A great article from today's SMH: Sci-fi

[Westonian]

Page 8 of today's Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney's newspaper or record) featured an article that got me, well.... very excited!

I don't know about you, but the idea of space travel, intergalactic mining and trading disputes in space is just fertile ground for some great sci-fi stories, especially for the "early earth exploration" genre about the first space generation that heads out and mines nearby planets. Its the kind of setting that would be the basis of any scifi universe.

ANYWAY the SMH had a great article on page 6 today that made me realise that the future world that we all dream about (and, obviously, model) is oh so close.

Read it and tell me what you think:

Russia suspects US plans to monopolise fuel from moon - World - smh.com.au

Russia suspects US plans to monopolise fuel from moon
Email Print Normal font Large font Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
May 2, 2007

Other related coverage
US snubs Russian request for joint moon exploration
MANKIND'S second race for the moon has taken on a distinctly Cold War feel, with the Russian space agency accusing its old rival NASA of rejecting a proposal for joint lunar exploration.

The charge comes amid suspicion in Moscow that the US is seeking to deny Russia access to an isotope in abundance under the moon's surface that many believe could replace fossil fuels and even end the threat of global warming.

A new era of international co-operation in space supposedly dawned after the US, Russia and other powers declared their intention to send humans to the moon for the first time since 1972.

But while NASA has lobbied for support from Britain and the European Space Agency, Russia says its offers have been rebuffed.

"We are ready to co-operate but for some reason the United States has announced that it will carry out the program itself," Anatoly Perminov, the head of Russia's federal space agency, Roscosmos, said on Monday. "Strange as it is, the United States is short of experts to implement the program."

NASA announced in December that it was planning to build an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024. The Russian space rocket manufacturer Energia revealed an even more ambitious program last August, saying it would build a permanent moon base by 2015.

While the Americans have been either coy or dismissive on the subject, Russia openly says the main purpose of its lunar program is the industrial extraction of helium-3.

While critics dismiss it a 21st-century equivalent of the medieval alchemist's fruitless quest to turn lead into gold, some scientists say helium-3 could be the answer to the world's energy woes.

As helium-3 is non-polluting and effective in tiny quantities, many countries are taking it very seriously. Germany, India and China, which will launch a lunar probe to research extraction techniques in September, are all studying ways to mine the isotope.

"Whoever conquers the moon first will be the first to benefit," said Ouyang Ziyuan, the chief scientist of China's lunar program.

Energia says it will start "industrial scale delivery" of helium-3, transported by cargo space ships no later than 2020. Gazprom, the state-owned energy giant , is said to be strongly supportive of the project.

The US has appeared much more cautious, not least because scientists are yet to discover the secrets of large scale nuclear fusion. Commercial fusion reactors look unlikely to come on line before 2050.

But many in Moscow's space program believe Washington's agenda is driven by a desire to monopolise helium-3 mining. They allege that the US President, George Bush, has moved experts on helium-3 into key positions on NASA's advisory council.

The plot, says Erik Galimov, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, would "enable the US to establish its control of the energy market 20 years from now and put the rest of the world on its knees as hydrocarbons run out".

imagine the world in 2050 if history stays true to this article.
Fusion reactors, mining on the moon, cargo shipments back and forth!
And that would lead onto other things that, well, is the fairy dust that makes any scifi story come to life.

[sorceress21]

Assuming of course that Helium-3 is present in practically extractable levels on the moon at all. There is a lot of supposition in this scenario. Too much I think to get excited about. But if it turned out the isotope was there in usable quantities and in great enough volumes for the the economic recovery of it's extraction and transport costs then I suppose the moon could be the next "middle east".

Also I think the US lack of interest in international space exploration efforts is a very temporary condition and one that reflects the foreign policy of GW Bush. There is a high likelihood the Democrats are going to take the white house in 2008 and if the Bush administration's push for manned flight to the moon and Mars even remains funded at all the Dems will certainly be open to sharing the costs and benefits with other superpowers.

[Dallidas]

Originally Posted by sorceress21

Assuming of course that Helium-3 is present in practically extractable levels on the moon at all. There is a lot of supposition in this scenario. Too much I think to get excited about. But if it turned out the isotope was there in usable quantities and in great enough volumes for the the economic recovery of it's extraction and transport costs then I suppose the moon could be the next "middle east".

I just hope we dont go mining with nukes...

[Westonian]

Nukes in space are illegal under the UN charter.

The moon treaty also states the following:
- Requires all resource extraction and allocation be made by an international regime.
- Bans altering the environment of celestial bodies and requires states must take measures to prevent accidental contamination.


but hey, the USA or RUSSIA havn't signed the moon treaty anyway

[Dallidas]

What would the UN do? throw a sanction at 2 of the most powerful countries in the world?

[Captain J. Wesley]

makes sese, the moon and mars are huge potential mineral sites.

[sorceress21]

@ Dallidas - That would be quite entertaining wouldn't it...

[Dallidas]

Originally Posted by sorceress21

@ Dallidas - That would be quite entertaining wouldn't it...

nuking the moon? or the UN trying to control the US and russians?

[sorceress21]

UN sanctions on us and the Ruskies...That would give the comedians hours and hours of potential material....

[farcry]

Originally Posted by sorceress21

UN sanctions on us and the Ruskies...That would give the comedians hours and hours of potential material....

I dunno, lord knows someone has to knock your heads together. Tsk tsk, not signing a treaty such as that... Then again, i suppose the US and Russia are the only ones to have a space programme that actually involves sending people into space