Mining the Moon---for Helium-3

On p. 84: The other proposal, that of Professors Jerry Kulcinski and John Santarius of the University of Wisconsin, is considerably more interesting. These gentlemen propose to mine the lunar regolith for its Helium-3, then export this unique substance to Earth for use in its fusion reactors. Now, one obvious and frequebtly noted flaw in this plan is that nuclear fusion reactors do not exist. However, that fact is simply an artifact of the mistaken priorities of the innocent gentlemen in Washington, D.C., and similar places who have been controlling scientific research and development's purse strings for the past few years. Lack of funding, not any insuperable technical barriers, currently blocks the achievement of controlled fusion The total budget for Fusion research in the United States currently (1999) stands at $250 million per year--less than half the cost of a shuttle launch, or, in real dollars, about one third of what it was in 1980. Under these circumstances, the fact that the fusion program has continued to progress and now is on the brink of ignition is little short of remarkable. .quote]

Jumping to page 86:

A bit later the Deuterium-He-3 reaction is discussed in detail.