China poised to dominate space race by using Moon rocks for nuclear fuel

China plans to use samples of lunar rocks taken from the Moon for nuclear fuel as it seeks to assert dominance in space. The country’s nuclear scientists are now studying lunar rock samples retrieved by the Chang’e 5 mission.

The Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology are investigating 50-milligram rock which is thought to contain an isotope called helium-3, which may one day provide safer nuclear energy in a fusion reactor. It isn’t radioactive, and being incredibly rare on Earth, helium-3 is instead thought to be abundant on the moon.

— Read on www.express.co.uk/news/science/1536128/china-news-space-race-lunar-rocks-moon-nuclear-fusion-change5-helium-3