On the verge of a new space race?

A very interesting article popped up this week but so far hasn't attracted much media attention. Perhaps it should have.

A Russian firm has declared they want funding to build a base on the Moon by 2015. Their stated reason? To extract Helium-3 and bring it back to Earth as an energy source by 2020. Are these guys on the level, or just blowing smoke?

Harken back to the 2004 State of the Union address. Bush made the bold assertion that he wanted a Lunar base to serve as a jumping off point for trips to Mars and beyond. However, the president said nothing about mining the moon. Certainly his administration understands the potential of Helium-3:

"Helium 3 fusion energy may be the key to future space exploration and settlement.....(it) could be the cash crop for the moon,"

so said Gerald Kulcinski, Director of the Fusion Technology Institute (FTI) at the University of Wisconsin at Madison back in 2000.

Let’s look at a few scenarios. If burning fossil fuels is actually roasting the planet like the global warming chicken littles assert, then we’re facing a huge problem within a relatively short period of time. It’s logical to assume world leaders are planning mitigation strategies.

When Bush announced his Moon plan, he invited the Russians to join. Since then we’ve seen the Chinese send a manned vehicle into space. Keep in mind the Chicoms previously announced their intentions to build a base and mine the moon back in 2003.

One might ask the altruistic question—if Helium-3 is so promising why doesn’t the world form a cartel and work together to bring it back? I believe the answer is that such fluff only exists in TV sci-fi melodramas. In the real world human nature forces such things into a competition of sovereignties, IE, the first country that can get to the Moon and harness the technology controls the future. Star wars, anyone?

Let’s see if Bush mentions anything tonight.

SOTU REDRESS 1/31/06

A relatively stock speech. He was forceful on terrorism, which we've seen before, but it was interesting to hear him define winning and losing. The border bit struck my fancy, as I believe we need an orderly guest worker program and a wall, if that's what it takes.

His energy initiative sounds pretty bold and probably not doable without a herculean push. Americans will not easily give up their combustion engines, espeically if NASCAR is still around. Transition vehicles will have to be cool and powerful.

Nothing about mining the moon, though. Matter of fact, nothing about the space program at all.