Mark Whittington discusses the prospects for energy production via He3 mining on the moon. He also discusses the reluctance of the administration to talk about it as a justification for the VSE. I find the latter understandable–I suspect that they fear ridicule if they do so.

And I have trouble buying this statement:

For every ton of Helium 3 extracted from lunar soil, researchers say, nine tons of oxygen, water and other life-sustaining substances, as well as six tons of hydrogen useful for powering fuel cells, would be yielded.

While He3 is much more abundant on the moon than on earth, I have a hard time believing that it’s that abundant. There has to be much more than nine times it for those other substances. Oxygen alone is a major constituent of lunar regolith, whereas He3 is a trace element. I’d like to see the basis for those numbers.