06. What can we use these resources for? (A K2S Question)

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Various elements such as hydrogen and oxygen can be used for making water or for making liquid propellants for propulsion purposes. Oxygen can be used for life support as well. Other elements, such as the carbon dioxide on Mars can be used to make methane for propellant. Helium-3 can be used for medical purposes here on Earth in such technologies as proton therapy, or the Boron neutron capture therapy for cancer treatment. He-3 can also be used for positron emission tomography (PET) and inertial-electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion reactors that can be used for coal quality measurements, mineral quality monitoring, as well as imaging processes that can be used for security scanning, such as those used to scan the containers that come into our shipyards. Eventually helium- 3 will be used for energy production and possibly as a propulsion method.

Answer provided by Trygve Magelssen


Image:K2S logosmall.jpg Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer


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