China sets sights on mission to mine the Moon

Hollywood's take on mining in space, wtih Bruce Willis in the 1998 film Armageddon

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Hollywood's take on mining in space, wtih Bruce Willis in the 1998 film Armageddon Imagenet

Marcus Leroux and Hannah Devlin

Published at 12:01AM, August 5 2014

It is an endeavour that has been dismissed as the stuff of science fiction — largely because it is. Observers say, however, that China is increasingly serious about mining the Moon for a rare helium isotope that some believe could meet global energy needs for millennia.

The Chinese scientist leading the world’s only fully-fledged lunar mission said recently that nuclear fusion of helium-3, which is carried to the Moon by solar winds, could “solve energy demand for 10,000 years at least”.

China is in desperate need of energy to fuel its economy but can ill-afford more coal power because many of

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Behind the story:

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Mining the moon raised a vital question: who owns it?

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