Helium-3 Overview

There is lot of controversy over whether lunar resources would be an economical source of fuel for power plants on Earth. The resource at issue is helium-3 . Without getting too technical about it: the theory of fusion power says that helium-3 will work in a nuclear power plant and would yield a much safer and more reliable power source than alternative methods of producing power with nuclear reactions.

Until experimental fusion power plants are successfully constructed, we really won't know if helium-3 will work, either technically or financially. If it does work, the economic impact on lunar development would be tremendous, overshadowing everything else. This leads to another question, whether we would really want to shift all emphasis on lunar development into a race to gain control of the power source of the 21st century.

To answer these questions, it's important to understand the basic concept. Here is an introduction to helium-3, describing what it is, what it might do, and its potential for economic impact on lunar development.