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Questions tagged [helium-3]

Questions about the light isotope of helium not found in any significance on Earth, described as a potential source of nuclear fusion fuel on the Moon and other celestial solar system bodies.

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5 votes
2 answers
412 views

How long does it take to refresh helium-3 on the moon?

I was reading a science-fiction novel, Limit, by Frank Shätzing. It depicts a near-future with useful helium-3 fusion, and the Americans and Chinese are bumping elbows mining helium-3 on the moon, ...
Greg's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
1k views

Mining Helium-3 on the Moon and sending it to Earth?

It would be best to mine and process material on the moon to obtain helium-3, but my question is, what if we did an unmanned mission? A small robot 1 meter long, powered by solar energy, that takes ...
Valentino Zaffrani's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
235 views

Why exactly would "permanently shadowed polar lunar craters... have substantially higher levels of ³He than sunlit lunar surfaces?"

Researching this answer led to ³He in permanently shadowed lunar polar surfaces published in Icarus. The abstract is tantalizing but terse: Abstract Because of their cryogenic temperatures, analysis ...
uhoh's user avatar
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3 votes
4 answers
1k views

Would it be more viable to process moon rocks into Helium-3 on the Moon than doing so on Earth?

Helium-3 is a substance that is very useful for nuclear fusion, which can generate a lot of power. Unfortunately we don't have a lot of it on Earth, but on the Moon it can be processed from basic moon ...
Thomas Jacobs's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
1k views

Practical Lunar He-3 mining approach?

There is a lot of popular talk that There may be huge deposits of Helium-3 on the Moon, and It could be used for very efficient fusion reactors. Unfortunately in the bulk of popular talk actual ...
SF.'s user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
172 views

Collect Helium-3 in the space (not surfaces)

Well my question is simple i guess, just i want know, is possible obtain helium only from the space? for example, just collect it with a special chamber? maybe this is stupid, but is this possible? or ...
Valentino Zaffrani's user avatar