Following successful trials on the sizing and sorting of 'lunar soil' by the University of Wisconsin - Madison, NASA purchase Russell Compact Sieve to continue exploration work investigating the feasibility of mining on the moon. For over 20 years it has been known by scientists that lunar regolith or 'lunar soil' contains valuable resources that if mined and processed effectively, could provide a number of important uses on Earth. One of the main constituents of lunar regolith is helium-3, which can be used to produce energy. Extensive research has been conducted to show how helium-3 can be used in a nuclear fusion reaction with deuterium. 1kg of helium-3 burned with 0.67kg of deuterium can produce approximately 19 megawatt-years of energy output (source http://www.asi.org/adb/02/09/he3-intro.html). To put this in perspective, this offers an energy resource 10 times more valuable than all the fossil fuels currently being mined on Earth put together.
展开▼
