In article <5eb15984.0312040328.2348ec4b@posting.google.com>,
ltlee1@hotmail.com (LT Lee) wrote:

In the National Interest
December 3, 2003 Vol. 2, Issue 47.

"China's quest for energy is not limited to this planet. A main goal
of its space program is to extract energy from the moon, something the
Center for Space Automation and Robotics at the University of
Wisconsin in Madison thought of in 1986. Helium-3, also known as
astrofuel, is found in abundance in the Moon's soil. It is the most
efficient known source of power -- 99 percent of its energy can be
converted into electricity.

...using processes which we have not yet managed to develop.

The moon has an estimated reserve of 1.1
billion tons of He3, and it would take only 28 tons, about the
capacity of the U.S. Space Shuttle, to supply the entire electrical
demand of the U.S. for a year."

...if we had some way to make use of it, which we don't.

Right now, the only way you're going to get energy from the Moon is to
set up solar power farms and beam the energy back. Some people advocate
that, but powersats make a lot more sense to me.

And ignoring the fact that getting 3He out of lunar soil isn't
free. If I recall Mr. Deitz, it's 10% of the energy liberated by fusing
3He...

Kingsbury and wossnames' old Analog article suggested the potential
energy of lunar rock could be exploited by dropping rocks to LEO and braking
them with orbiting accelerators. Just mentioning.

Dick Morris
Ad hominem attacks appear to be your substitute for logic.

No, I find that suggesting some highly probable characterization for someone
who IGNORES facts and logic usually has the desired effect after their
"fight" response wears down. They start thinking smarter before they just
post any old nonsense. You should thank me for helping you improve yourself!

or a Multinational Conglomerate, to be a market. My point was that
we
have to have a marketable vehicle before we can develop the markets -
an
extraordinary vehicle if we want to develop extraordinary markets. I

This was your original point
Extraordinary markets require extraordinary launch vehicles. You're
putting the cart before the horse.

and it's still just flat WRONG. Building a fantastic travel to the Moon or
Mars or the planets of a nearby star vehicle WILL NOT ALLOW ONE TO "DEVELOP"
MARKETS THERE!!!!!!!!!!! Study history, ships were developed FOR TRADE, not
the other way around.

In article <bqnp7b$k7c$1@panix1.panix.com>,
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
And ignoring the fact that getting 3He out of lunar soil isn't
free. If I recall Mr. Deitz, it's 10% of the energy liberated by fusing

3He...

The more pessimistic calculations actually say 25%. Much depends on how
optimistic you are about sticky engineering details like heat recovery.

And such simple calculations neglect important economic questions like
reliability and lifetime of equipment, which are not to be taken for
granted in a lunar-dust environment.

Kingsbury and wossnames' old Analog article suggested the potential
energy of lunar rock could be exploited by dropping rocks to LEO and braking
them with orbiting accelerators. Just mentioning.

This too has a problem with initial energy investment, 5% or more of the
energy it yields (because you have to get the stuff off the Moon and into
a trajectory that intersects LEO).

In article <5eb15984.0312040328.2348ec4b@posting.google.com>,
ltlee1@hotmail.com (LT Lee) wrote:

In the National Interest
December 3, 2003 Vol. 2, Issue 47.

"China's quest for energy is not limited to this planet. A main goal
of its space program is to extract energy from the moon, something the
Center for Space Automation and Robotics at the University of
Wisconsin in Madison thought of in 1986. Helium-3, also known as
astrofuel, is found in abundance in the Moon's soil. It is the most
efficient known source of power -- 99 percent of its energy can be
converted into electricity.

...using processes which we have not yet managed to develop.

The moon has an estimated reserve of 1.1
billion tons of He3, and it would take only 28 tons, about the
capacity of the U.S. Space Shuttle, to supply the entire electrical
demand of the U.S. for a year."

...if we had some way to make use of it, which we don't.

Right now, the only way you're going to get energy from the Moon is to
set up solar power farms and beam the energy back. Some people advocate
that, but powersats make a lot more sense to me.

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: |
| joe@strout.net http://www.macwebdir.com |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'

Joe Strout <joe@strout.net> wrote in message news:<joe-7ABBC2.08382104122003@comcast.ash.giganews.com>...
In article <5eb15984.0312040328.2348ec4b@posting.google.com>,
ltlee1@hotmail.com (LT Lee) wrote:

In the National Interest
December 3, 2003 Vol. 2, Issue 47.

