How have we as humans gone from tillers of the Earth; growing crops and picking them under a harvest moon to now space travelers seeking to harvest the moon?

It may sound like science fiction, but the reality is that the moon may already be a battlefield for energy resources. While not widely publicized, the lunar landscape is an abundant source of helium-3 and water ice. There are several countries currently undertaking moon missions:

• United States' Artemis Program plans to return humans to the moon, establish a moon base, and maintain a long-term presence with international partners
• China's Chang'e Program landed a lunar rover in 2024 and achieved a world's first in returning samples from the moon's far side to Earth
• India is planning to gather samples from the moon in 2027, as part of its Chandrayaan Program
• Japan achieved world's first -- a "pinpoint" landing on the lunar surface on January 19, 2024 with its aptly-named Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) Program
• United Arab Emirates is partnering with American and Japanese companies to deploy its own lunar rovers
• Russia is continuing its Luna Program, despite a crash landing of its lunar lander in 2023

The surface of the moon, as seen through a 355 mm SCT Telescope

What is Water Ice?

Water ice is solid H2O that is found within the permanently-shadowed regions of polar craters. These areas of the moon are near the poles and have not seen direct sunlight for millions, some say billions of years. As far as we know, they are some of the coldest places within our solar system. The temperature of these water ice deposits stay below -250°F (-157°C), possibly even colder. There is debate as to the origin of water ice; the most likely explanation is that it came from asteroids and comets. Other theories include being produced by solar wind interactions and being released from the moon's interior.

It's being viewed as a potential resource for being turned into potable water for astronauts, being electrolyzed in order to create breathable oxygen, and being split into hydrogen and oxygen to produce fuel for further space travel. The most ambitious plan that I've read about is turning the moon into a "fueling station" for space explorers to use on their way to Mars. Water ice could potentially be used to support long-term lunar habitation. 

What is Helium-3?

Helium-3 is an extremely light and stable isotope of helium. While it is particularly rare on Earth (an estimated 15-20 metric tons that could be gathered), it is abundant on the moon (estimated to hold millions of metric tons). Helium-3 is found in trace amounts in natural gas and is a small byproduct of tritium decay. The moon's supply of helium-3 is thought to have been deposited by solar winds over billions of years. 

Though the technology is still in its extremely early developmental stages, aneutronic fusion produces virtually no nuclear waste. By combining helium-3 with deuterium, clean electricity can be derived from the reaction with magnetic fields. In theory, 25 to 40 metric tons of helium-3 could help power the entire United States for one year. Thus, helium-3 has been referred to as "the holy grail of clean energy."

Whew! My mind is blown simply by doing the research and writing this post.

Unfortunately, if oil is any indicator, this moon business could get ugly. Let's hope not, for the sake of humanity. We're all currently seeing how oil (and its transport) drives military conflicts. I'll let this list from the Wikipedia page Oil war do the talking:

This list is not even comprehensive; there are so many additional wars that would fit the criteria of "oil war," in my humble opinion.

At any rate, the moon is safe for now. Let's hope it stays that way. My personal hope is that whatever transpires on the moon in the coming decades follows in the footsteps of how we built the International Space Station. I would cite that as a prime example of international collaboration, with Roscosmos (Russia), NASA (United States,) European Space Agency (11 member countries including UK, Italy, Germany, France), JAXA (Japan), and CSA (Canada) all coming together to form a global hub for science in an ultimate show of diplomacy.

What do you think of this new space age?

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