Helium 3 from the Moon

NASA plans to send Humans to the moon again in 2024, almost half a century after the last astronaut set foot on the lunar surface in 1972, why we have waited so long to make this trip, what this return means for humanity, what secrets it may hide the moon that could be useful for our society, are questions that many people ask themselves again.

NASA has announced the Artemis mission, a series of missions planned to return humans to the moon and establish a sustainable presence by 2024. It may come as a surprise to some, but the moon is a strategic point, not only in the field of test for the technologies needed to reach Mars and beyond; it could also have the resources we need to support human life in space and help minimize the burden we carry from Earth.

One of these resources is helium 3, an isotope that is extraordinarily scarce on earth, but found in abundance on the moon, this resource has captured the imagination of scientists and futurists due to its tremendous potential for power generation in the earth, particularly in the field of nuclear fusion.

Helium 3 is an isotope of helium, a noble gas we often associate with floating balloons and high-pitched voices, but it's not helium; helium 3 with two protons and a single neutron has a nuclear composition that makes it ideal for a process called nuclear-neutron fusion, a way of generating energy that is potentially much more efficient and less damaging than the nuclear hobby we use today .

Nuclear fission the process that powers most of today's nuclear power plants involves the splitting of heavy atoms such as uranium or plutonium and this releases a great deal of energy, but it also produces long-lived nuclear waste and emits dangerous radiation, plus there is the risk of an uncontrolled chain reaction that could lead to a nuclear meltdown and in the worst case to a nuclear disaster.

Nuclear fusion on the other hand works in a completely different way, instead of splitting atoms fusion combines them, in the case of helium 3 an isotope of hydrogen called deuterium is combined to produce a normal helium atom and a high energy proton , this reaction releases an incredible amount of energy and what is more important it does not produce long-lived nuclear waste, nor does it emit harmful neutrons, some estimate that a single shipment of helium 3 if used in a nuclear fusion reactor could provide enough energy to supply the United States for a full year.

With this kind of performance it's easy because some see helium 3 as the solution to our energy crisis, but it's not just a question of quantity but also of quality helium 3 fusion power is clean in the truest sense, it doesn't produce carbon dioxide, nor does it contribute to climate change, there is no danger of a nuclear meltdown or a disaster similar to Chernobyl or fucohima, and fusion energy could be the key to realizing technologies that have now only existed in science fiction such as fusion propulsion for spacecraft or the generation of energy shields.

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