Though we do go through some 70-75 million
bbls of oil a day, in truth much of the world’s energy demands will be
met with natural gas, not oil. Even China is aware of this and is
stapling its energy future to natural gas internal development and importation.
It is here that the real energy jewel
appears – natural gas hydrates.
Gas hydrates exist in massive quantities in
the deep seabed, where a combination of low temperature and high pressure cause
the gas to enter into a bucky-ball-like arrangement with water, forming a
containing lattice. When brought to warmth and low pressure, the gas is
released and expands hugely.
Conventional natural gas reserves, already
an immense reservoir of clean and easily exploited energy, are absolutely
dwarfed by the reserve potential of gas hydrates. It is with gas hydrates
that the world of 2080 will be energized.
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Turner
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday 15
November 2003 03:04
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Helium 3 on Luna as
an energy source
Some interesting technical background here:
Not mentioned: while He3 may be *relatively* more abundant
on the lunar surface, there's no question that we're talking about very low
grade helium ore, and therefore very high investment in extraction.
Sending raw lunar soil back is a non-starter.
Even if only extracted helium were returned to Earth, there would be an issue
of ROI. Extracted He3 returned --
now, you're talking. But
even if that's a guaranteed ROI, the question mark follows the 'I'.
To keep the investment manageable, we still need to address the bottleneck of
Earth-to-orbit costs.
Schemes like Space Elevator and momentum-transfer tethers offer potential for
reducing costs by two orders of magnitude, but even there, you're looking at a
staggering upfront investment just to bootstrap the bootstrap.
I believe there are solutions, but they will be very
long range, very cost-conscious, about as sexy as sea tortoise, and not much
faster. Am I alone in biting my
nails about SMART-1's plodding progress through the van Allen belts on its way
to the Moon? This kind of technology is
far more significant than your average space enthusiast realizes, I think.
----- Original Message -----
Sent:
Saturday, November 15, 2003 3:28 AM
Subject:
Helium 3 on Luna as an energy source
By Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri
With the oil age starting to appear alarmingly finite, and with governments all
over the planet searching for new energy sources, space scientists are looking
at yet another fuel source, this one distributed on the moon over billions of
years as birds distributed guano on the island of Nauru.
The energy source is Helium 3, which exists in minute quantities on earth but
which has been deposited on the moon by solar winds, a rapid stream of charged
particles from the sun, from the dawn of time. Helium-3, or Astrofuel, as
scientists have dubbed it, sounds, well, almost too good to be true. All they
have to do is figure out a way to go get it, and then to build a plant to
transform it to energy once they get it back here.
Estimates of world energy use and recoverable reserves vary widely. Average
energy consumption, measured in crude oil, is 71,530, barrels per day against a
total known world reserve of about 1.0 trillion barrels. Thus a conservative
estimate indicates that commercially viable oil supply could be exhausted in 40
to 50 years although by another estimate there is enough coal in the United
States to last another 275 years at current consumption rates. Coal, however,
is a dirty fuel that is costly to clean up through filters and scrubbers.
At present rates of consumption, which are unlikely to hold steady forever as
alternative fuels come on stream, when the population reaches the 10 billion
mark consumption is projected at about 100 to 150 billion barrels of oil per
year. Mankind is already looking for energy sources based on solar, wind,
hydro, geothermal and biomass and certainly some will continue towards playing
a major role in energy production.
Nuclear fusion is the other source of energy, but faces lots of political
problems because of the radioactive waste it produces and because it produces a
great number of neurons, which damage reactors, cutting their life. On the
other hand, a fusion reaction carried through Helium3 releases only one percent
of its energy in the form of neutrons. As a result, this type of reactor
becomes easy and reduces radioactivity to a very low level, scientists working
on the subject say.
