Will Mining The Moon Solve The World's Helium Shortage? | Elemental | BBC Earth Science

So here’s the bad news - the world is running out of helium. But this isn’t just about having fewer party balloons, it's much more significant than that.
In episode four of 'Elemental', discover how essential Helium is to our modern way of life and why the non-renewable resource could be the main reason there's a new space race to mine the moon...
#Helium #Elemental
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[@larrywalsh9939]

It's absolutely mind blowing that people are still permitted to squander away our helium just to make balloons float - given how essential it is for other things and how pointless balloons are, you'd think someone would have dealt with this by now.

[@michaelrussell220]

The way we treat helium sums up the way we treat the planet. Kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

[@larrywalsh9939]

@@michaelrussell220 EXACTLY!

[@SickLid242]

I love helium, but I hope they make biodegradable balloons or something. Seeing them release those balloons kills me to watch knowing they are killing sea turtles and who knows what else

[@michaelrussell220]

Fine, but you seemed to have entirely missed the point of the video. It's about helium.

[@dannyleung2796]

The ultimate solution to helium shortage is fusion technology. We can make as much helium as we want by fusing hydrogen, and producing energy as a by- product.

[@psycho5946]

What about collecting deionising alpha particles? It is possible?Pretty abundant in nuclear power plant

[@hoslabara2703]

Can we make helium 3 isotope Artificially.

[@willemvandebeek]

Jupiter has plenty of Helium in its atmosphere...

[@KellyRae..]

Throwing bad tech after bad tech Chemo manipulation is not man's greatest talent

[@markmuller7962]

Time to start considering moon resources extraction sustainability because moon light is essential for life on earth especially for plants life cycle but also animals and us along with millions of people that rely on moon light for night vision (especially tribal populations and developing countries). Mining would expose the darker geological layers of the Moon and we should make mandatory to cover back with bright dust the unused mined areas. Let's not commit the same mistakes we did here on heart, let's start off on the right foot

[@StormBK]

they should mine on the dark side of the moon ;)

[@zachcrawford5]

Ok but we can just fuse hydrogen into helium. We have been able to do it for like 70 years now. Even highschool students have done it in their spare time. Even with current primitive tech fusing hydrogen into helium is far more energy efficient than mining the moon for it.

[@tichu7]

How does a student with high school supplies make helium?

[@zachcrawford5]

@@tichu7 "High school student" not "student with high school supplies". Big difference. But here is a kid who achieved it a 12 years old: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZmYhYiir6eqgtk

[@gotfan7743]

LOL. There has never been sustainable fusion achieved on Earth. You must be smoking something strong to suggest high school students can do it.

[@NeutronStarU]

No mining on the moon don't endorse the idea either.

[@hanmasantan7282]

There’s 0 reasons to not mine on the moon especially if we plan on building permanent settlements there

[@NeutronStarU]

Mining on moon without much gravity could destabilize its core. We only have one moon. Finding alternatives is the smart move. As for settlement I would recommend other moons especially one with liquid water on it even though it could be part methane.

[@ryonsanders4045]

Cool I was wondering what the new crisis was gonna be I guess running out of oil no longer has the same buzz to it 🤣

[@furrybear7853]

The stupid of the question is startling unless of course we have built the pipe to the moon, last I checked it's still in the planning development stage 😂😂

[@uglygiantbagsofmostlywater]

All we need to do now is clone Sam Rockwell.

[@AstroAri504]

Mine the thing that effects our water even though we're already running out of water? Seems risky. Is there no way to use nitrogen which also has a low cooling point for certain usages? Is it not possible to put something into orbit which would allow us to collect helium without damaging the moon or Earth? So many questions!!!

[@CanadianBakin42O]

Lol BBC 😏

[@SomeRandomGuy_id]

exactly, don't inhale or consume helium too much, you will sound chipmunks.