Editing Helium-3 (section)

== Extraterrestrial ==

=== Moon ===
{{Further|Lunar resources#Helium-3|Changesite-(Y)}}

Materials on the [[Moon]]'s surface contain helium-3 at concentrations between 1.4 and 15 [[Parts per billion|ppb]] in sunlit areas,<ref>[http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/Research/he3_pubs.html FTI Research Projects :: <sup>3</sup>He Lunar Mining] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904144943/http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/Research/he3_pubs.html |date=2006-09-04 }}. Fti.neep.wisc.edu. Retrieved on 2011-11-08.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/2175.pdf|title=The estimation of helium-3 probable reserves in lunar regolith|issue=1338|pages=2175|author1=E. N. Slyuta|author2=A. M. Abdrakhimov|author3=E. M. Galimov|journal=Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII|date=2007|bibcode=2007LPI....38.2175S|access-date=2007-05-31|archive-date=2008-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705122316/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/2175.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and may contain concentrations as much as 50 [[Parts per billion|ppb]] in permanently shadowed regions.<ref name="F. H. Cocks 2010"/> A number of people, starting with Gerald Kulcinski in 1986,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/536/1|title=A fascinating hour with Gerald Kulcinski|author=Eric R. Hedman|date=January 16, 2006|work=The Space Review|access-date=August 30, 2007|archive-date=January 9, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109082500/http://thespacereview.com/article/536/1|url-status=live}}</ref> have proposed to [[Exploration of the Moon|explore the Moon]], mine lunar [[regolith]] and use the helium-3 for [[Nuclear fusion|fusion]]. Because of the low concentrations of helium-3, any mining equipment would need to process extremely large amounts of regolith (over 150 tonnes of regolith to obtain one gram of helium-3).<ref>{{cite web|title=The challenge of mining He-3 on the lunar surface: how all the parts fit together|author=I.N. Sviatoslavsky|date=November 1993|url=http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/pdf/wcsar9311-2.pdf|access-date=2008-03-04|archive-date=2019-01-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190120035522/http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/pdf/wcsar9311-2.pdf|url-status=dead}} Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics Technical Report WCSAR-TR-AR3-9311-2.</ref>

The primary objective of [[Indian Space Research Organisation]]'s first lunar probe called [[Chandrayaan-1]], launched on October 22, 2008, was reported in some sources to be mapping the Moon's surface for helium-3-containing minerals.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/ET_Cetera/With_He-3_on_mind_India_gets_ready_for_lunar_mission/articleshow/3500270.cms|title= With He-3 on mind, India gets ready for lunar mission|work= The Times Of India|date= 2008-09-19|access-date= 2008-09-21|archive-date= 2008-09-21|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080921212710/http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/ET_Cetera/With_He-3_on_mind_India_gets_ready_for_lunar_mission/articleshow/3500270.cms|url-status= live}}</ref> No such objective is mentioned in the project's official list of goals, though many of its scientific payloads have held helium-3-related applications.<ref>[http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/objective_scientific.htm Scientific] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012110215/http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/objective_scientific.htm |date=2009-10-12 }}. Isro.org (2008-11-11). Retrieved on 2011-11-08.</ref><ref>[http://luna-ci.blogspot.com/2008/11/chandrayaan-1-payload-feature-2-sub-kev.html Luna C/I:: Chandrayaan-1 Payload Feature #2: Sub KeV Atom Reflecting Analyser (SARA)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190720000332/http://luna-ci.blogspot.com/2008/11/chandrayaan-1-payload-feature-2-sub-kev.html |date=2019-07-20 }}. Luna-ci.blogspot.com (2008-11-12). Retrieved on 2011-11-08.</ref>

[[Cosmochemistry|Cosmochemist]] and [[geochemist]] [[Ouyang Ziyuan]] from the [[Chinese Academy of Sciences]] who is now in charge of the [[Chang'e program|Chinese Lunar Exploration Program]] has already stated on many occasions that one of the main goals of the program would be the mining of helium-3, from which operation "each year, three space shuttle missions could bring enough fuel for all human beings across the world".<ref>[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2006-07/26/content_649325.htm He asked for the moon-and got it] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230615211000/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2006-07/26/content_649325.htm |date=2023-06-15 }}. Chinadaily.com.cn (2006-07-26). Retrieved on 2011-11-08.</ref>
 
In January 2006, the Russian space company [[RKK Energiya]] announced that it considers lunar helium-3 a potential economic resource to be mined by 2020,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080809210848/http://www.space.com/news/ap_060126_russia_moon.html Russian Rocket Builder Aims for Moon Base by 2015, Reports Say]. Associated Press (via space.com). 26 January 2006</ref> if funding can be found.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/551/1|title=Moonscam: Russians try to sell the Moon for foreign cash|author=James Oberg|date=February 6, 2006|access-date=August 30, 2007|archive-date=June 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230615211006/https://www.thespacereview.com/article/551/1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/824/1|title=Death throes and grand delusions|author=Dwayne A. Day|author-link=Dwayne A. Day|work=[[The Space Review]]|date=March 5, 2007|access-date=August 30, 2007|archive-date=June 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230615211002/https://www.thespacereview.com/article/824/1|url-status=live}}</ref>

Not all writers feel the extraction of lunar helium-3 is feasible, or even that there will be a demand for it for fusion. [[Dwayne A. Day|Dwayne Day]], writing in ''[[The Space Review]]'' in 2015, characterises helium-3 extraction from the Moon for use in fusion as magical thinking about an unproven technology, and questions the feasibility of lunar extraction, as compared to production on Earth.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Day |first1=Dwayne |author-link=Dwayne A. Day |title=The helium-3 incantation |url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2834/1 |access-date=11 January 2019 |work=The Space Review |date=September 28, 2015 |quote=The belief in helium-3 mining is a great example of a myth that has been incorporated into the larger enthusiasm for human spaceflight, a magical incantation that is murmured, but rarely actually discussed. |archive-date=27 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227075502/http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2834/1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Gas giants ===
Mining [[gas giant]]s for helium-3 has also been proposed.<ref>{{cite web|title=Atmospheric Mining in the Outer Solar System |author=Bryan Palaszewski |url=http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/reports/2006/TM-2006-214122.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327051914/http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/reports/2006/TM-2006-214122.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-27 }} NASA Technical Memorandum 2006-214122. AIAA–2005–4319. Prepared for the 41st Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit cosponsored by AIAA, ASME, SAE, and ASEE, Tucson, Arizona, July 10–13, 2005.</ref> The [[British Interplanetary Society]]'s hypothetical [[Project Daedalus]] interstellar probe design was fueled by helium-3 mines in the atmosphere of [[Jupiter]], for example.