Enter Astrofuel, as Helium-3 or He3 has come to be known, which was discovered
on the moon in 1969 when American astronauts first arrived, although the link
between the isotope and lunar resources was not made until 1986. Scientists
describe it as the most efficient known source of power, because 99 percent of
the energy can be released as charged particles and thus be converted into
electricity with greater efficiency. The level of radioactivity is so low that
a complete reactor meltdown would not spread radioactive particles. And the
reactor could be dismantled at the end of its useful life to be disposed of
like any other ordinary median instruments.
The Center for Space Automation and Robotics at the University of Wisconsin in
Madison first conceived the idea of mining Astrofuel from the Moon in 1986. The
center, one of 16 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-funded
facilities for the commercial development of space, is positioned to manage the
project because of the university's already existing fusion, space and life
support research program.
Researchers at Madison say they are certain that He3, an isotope of helium with
one less neutron than helium itself, could replace fossil fuels. While it is
rare on earth, it is available in large quantities on the moon. One tonne, they
say, could supply the energy needs of a city of 10 million people when combined
in a fusion reactor with a form of hydrogen extracted from water. It is hardly
difficult to thus imagine the impact that Astrofuel could have on world energy
supplies.
The extremely high power density means that only 28 tonnes of Astrofuel,
approximately the payload of the current US Space Shuttle, could supply the
entire electrical demand of the US for a year. Even at a selling price of US$1
billion per tonne, the energy cost would be equivalent to oil at $7 a barrel.
Unfortunately, the space shuttle is not at this time configured to fly to the
moon, and a new space vehicle would have to be developed.
The nation that develops the technology to retrieve Astrofuel could thus find
itself in a commanding economic and strategy position in this century. The US
already has the research and resource lead for recovery. While some He3 is
available on earth, the quantity is not sufficient to be exploited
commercially. The US strategic reserve amounts to only 29 kg, with another 187
kg mixed up with natural gas. By contrast, the moon has an estimated reserve of
1.1 billion tonnes of He3 that has been deposited by the solar wind.
The commercial viability of Astrofuel was determined by the Wisconsin’s
University Research Center in 1987, a year after its discovery. In 1987 prices,
it was found that the US spends $40 billion annually to buy coal, oil, natural
gas and uranium to produce electricity. For the megawatt volume of electricity
for one year, the US might need to import one spacecraft load of fuel at a cost
of $25 billion - about a fourth of the price of crude today at the
aforementioned $7 per barrel.
Obviously, billions of dollars would be required or research and development by
participating countries and would involve the development of many technologies
that currently remain to be created. Foremost among them are superconducting
magnets, plasma control and diagnostics, robotically controlled mining
equipment, life support facilities, rocket launch vehicles, telecommunications,
power electronics, etc. Though the investment seems astronomical, compared to
the benefit derived, the justification seems more than adequate.
For one thing, the developed world would no longer be held hostage to the
Middle East, where the preponderance of the world’s fossil fuel reserves
are located. American scientists have already declared that the moon could be
the Persian Gulf of the present century. Two liters of He3 would do the work of
more than 1,000 tons of coal.
And who would own this real estate? No doubt, the only affordable source of
energy would be completely dominated by American industries. With the collapse
of the USSR, Russia’s space program has largely disappeared. The Chinese,
who only launched their first man into space last month, are well behind in the
race. India, with its fledgling space program even less-developed, is even
further behind. The Euroland space program is hardly oriented towards anything
beyond launching commercial earth satellites.
It is thus possible that every member of the United Nations could be forced to
stand in a queue to receive a quota of fuel fixed by Uncle Sam. All discussion
about energy security would take a back seat. The UN will discuss everything,
but its members would go on waiting for their quota to arrive. Astrofuel would
decide politics, economics and the world order.
The technology to harness He3 as an energy source is a continuing process in
the laboratories of the US universities. Miniaturization of He3-driven reactors
would take an immense role in the new world order.
Dr Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri is a former
professor of international relations at Oxford College in the UK and a guest
professor of international relations at the London School of Economics &
Political Science.
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