Moon Rush

Between 1964 and 1976 human race rushed for the moon, spending astronomical sum of money. USA and then USSR raced to be the first on the moon. Both the countries launched many missions of various kinds. In 1969 United States of America succeeded in landing the first man on moon. Since then men from NASA the space agency of the United States touched the surface of the moon five more times, till 1976, when NASA abandoned its moon rush.
Across the world scientists are gearing up for the second moon rush. Apart from the USA, European Space Agency and Russia, other countries like India, China and Japan are running very active moon missions with plans of capturing the larger prizes, some people believe, could change the world. If they are right the moon contains a new source of energy that could provide the earth with almost unlimited power for hundreds of years to come. This could replace not only the fossil power but also the present Nuclear Power or the fission power.
The first moon rush was fuelled by the zest for being the first. The excitement was of doing something that nobody has ever done before, something ultra important and unforgettable, probably for the same passion which fuelled Christopher Columbus and likes. Still in human mind the moon remains as an object of intense fascination. A Florida businessman exploited this fascination to its maximum by selling lunar land to individuals and corporations. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and the Moon Treaty of 1984 forbids Governments from commercialising any celestial objects. The Florida businessman stresses on the fact that his organisation is not a government body and hence legal. Strangely among his clients of lunar property belong two past presidents and the present president (George W. Bush) of the United States of America. Such is the craze for moon that the businessman has banked millions of dollars till date.
The present moon rush is not a result of similar human emotions. It’s rather fuelled by the prospect of economic and technological gains. NASA has announced its plans for a manned lunar station by 2020 for prolonged research like the international space station. This will help them achieve greater understanding of the moon. Behind this possibly hangs the prospect of finding Helium-3 an important ingredient for commercial nuclear fusion. Present nuclear fission method is less efficient and more polluting than the fusion method. But controlled fusion with hydrogen isotopes produces high-energy neutron which destroys the reactor wall if active for more than a few seconds. But Hellium-3 produces low energy neutron perfectly suitable for a commercial fusion reactor. Unfortunately Hellium-3 is extremely rare on planet earth.
Here comes the Moon rush. Solar wind blow Helium-3 particles off the Sun’s surface into the planetary system. Earth’s atmosphere stops the solar wind from depositing the Helium-3 particles on our planet’s surface. But moon has almost no atmosphere. Hence, helium-3 particles blown out of sun’s surface has deposited substantially on the moon’s surface. So much so that it is estimated to serve our entire’s planet’s power hunger for centuries. As a matter of fact the prospect of finding the source of energy is so much encouraging that several enterprises are planning their own Moon rush. Among these is a Russian organisation, S.P. Korolev Rocket & Space Corporation Energia, planning a manned mission to the moon by as early as 2015. Their moon mission has just one purpose of exploring the possibilities to bring back helium-3 to the earth. If any of these governments or organisations manage to do what they desire, some day the moon may turn into a huge mining base for the planet earth.
Is it time for us to take a good look at the moon? For there might be a time, not too distant, when the good old moon may never look the same again.

- Debjit Biswas