Provide clean energy to the world: Helium-3 will be extracted on the Moon at $4 billion per ton

A rare isotope of helium called helium-3 could provide clean energy to everyone on Earth. However, only a small fraction of the helium-3 from the core enters the planet’s atmosphere. It is believed that only 25 tons of helium-3 are needed to supply a country like the United States with clean energy for a year. Therefore, to get plenty of helium-3, you need to go to the Moon and extract this rare isotope from there. According to Interesting Engineering, a US company called Interlune has already attracted $15 million in investment to begin extracting helium-3 and delivering it to Earth.

In Focus. Technologies emerged telegram channel. Subscribe to avoid missing the latest and most exciting news from the world of science!

Interlune plans to be the first private company to extract natural resources from the Moon for commercial purposes. Now the company’s engineers are trying to create a lander that can detect the concentration of helium-3 in selected places on the Moon.

In the process of nuclear fusion on the Sun, when two photons combine with a neutron and two electrons, helium-3 is produced, which is then carried into space by the solar wind. When the helium isotope-laden solar wind reaches Earth, it cannot deliver most of these particles to the planet because it is blocked by the Earth’s magnetic field. But some of these particles still remain in the atmosphere. In addition, helium-3 is produced in the Earth’s core and then rises to the surface and enters the atmosphere, from where it flies into space. But the planet’s core doesn’t produce that many helium isotopes. Scientists believe that from 300 grams to 2 kg of helium-3 is concentrated in the Earth’s atmosphere every year.

But the Moon has no atmosphere and protective magnetic field, and therefore there is nothing stopping the solar wind from delivering helium-3 there. It is thought that approximately 1.2 million tons of helium-3 can be found on the Moon. The cost of one ton of helium-3 on the Moon is estimated at $4 billion, according to Gerald Kulczynski of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. But it is this rare isotope of helium that could potentially create large reserves of clean energy.

Interlune believes that helium-3 extracted on the Moon could contribute to the development of various industries, from medicine to nuclear fusion and quantum computing. It is assumed that this helium isotope will either pave the way for new technologies or accelerate the development of existing technologies.

Interlune says it has the technology to extract helium-3 on the Moon at low cost. In other words, it is economically very profitable to extract this clean energy source and deliver it to the Earth.

At the same time, NASA announced last year that it plans to begin mining mineral resources, including helium-3, on the Moon in 2032.

It is still unknown when the mining of the rare helium isotope will begin on the Moon and who will be the first in this direction. We can only hope that this production does not cause irreparable damage to the Earth’s satellite.

Scientists suggest that over time, humans will be able to exploit the resources of space, from rare earth elements on the Moon to mining near-Earth asteroids and comets. This will reduce the cost and duration of future deep space flights. About where in space there are planets made of diamonds and golden asteroids, Focus already wrote.

Moreover Focus He wrote about what a spectacular astronomical phenomenon such as a solar eclipse on the Moon would look like. If you were on the surface of the Moon, the two upcoming eclipses would look very different.