To the Moon and Back: Where can we find Helium-3?

When experts say that Helium-3 can be the perfect fuel we are looking for, we wonder where it has been all this time. As a dictum, we can only believe in the technology as soon as we see it working. Amid the loud buzz Helium-3 is creating, scientists from all over are on a race to find a way to harvest all the 3He we will need.

Where on Earth is Helium-3

According to experts, Helium-3 can be found on earth. The gas we have been looking for was trapped somewhere in the middle of our planet as it was being formed. In the mantle of the earth, we are looking at 200 to 300 parts of Helium 3 to about a million parts of Helium 4. On the crust, there is more Helium 4 compared to 3He. The total amount of Helium-3 in the insides of earth may reach 100K to a million tons. Unfortunately, these terrestrial sources are not accessible.

Helium-3 from the center of the earth somehow finds its way up the surface through deep see volcanoes like those found in the islands of Hawaii. Scientists also believe that there is another 1200 metric tons of Helium-3 found in the interplanetary dusts that we can drench from the ocean floor.

Some Helium-3 can also be found on the natural gas sources that we have. Numbers say that there is also 1.38 parts/million of Helium 3 in our atmosphere.

Looking for Helium-3 out of this World

Scientists have suggested that we explore the moon. Helium-3 on the moon’s surface can be found on concentrations of about 0.01ppm. In 1986, Gerald Kulcinski suggested to mine the regolith on the moon’s surface and use the Helium-3 that can be extracted for fusion. It will not be an easy task though since 100 million ton of moon soil and rocks will only produce about a ton of Helium-3.

The United States have re-activated their lunar exploration project. Undoubtedly, they are joining the race to mine the moon for the most potent fuel that we can have.

Countries like China, India, Russia, and the United Kingdom do not like to be left behind. They have launched their own lunar projects injecting a ton of expertise and billions of money to checkout the closest extraterrestrial supply bed for helium 3.

Aside from the moon, we are also looking at the gas giants, like Jupiter, in our planetary system as possible sources Helium-3.