I've seen claims in several internet sources, a video documentary and the Wikipedia article that some countries have had plans to mine helium-3 on the moon. I wonder if the reporting is incompetent or if the plans are made by incompetent optimists if what you're saying is true. How did this meme originate?
For what it's worth, I just redid my calculations with the best figures I could find.
The comparison of energy density to lignite was just about the same as the calculations I remembered doing a year or two ago - average thermal energy density assuming complete fusion of the He3 present in lunar soil of about 6 megajoules per kilogram, as compared to 15 or so for average lignite. I found references to speculation that at the edges of cold traps where sunlight never falls near where the sunlight makes it you might have levels six or seven times that.
Somethi...
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