[Quote=Mike Kremer]
Mike Kremer said:
The reason I started this category, about Asteroid Mining was
because I thought the Billionaire filmaker/explorer James Cameron, was over the top when he registered a Company along with others, to mine The Asteroids.
What I should have said, although I did not think of it until today....That it would hve made more sense for him to mine the surface of the Moon.
Not only NASA, but the Russians have stated that the Moon has millions of kilograms of Helium 3, locked up in its regolith (surface soil)....the action of the Sun on the Moons soil, for a few million years.
Here on Earth we have very little Helium 3. in fact we have very little Helium gas left, go check the price of kids Helium filled balloons
Any-way both Russia and America have stated the following:-
"Along with deuterium, which can be extracted from sea water, He-3 is the primary fuel of a clean nuclear fusion reactor currently being investigated by U.S., European, and Japanese fusion research scientists. Some of these scientists believe that a demonstration fusion power reactor using the He-3/deuterium reaction can be built within 10 or 15 years and a commercial power reactor within 20 years. It would generate only a very slight amount of radioactivity, equivalent in nature to that produced by hospitals in their nuclear medicine areas. When used in this plant, He-3 would have so much energy that it would require only 20 tons-less than one Shuttle load-to supply all the electricity used in the United States in a year."
The current cost of fuel used to provide this electricity is tens of billions of dollars-and going up. We can estimate that the single Shuttle-load of He-3 might be worth about this same amount-or more, when the environmental impact of fossil fuels is included.
With the above in mind, prehaps James Cameron will re-set his Company sights upon mining the surface of the Moon, in partnership with NASA and Russia.
Infinitly cheaper and simpler than mining an Asteroid?
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/408558/mining-the-moon/
