Assessment of lunar sources of He-3 for use on earth

Abstract

As a gross measure of the economics of mining lunar sources of He-3, the energy densities (GJ/ton) of lunar soils were compared with the energy densities of various existing and future terrestrial sources of energy. On this basis, only the very richest lunar ores appear competitive with coal. Future lunar exploration might emphasize identification of lunar soils having higher concentrations of He-3