from the surface of the moon and then transferred by shuttlecraft to Earth.

H3 is what powers our Sun. Particles of the element are pushed off from the sun and then bombarded by cosmic rays which knock neutrons out of the Helium particles. The particles then combine, forming H3.

The benefits of H3 are unquestionable. The compound can be used a safer fuel for nuclear reactors.

Just the concept of safer nuclear power plants excites me. But unfortunately there are only small amounts of H3 on Earth. There is enough to be studied but not be utilized.

The Earth-bound H3 burns up in the atmosphere, where as the moon has no atmosphere and is therefore literally coated with the compound. The reason we would want to harness the power of H3 is due to its incredibly low rate of radioactivity.

The dangers of a nuclear fusion reactor would be reduced to only minor threats according to popularmechanics.com. H3 will not wear down nuclear reactors as fast as Uranium, therefore reducing the cost needed to replace the reactors.

My question is, why are we not publicizing this?

It's a great idea.

The ability to colonize the moon and reduce the use of our depleting fossil fuels is an invaluable resource. As long as our Sun exists we would never run out of H3. For the first time the world would be looking at an infinite supply of energy.

Aside from the elimination of highly-radioactive reactors and reduction of the use of fossil fuels the moon mining would create a whole new section for the global economy.

The AIAASCTC's document asks for the United States to set up the lunar colony with the help of other international space agencies, so a free-market economy would be created for the area of mining and scientific research. This process would narrow the dividing lines between our country and other countries with space-exploration programs.

I just hope we as a people are able to put our greed aside.

This new development would be a major step forward towards global peace and understanding because of the need for several countries to work as one.

Lastly, this would take us closer to the possibility of deep space exploration. It would be the first steps towards colonizing Mars. Telescopes could be set up on the surface of the Moon to view deeper parts of space with out any interference from an atmosphere.

For these reasons, lunar colonization would launch us into a new area of progress for our economy and civilization.