"China's quest for energy is not limited to this planet. A main goal
of its space program is to extract energy from the moon, something the
Center for Space Automation and Robotics at the University of
Wisconsin in Madison thought of in 1986. Helium-3, also known as
astrofuel, is found in abundance in the Moon's soil. It is the most
efficient known source of power -- 99 percent of its energy can be
converted into electricity.

...using processes which we have not yet managed to develop.

The moon has an estimated reserve of 1.1
billion tons of He3, and it would take only 28 tons, about the
capacity of the U.S. Space Shuttle, to supply the entire electrical
demand of the U.S. for a year."

...if we had some way to make use of it, which we don't.

Right now, the only way you're going to get energy from the Moon is to
set up solar power farms and beam the energy back. Some people advocate
that, but powersats make a lot more sense to me.

May be the Nixon Center info is part of the background effort to
revisit the moon. Going to the moon for energy is better than going to
Iraq for oil.

--------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36960-2003Dec4.html
Return to Moon May Be on Agenda

By Mike Allen and Kathy Sawyer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 5, 2003; Page A01

"Although much of the scientific and emotional focus has been on Mars
over the past decade, the buzz inside NASA has seemed to shift toward
a return of man to the moon, officials at the space agency said.

"The drumbeat is getting louder," Wendell Mendell, manager of the
Office for Human Exploration Science at NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston, said in a telephone interview. Mendell has long advocated a
return to the moon. "The tables and lists being created here are
consistent" with a lunar initiative, he said."

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: |
| joe@strout.net http://www.macwebdir.com |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'

In the National Interest
December 3, 2003 Vol. 2, Issue 47.

"China's quest for energy is not limited to this planet. A main goal
of its space program is to extract energy from the moon, something the
Center for Space Automation and Robotics at the University of
Wisconsin in Madison thought of in 1986. Helium-3, also known as
astrofuel, is found in abundance in the Moon's soil. It is the most
efficient known source of power -- 99 percent of its energy can be
converted into electricity. The moon has an estimated reserve of 1.1
billion tons of He3, and it would take only 28 tons, about the
capacity of the U.S. Space Shuttle, to supply the entire electrical
demand of the U.S. for a year."

stevejdufour@yahoo.com (Steve Dufour) wrote in message news:<744cc401.0311182349.4cbf026d@posting.google.com>...
Quite an interesting article, I thought:

http://space.com/news/moon_astronomy_031117.html

Joe Strout <joe@strout.net> wrote in message news:<joe-7ABBC2.08382104122003@comcast.ash.giganews.com>...
In article <5eb15984.0312040328.2348ec4b@posting.google.com>,
ltlee1@hotmail.com (LT Lee) wrote:

In the National Interest
December 3, 2003 Vol. 2, Issue 47.

"China's quest for energy is not limited to this planet. A main goal
of its space program is to extract energy from the moon, something the
Center for Space Automation and Robotics at the University of
Wisconsin in Madison thought of in 1986. Helium-3, also known as
astrofuel, is found in abundance in the Moon's soil. It is the most
efficient known source of power -- 99 percent of its energy can be
converted into electricity.

...using processes which we have not yet managed to develop.

The moon has an estimated reserve of 1.1
billion tons of He3, and it would take only 28 tons, about the
capacity of the U.S. Space Shuttle, to supply the entire electrical
demand of the U.S. for a year."

...if we had some way to make use of it, which we don't.

Right now, the only way you're going to get energy from the Moon is to
set up solar power farms and beam the energy back. Some people advocate
that, but powersats make a lot more sense to me.

May be the Nixon Center info is part of the background effort to
revisit the moon. Going to the moon for energy is better than going to
Iraq for oil.

--------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36960-2003Dec4.html
Return to Moon May Be on Agenda

By Mike Allen and Kathy Sawyer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 5, 2003; Page A01

"Although much of the scientific and emotional focus has been on Mars
over the past decade, the buzz inside NASA has seemed to shift toward
a return of man to the moon, officials at the space agency said.

"The drumbeat is getting louder," Wendell Mendell, manager of the
Office for Human Exploration Science at NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston, said in a telephone interview. Mendell has long advocated a
return to the moon. "The tables and lists being created here are
consistent" with a lunar initiative, he said."




,------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: |
| joe@strout.net http://www.macwebdir.com |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'