[FPSPACE] the He3 urban legend

[E.P. Grondine]

Hello Keith:

You conveniently left out of your message China's other stated goal for 
manned Moon flight, CAPS (the Comet and Asteroid Protection System).

As for my assessment of the viability of He3, I have already commented on it 
here and as you did not read that assessment then, there is little point in 
me repeating it here again.  It would kind of be like "discussing" the 
impact hazard with David.

IN broad terms, I am much more interested in puzzling out the mass, launch, 
and costs of the Chinese-Russian CAPS program.  For the delivery system we 
have Perimov's architectures from the Energia articles last year.  Assume 
CZ2F and CZ5 equivalents to Soyuz 2/3 and Proton/Angara respectively.

Now David and Larry go on and on about the dust on the Moon, but what is 
need to build CAPS is an enclosed construction vehicle, with the crew 
exiting rarely.  A radiation shelter for construction/servicing crews is 
needed.  I assume the radar reflectors will be constructed by draping foil 
over existing craters, which leaves the antenna suspension ropes and hang 
points and the antenas.  The you have the lidar system, and any telescopes.  
You have data processing, communications, and the power generation for it 
all. Besides the always Sun lit areas of the Moon, you have the possibility 
of power generation in orbit around the Moon with microwave transmission to 
points needed on the surface of the Moon. Finally nuclear, which I don't 
prefer because of the difficulites in dealing with it. Given Challenger and 
Columbia, why Zubrin or for that matter Grifin thinks that anyone is going 
to launch a reactor with the Ares 5 is beyond me.

Hell, I don't even know what fuels Perimov is proposing for a fueling 
station in orbit around the Moon. And then Japan has its tele-operated 
androids.

Now whether this infrastructure might later be used by China or Russia for 
He3 depends on the possibility/viability of He3 fusion reactions, and I 
suppose that Astronaut Schmitt would be best prepared to answer questions on 
that for you. Or if you are fluent in Chinese or Russian, and get in contact 
with their experts, I suppose they could provide you with their assessments, 
if they wanted to spare you the time.

Cao Knee Men,
EP
E.P. Grondine
Man and Impact in the Americas

PS - Russia was hit by two impactors in the last century, at Tunguska, which 
was most likely one of the pesky comet fragments, and at Sikote Alin, a 
small iron asteroid.

>From: "Keith Gottschalk" <kgottschalk at uwc.ac.za>
>To: <FPSPACE at friends-partners.org>
>Subject: [FPSPACE] the He3 urban legend
>Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:21:55 +0200
>
> >As I mentioned earlier Chinese space leadership has stated two reasons
>for
> >going to the Moon, He3 mining and ......
>
>     When Dwayne Day was active on this email forum, he teased everyone
>who repeated the He3 mantra:
>
>   Where is the world's first thermonuclear fusion reactor? Please show
>it to us? Why mine He3 before you've built your fusion reactor?
>
>     I want to add a 2nd quesion onto Dwayne's:
>
>    What wil ltime lapse be between achieving the world's first
>sustainable fusion chain reaction using He3, before the same using
>cheaper He2, then vastly cheaper H? None of the He3 advocates ever seem
>willing to  recall how longer airliner range make Shannon and
>Newfoundland airports lose business.
>
>Keith
>


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