Bush and the moon

We all like to get our own way. Lots of people never learn how, or they go about it the wrong way. If your resolution for 2004 is to have your voice heard, you need to know about the wrong ways as well as the right one.

Earlier this month the US President announced his latest target for invasion – the Moon.  Bush painted his 12 billion dollar plan to establish a space station on the Moon by 2020 as a step towards Mars, a launchpad for exploration to take mankind all over the solar system.   With the population of our crowded planet predicted to top ten billion people within half a century, the revived Race Into Space might seem a smart idea. But as with everything else George W does, there’s a hidden agenda – fuel.  Propulsion scientists have known for decades about a pure energy source called Helium 3. It produces almost unlimited power with no pollution or radiation. The problem is, it barely exists on Earth.   But there is a million tonnes of the stuff on our Moon, enough Helium 3 to power the planet for centuries. One tonne would be worth 4 billion dollars.  A couple of barrowloads would pay for the entire Moon mission. Gerald Kulcinski, of Wisconsin University’s Fusion Technology Institute, says:
“Helium 3 may be the key to future space exploration and settlement. And it’s safe – you could build a Helium 3 plant in the middle of a city.”
Astronauts discovered it soon after the first Moon landing in 1969. It is created when particles streaming from the Sun hit the barren lunar surface.
The constant bombardment by meteorites pounds the dust deep into the powdery soil, making it ideal for strip-mining.   President Bush’s family wealth came out of the ground in oil barrels. He understands that energy mines make money. But will he understand a far simpler fact – that the Moon belongs, not to America, but to the world?