Helium 3

UtahBill · 06-30-09, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scarecrow Akhbar

Yeah, sure. But that typo wasn't clear that it was a typo, is all.

so directly UNDER the word helium, I put H instead of He and you can't figure it out?

Dayton3 · 07-02-09, 12:37 PM

Probably the only way the world will ever have fusion power is by using Helium-3.

But getting it from the moon probably isn't worth the trouble.

It is in the lunar soil in amounts "estimated" at "one part per million".

Meaning to get ONE TON of Helium-3 you would have to process ONE MILLION TONS of lunar soil.

No resource has ever been mined at such low concentrations.

A more reasonable source (despite the distance involved) are the atmospheres of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune-Jupiter having too strong a gravity to escape from with an economically sized load.

A large unmanned ship could travel to one of those planets, inflate a giant balloon to suspend itself in the atmosphere, hang there and filter out the Helium-3 for storage.

When it is ready to return, it fires up its nuclear rocket engine, jettisons the balloon, and heads back to Earth.

tryreading · 07-02-09, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sazerac

Duncan Jones read a book about it by Robert Zubrin and got the idea for the movie. Frozen pellets of deuterium and helium-3 being ignited by electron beams to produce fusion.

That's what we'll use to colonize the galaxy. From the great Stephen Baxter:

We'll probably start as we have in the Solar System, with automated probes. Humans may follow. One percent of the helium-3 fusion fuel available from the planet Uranus, for example, would be enough to send a giant interstellar ark, each ark containing a billion people, to every star in the Galaxy.

http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin...=9780345430762

sazerac · 07-02-09, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tryreading

That's what we'll use to colonize the galaxy. From the great Stephen Baxter:

We'll probably start as we have in the Solar System, with automated probes. Humans may follow. One percent of the helium-3 fusion fuel available from the planet Uranus, for example, would be enough to send a giant interstellar ark, each ark containing a billion people, to every star in the Galaxy.

http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin...=9780345430762

Moon opens in Winter Park next Friday.

tryreading · 07-03-09, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sazerac

Moon opens in Winter Park next Friday.

You must be from Central Florida, or have visited here, you seem to know the area.

Thanks for the tip, but I can't stand to go to movie theatres. Will have to rent the dvd when it comes out.

There are so few good science fiction movies (imo), maybe this one will be a nice surprise.

sazerac · 07-06-09, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tryreading

You must be from Central Florida, or have visited here, you seem to know the area.

Thanks for the tip, but I can't stand to go to movie theatres. Will have to rent the dvd when it comes out.

There are so few good science fiction movies (imo), maybe this one will be a nice surprise.

My favorite aunt and uncle live in Cocoa. We go all over, old as they are.

I finally get to see the movie Friday! It's coming to the best theater in town! I think Moon is exactly that kind of good "hard" science fiction movie. It's brainy rather than flashy.

Donkey1499 · 07-06-09, 08:08 PM

Kevin Spacey? o_O Well he's my next favorite actor, right behind Patrick Stewart, and just ahead of Michael Dorn. *_*

tryreading · 07-06-09, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sazerac

My favorite aunt and uncle live in Cocoa. We go all over, old as they are.

I finally get to see the movie Friday! It's coming to the best theater in town! I think Moon is exactly that kind of good "hard" science fiction movie. It's brainy rather than flashy.

Please let me know if it's any good.

rivrrat · 07-06-09, 09:59 PM

Hmm... is He3 still inert? I wonder if I can use that in Trimix.

tryreading · 07-07-09, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rivrrat

Hmm... is He3 still inert? I wonder if I can use that in Trimix.

I had to look up trimix, but I get the joke now.

07-02-09, 12:37 PM	#12
Dayton3 Advisor Join Date: May 2009 Last Seen: 02-19-10 11:40 AM Posts: 354 Thanks: 93 Thanked 85 Times in 52 Posts Lean: Very Conservative Gender:	Re: Helium 3 Probably the only way the world will ever have fusion power is by using Helium-3. But getting it from the moon probably isn't worth the trouble. It is in the lunar soil in amounts "estimated" at "one part per million". Meaning to get ONE TON of Helium-3 you would have to process ONE MILLION TONS of lunar soil. No resource has ever been mined at such low concentrations. A more reasonable source (despite the distance involved) are the atmospheres of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune-Jupiter having too strong a gravity to escape from with an economically sized load. A large unmanned ship could travel to one of those planets, inflate a giant balloon to suspend itself in the atmosphere, hang there and filter out the Helium-3 for storage. When it is ready to return, it fires up its nuclear rocket engine, jettisons the balloon, and heads back to Earth.

07-06-09, 08:08 PM	#17
Donkey1499 Guru Join Date: Oct 2005 Last Seen: 02-08-10 03:42 AM Location: Under The Northern Star, Alaska Posts: 3,945 Thanks: 228 Thanked 58 Times in 48 Posts Lean: Independent Gender:	Re: Helium 3 Kevin Spacey? o_O Well he's my next favorite actor, right behind Patrick Stewart, and just ahead of Michael Dorn. _

07-06-09, 09:59 PM	#19
rivrrat Goddess of Bacon Join Date: Feb 2007 Last Seen: Yesterday 10:11 PM Posts: 9,994 Thanks: 2,793 Thanked 4,120 Times in 2,380 Posts Gender:	Re: Helium 3 Hmm... is He3 still inert? I wonder if I can use that in Trimix.
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