Article

2007-10-29 -Short Attention Span Theater-

"Them filthy Chinamen an' Yanks, they're gonna plunder the moon!"

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Posted by Mike 2007-10-29 15:49|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 There's a couple of American flags planted with pictures. It has been claimed.

Posted by BrerRabbit 2007-10-29 16:22|| 2007-10-29 16:22|| Front Page Top

#2 Oh good grief!!

How maudlin this depressed jackass is

"...our fragile, heartbreakingly isolated planet ...";
"...from our ravaged home."

Why doesn't he just put himself out of his misery (or at least ours)?

Posted by AlanC 2007-10-29 16:42|| 2007-10-29 16:42|| Front Page Top

#3 Heh, money talks and the Chinese aren't stupid. Whoever controls this H-3 in the future, will be the next OPEC.

Posted by Icerigger">Icerigger 2007-10-29 16:49|| 2007-10-29 16:49|| Front Page Top

#4 The Indian Lunar probe (due for launch early next year) includes an impactor which will slam into the surface and throw up dust for examination by the orbiting probe's onboard instruments.

Everybody wants Helium-3

Posted by john frum 2007-10-29 17:20|| 2007-10-29 17:20|| Front Page Top

#5 Wel-l-l, as remarked long ago, iff a space rock doesn't shatter and destroy the moon come 2030 [APOPHIS 2029], will SPOCK'S "INADEQUATE [MINE]SAFETY PRECAUTIONS", ala STAR TREK: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY + THE TIME MACHINE [remake]??? D *** NGED 1960's TEXAS-SIZED ASTEROIDS".

Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-10-29 18:15|| 2007-10-29 18:15|| Front Page Top

#6 I'm just waiting for the advertisers to pitch in, as in The Man Who Sold the Moon.

Posted by Eric Jablow">Eric Jablow 2007-10-29 20:04|| 2007-10-29 20:04|| Front Page Top

#7 To make a go of dust mining on the Moon, you need to be able to not only gather up the dust, but cook it to release the tiny amount of He3 in it (.01ppm).

This means you need a nuclear furnace.

Initially, this is almost simple enough to be done by robots. That is, a probe with a furnace touches down on a big patch of dust, then puts out a mechanical arm with a rotating sweep on the end, that brushes dust onto a conveyor belt inside the arm. The belt takes the dust to the furnace, which cooks it to release the Helium, which is then compressed in a gas cylinder. Most of the Helium would be He2, not He3, but separation of the two gases will need to be done on Earth.

Then, when the cylinder is full, the upper half of the probe launches, leaving the furnace behind, and takes the cylinder up to an orbital vessel.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-10-29 22:19|| 2007-10-29 22:19|| Front Page Top

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