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> Maybe nothing worth shipping back to earth Helium 3 is certainly worth shipping even at a premium.
by A2017U1 8y ago
> Maybe nothing worth shipping back to earth
Helium 3 is certainly worth shipping even at a premium.
- vkou 8y agoMoon-mined Helium 3 is currently a non-solution in search of a problem.
- RobLach 8y agoUnless there are widespread helium-3 fusion reactors, the demand for it is about $2000/liter for mostly scientific and imaging purposes. Even then it’s a sort of a niche driven price since when the US was willing to bother decaying tritium for it it was like $100 a liter. Making a helium-3 fusion reactor is a tougher problem than mining on the moon. And even then making helium-3 on earth is cheaper than going to the moon to mine it. Mining the moon for Helium-3 would be something someone would do once a colony is established, not a reason to establish one. Probably the most lucrative thing to mine on the moon is water.