# Russia to build mine on the moon by 2020 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 30, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181 "2006-01-30T06:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/1 "2006-01-30T06:23:10Z")
[Link](http://www.physorg.com/news10221.html) Wow. More power to 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/2 "2006-01-30T08:10:54Z")
Looks like the 21st century is really kicking in. Neat. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/3 "2006-01-30T08:15:14Z")
A russian base on the moon. Sounds kinda like the biginning of a crappy Cold War era thriller. Cool stuff all the same. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/4 "2006-01-30T08:28:19Z")
_If you belie-heeve, They’ll put a Mine on the Moon, Mine on the Moon…_ sorry ---
**Author:** ![Stentor\_2.5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Stentor\_2.5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stentor_2.5)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/5 "2006-01-30T08:29:13Z")
Will the energy supplied the Helium-3 be more than the energy used in going back and forth from Earth to the Moon? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/6 "2006-01-30T08:29:36Z")
Komrade Cheknov: “Boris, I have good news and I have bad news.” Boris: “Tell me the good news first, Komrade Cheknov!” Komrade Cheknov: “You are being transferred out of the Siberian mines!” Boris does happy dance: “Thank you Komrade Cheknov! Nothing could be worse than working here!” ---
**Author:** ![Stentor\_2.5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Stentor\_2.5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stentor_2.5)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/7 "2006-01-30T08:31:55Z")
Let me say that again. Will the energy supplied by the Helium-3 be greater than the energy expended in regular trips to the Moon and back? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/8 "2006-01-30T08:40:21Z")
When contact is lost with the mining colony, following a final frantic, garbled message with screams in the background, actually nuke the site from orbit like the nice lady says. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/9 "2006-01-30T09:12:09Z")
> [@Stentor 2.5](#): > > Let me say that again. Will the energy supplied by the Helium-3 be greater than the energy expended in regular trips to the Moon and back? Almost certainly, IF anyone can ever get this fusion thing to work. We’re still a fair way away from a commercial fusion reactor. The easiest fusion fuel to fuse is tritium, and we can just about get it to fuse in experimental reactors. The problem being that it isn’t naturally occuring - we have to make it by hitting lithium with lots of neutrons. The second-easiest fuel to fuse is deuterium-tritium mix. Deuterium _is_ naturally occurring, we can get it from water, and there’s a lot of water on this planet. Still have to make the tritium though. And when you fuse tritium or deuterium-tritium mix, they spit neutrons everywhere that turn everything nearby radioactive and gradually damages many materials. I think deuterium-tritium mix has also been successfully fused in experimental reactors, but don’t quote me on that. An alternative idea is to fuse helium 3, which doesn’t need tritium and doesn’t spray neutrons everywhere when it fuses, but also is in rather short supply on Earth. Whether mining it on the Moon is economically viable is anyone’s guess. Maybe the Russians know something we don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Stentor\_2.5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Stentor\_2.5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stentor_2.5)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/10 "2006-01-30T09:18:44Z")
I think the only way to really make it cost effective would be to use robots to mine the stuff, but I don’t think the Russians are very advanced in robotics. Perhaps in fifteen years, but I have a difficult time believing that Russian society is stable enough to make any realistic predictions about where they’ll be fifteen years from now. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/11 "2006-01-30T09:20:40Z")
So, stupid question, but who ‘owns’ the moon? I mean, who has rights to build stuff on it, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/12 "2006-01-30T09:43:40Z")
Passed the OP’s link along elsewhere, and got back this link in return: [China Sets to Land on Moon by 2010](http://english.people.com.cn/200205/20/eng20020520_96061.shtml) Cold war in space, this time? ---
**Author:** ![Stentor\_2.5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Stentor\_2.5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stentor_2.5)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/13 "2006-01-30T10:39:35Z")
Given that the moon has 3.8 billion square kilometres, and we’re presumably talking about small non-self sustaining colonies, I have a difficult time believing that there isn’t enough moon to go around, and that it would ever be cost-effective to fight a war for control of the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/14 "2006-01-30T10:47:08Z")
Here’s a link to [Energia Space Corporation’s](http://www.energia.ru/english/) site: looks like the old Soviet space program was privatised, with the Russian government a major stakeholder. The company also looks like Bond Villains-R-Us, offering a complete line in prosthetic hands, electric wheelchairs, satellite launches and lunar bases. All it lacks is Persian cats and links to henchmen recruitment sites. Me, I’ll believe it when I see it: even assuming they have or can develop the technology and that it is economically feasible, a project like that is going to be hell to fund - where are they going to get the money? Share issues? Government handouts? I can’t see it without international involvement and funding: the US won’t play, China’s out, so it’d have to be Japan and the ESA. All the same, it’s interesting to compare it with the “Challenger 20th Anniversary” threads: whoulda thunk 20 years ago that the Russians and Chinese would be even talking about planning ambitious space missions while the US was stuck impotently on the ground? Better get moving, guys… ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/15 "2006-01-30T11:30:03Z")
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/16 "2006-01-30T11:30:25Z")
> [@Stentor 2.5](#): > > I think the only way to really make it cost effective would be to use robots to mine the stuff, but I don’t think the Russians are very advanced in robotics. Perhaps in fifteen years, but I have a difficult time believing that Russian society is stable enough to make any realistic predictions about where they’ll be fifteen years from now. Sony or Honda or someone just announced that they were discontinuing selling their entertainment robots–Aibo, Qrio, etc–because they were too expensive for the consumer market. Seems to me the Russians could buy that technology and put it in suitable space-rated bodies to get some decent robot mining machinery… ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/17 "2006-01-30T13:48:00Z")
What if they try and bury nuclear waste there but the dump blows up, propelling the moon far away from the Earth? Ah wait, that happened 7 years ago 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/18 "2006-01-30T15:45:19Z")
Chalk me up as another “I’ll believe it when I see it” skeptic. They’re talking about actually being on the moon in 9 years. Uh huh. And isn’t it a little premature to be mining Helium-3 when we haven’t even achieved feasible fusion power, and have no idea when we will? This sounds like one of those fishing expeditions the Russians go on occasionally to A) get some PR for their space program, and B) get some hard dollars from investors. I’d love for it to happen, mind you. It just sounds wildly optimistic. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/19 "2006-01-30T15:55:08Z")
Yeah, I’d want to see some actual accomplishments from the Russians before I start taking them at their word on this. Mind you, I’m one of those who feels it’s a national disgrace that it will take us longer to get BACK to the moon using 21st century technology than it took those techno-barbarians in the 1960s to get there. I consider it an act of faith that whatever we could do with tech forty years ago we should be capable of doing faster, safer and cheaper now. Feh. It’s a lack of commitment and courage on the governments part. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181/20 "2006-01-30T16:05:47Z")
Hmmm… [Mine?](http://www.heyhowdeyhey.com/mine/Extra/Pics/sg01.jpg) This sounds less plausible than most of the badly-spelled emails I get sent by kindly strangers from western africa. On a credibility scale of 0-10 it scores negative. Which is a shame because it would indeed be cool to not only have some miraculous fusion-based solution to the energy crisis, but a moon base besides. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-to-build-mine-on-the-moon-by-2020/342181.md?page=2)