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Russia, U.S. in new race for the Moon

Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: Russia and the United States look set to join a new space race for the Moon. Russian space officials have announced plans to set up a permanent base on the Moon by 2020 to mine valuable fuel.

Two years ago to the day U.S. President George W. Bush unveiled similar plans tied to the same timeframe.

"We are planning to build a permanent base on the moon by 2015 and begin the industrial-scale delivery... of the rare isotope Helium-3 by 2020," head of Russia's Energia space corporation Nikolai Sevastyanov said addressing an academic conference in Moscow.

Helium-3 is a highly promising fuel for thermonuclear reactors, which is extremely scarce on Earth and abundant on the Moon. Mr. Sevastyanov said one tonne of the isotope would generate as much energy as 14 million tonnes of oil.

Experts said 100 tonnes of Helium-3 could meet the Earth's entire energy needs for one year, while the Moon is believed to hold up to 500 million tonnes of helium-3 trapped in the upper layers of the lunar rock.

Both Russia and the U.S. set 2020 as the deadline for mining the lunar isotope.

This is also the target year for the construction of a thermonuclear reactor running on helium-3.

"The country which is the first to deliver helium-3 to Earth will win the race for global energy leadership," said Russian Academician Erik Galimov. "Our space industry is quite capable of doing it."

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