Political Blog

For the past two decades, America’s dependence on foreign oil has been seen as an increasing threat to its economic, political, and military wellbeing. Indeed, after the attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001 that viewpoint gained new credibility. For the moment, the greatest natural resource on Earth is largely controlled by governments unfriendly to the United States. And, in the few cases where those governments are friendly with the US, we are simply incompatible with one another in terms of our views on freedom and democracy. Even traditionally friendly nations, such as Venezuela, seem eager for America to fail and wither into a second-rate power. There is little doubt that the United States would be well served to sever itself from foreign oil and focus its attention on important issues without having to be held hostage by oil-rich tyrants and dictators. President Bush, in his State of the Union Address, made it clear that America was in need of new sources of energy.

Long before his State of the Union Address this past January, The President hinted at another long-term US strategy, perhaps without even realizing it. In early 2004, President Bush announced an ambitious plan to return American astronauts to the moon by 2020. In the wake of mounting casualties in Iraq, many Americans viewed this latest endeavor as unworthy of our attention. They argued that the US had more pressing needs to consider here on Earth and that this was merely a publicity stunt with no real value. But the moon is far more than a handsome rock that we stare at on clear winter nights. The moon may just be the most valuable piece of real-estate in the solar system. In fact, the moon may make or break the next global superpower on Earth.

Our nearest cosmic neighbor actually has a very special resource that is extremely rare on Earth. This little gem is not really a gem at all, but a potent little substance known as Helium-3 (He-3). Without getting too technical, He-3 is an isotope of helium with 1 neutron and 2 protons (as opposed to the 2 neutrons and 2 protons we are familiar with in our balloons). The really great thing about He-3 is that it could provide a much safer and more reliable source of nuclear energy. It is very powerful, it is non-polluting, and there is essentially no radioactive byproduct when using it as nuclear fuel.

We actually have some He-3 right here on Earth as a by-product of nuclear weapon maintenance. It is estimated that we can supply ourselves with about 15 kg of He-3 per year and that there is 29 kg in strategic reserves. But the Moon is packed with the stuff. The current estimate is that there are 1.1 million metric tons of He3 waiting to be exploited on the Moon. That amount of He-3, when used with Deuterium, would generate approximately 20,000 terawatt-years of thermal energy. Incredibly, that is about 10 times as much energy as we could produce from mining all of the fossil fuels on the planet - and it is much cleaner. 25 tons would power the entire United States for 1 year and that is about the amount we could pack into the cargo space of the space shuttle.

And if that isn’t enough to sell you, imagine the economic potential. Of all of the countries on Earth, the United States is the only one that has proven it can put men on the moon. If the US could get a jump start on this new resource, it could single handedly provide the entire world with all of its energy needs. The United States could go from energy consumer, to energy provider very quickly. The economic gain will drive exploration of the moon and encourage private industry in the US to take up the lucrative and difficult challenge of space commercialization.

While many people wondered how we could afford to be thinking about the Moon at a time like this, I ask, “How can we afford not to?”