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Posted by: Curtis Neeley (208.180.158.74) on February 02, 2004 at 23:45:58

Location: Winslow, Arkansas

In Reply to: Helium? posted by Roger on February 01, 2004 at 10:31:13:

Although Louie Alvarez and Robert Cornog discovered helium 3 in 1939, ONLY a few hundred pounds (kilograms) were known to exist on Earth, most the by-product of nuclear-weapon production.

About 25 tonnes of He3 would power the United States for 1 year at our current rate of energy consumption. To put it in perspective: that's about the weight of a fully loaded railroad box car, or a maximum Space Shuttle payload.

To assign an economic value, suppose we assume He3 would replace the fuels the United States currently buys to generate electricity. We still have all those power generating plants and distribution network, so we can't use how much we pay for electricity. As a replacement for that fuel, that 25-tonne load of He3 would worth on the order of $75 billion today, or $3 billion per tonne.A guess is the best we can do. Let's suppose that by the time we're slinging tanks of He3 off the moon, the world-wide demand is 100 tonnes of the stuff a year, and people are happy to pay $3 billion per tonne. That gives us gross revenues of $300 billion a year.

• My photo art website.

Follow Ups:

• That pesky little problem. - David Stephens 04:38:29 02/04/04 (0)
• Helium no. - Roger 08:55:18 02/03/04 (0)

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:  Although Louie Alvarez and Robert Cornog discovered helium 3 in 1939, ONLY a few hundred pounds (kilograms) were known to exist on Earth, most the by-product of nuclear-weapon production. 

: 
: About 25 tonnes of He3 would power the United States for 1 year at our current rate of energy consumption. To put it in perspective: that's about the weight of a fully loaded railroad box car, or a maximum Space Shuttle payload.

: To assign an economic value, suppose we assume He3 would replace the fuels the United States currently buys to generate electricity. We still have all those power generating plants and distribution network, so we can't use how much we pay for electricity. As a replacement for that fuel, that 25-tonne load of He3 would worth on the order of $75 billion today, or $3 billion per tonne.A guess is the best we can do. Let's suppose that by the time we're slinging tanks of He3 off the moon, the world-wide demand is 100 tonnes of the stuff a year, and people are happy to pay $3 billion per tonne. That gives us gross revenues of $300 billion a year.<HR>READ IT <A HREF="http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/helium3_000630.html" TARGET="NEW">HERE</A><hr>gurgle....cough


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