Currently we are running on fossil fuels that are a limited resource and dump of huge amounts of greenhouse gases into Earth's atmosphere. Human civilization needs a source of electrical power to maintain itself. A number of powerful historic forces are pushing the human race in this direction, but the hurdles that must be overcome are daunting. Mining Helium 3 from the lunar regolith for generation of power on Earth is a very attractive economic foundation for a lunar settlement economy. Helium 3 Fusion and a Lunar Settlement Window The development of commercial 2H- 3He reactors is dependent upon demonstrating 'break even.' So far, 2H- 3He fusion has not yet demonstrated net energy production ('break even'). Gerald Kulcinski's group at the Fusion Technology Institute of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has operated an experimental 2H- 3He fusion reactor for an extended period, on a non-governmental research budget, however the reactor has not achieved energy balance or 'break even'. However, the corresponding difficulty is that the 2H - 3He reaction has an ignition barrier that is twice as high as the barrier to igniting 2H- 3H fusion, because of the fact that the Helium nucleus has twice the charge of a Tritium nucleus. That the reaction produces only charged particles (an alpha particle and a proton), with no production of neutrons. This reaction has the advantage over the more-commonly proposed Deuterium-Tritium fusion reaction It has been proposed that 3He might be a possible fuel for a Nuclear Fusion reactor to produce energy using the thermo-nuclear reaction (Deuterium-Helium-3): Helium is present in the soil in quantities of ten to a hundred (weight) parts per million, and 0.003 to 1 percent of this amount (depending on soil) is 3He. The Moon is a source of 3He, which is implanted into the lunar regolith by the solar wind. It is comparatively more abundant in non-terrestrial sources, although even in non-terrestrial sources, only a small fraction of helium atoms are Helium 3. Since most of the Earth's helium is produced by alpha-decay of Uranium isotopes, resulting in 4He (the most common isotope of Helium), 3He is rare on Earth. The approved abbreviation (for physics use) for Helium-3 is 3He, however, the abbreviation He3 is also seen. Helium 3 is a rare isotope of the element Helium, consisting of a nucleus with two protons and one neutron.

1.3.1 Chronic shortage of Helium-3 isotope could be resolved by mining lunar regolith.

1.3 Value of Lunar Helium 3 in Today's Market.

1.2 Helium 3 Fusion and a Lunar Settlement Window.The less common isotope Helium-3 has two protons and one neutron.

The most common isotope, Helium-4, has a nucleus of two protons and two neutrons, and two electrons. This element has two stable isotopes: 3 and 4. It is a Noble gas in group 18 and is the second element in the Periodic Table of the Elements. Helium is a component of the solar wind, and hence is one of the volatiles found (in parts per million level) in Lunar Regolith.

Atomic mass of helium