386: The 38th discovery of Helium-3

In June, the rainy season had arrived in Hainan. The coconut groves outside the Command Center swayed in the torrential rain, water pouring down the glass curtain walls and blurring the distant launch towers. Inside the Command Center, however, the air was dry and cool, the hum of air conditioning intertwining with the clatter of keyboards. On the large screen, the mechanical arm of yutu-3 was operating on the lunar surface, the gray lunar soil shimmering with a metallic luster under the sunlight.

This was the twenty-first consecutive day of operation for yutu-3. Chief Scientist Liu Peiqiang sat before the monitoring console, his eyes bloodshot, his graying hair a mess, and his shirt collar unbuttoned. The coffee cup in front of him had been cold for three hours, and several empty Red Bull cans were piled beside it. The sixty-five-year-old scientist had only slept three or four hours a day during these twenty-one days.

A young engineer nearby, Xiao Wang, handed over a cup of hot coffee: "Professor Liu, you haven't slept in three days. Go get some rest."

Liu Peiqiang took the coffee but didn't drink it, his eyes fixed on the screen: "The ninety-eighth brick is about to come out. We'll talk after the hundredth is finished."

On the screen, the nozzle of the 3D printing device moved slowly. Layer after layer of lunar soil was sintered into shape by the laser, each scan only 0.5 millimeters thick. The print head advanced inward in circles from the edges, like a patient potter shaping a masterpiece. This brick had been printing for eleven hours, with only a few layers remaining.

"If this succeeds," Liu Peiqiang murmured, "a lunar base won't just be science fiction anymore."

June 10th, 2:00 PM. The numbers on the large screen jumped to "100." Liu Peiqiang stood up abruptly, his chair sliding back and hitting the wall.

"It's done!"

The mechanical arm removed the hundredth lunar soil brick from the printing platform and placed it into the test chamber. The pressure test began, and data flickered on the screen—ten MPa, twenty MPa, thirty MPa, forty MPa—finally stopping at forty-five MPa.

Liu Peiqiang stared at the data and murmured: "C40. It's harder than ordinary concrete on Earth."

The engineers nearby began to applaud. Someone handed over champagne, but Liu Peiqiang waved it away: "Finish the tests first." He picked up the walkie-talkie: "Run another set of durability tests. Simulate lunar temperature differences, from positive 130 degrees to negative 170 degrees, for a hundred cycles."

3:00 PM, press conference. Chu Tianming stood on the stage. On the large screen behind him, a close-up of the hundredth lunar soil brick was clearly visible—grayish-white, with a rough surface but sharp edges, looking like a standard brick fresh out of a mold.

"yutu-3 has worked continuously for thirty days and produced one hundred lunar soil bricks. The average compressive strength is forty-five MPa, reaching the C40 concrete standard. The density is 2.1 grams per cubic centimeter, comparable to ordinary concrete. The molding process is full sintering, requiring no water or adhesives."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the room: "This means that future lunar bases will be built using the lunar soil itself. No need to transport bricks from Earth, no need to transport water from Earth. Lunar houses will be built by the moon itself."

Thunderous applause erupted from the audience. A reporter raised their hand: "CEO Chu, what can these bricks be used for?"

Chu Tianming smiled: "First build walls, then warehouses, and finally houses for people to live in. One step at a time. Lunar soil is the reinforced concrete of the moon, and it is inexhaustible."

June 15th, 2:00 AM. Only the duty personnel remained in the Command Center. On the large screen, the core sampler was working, the drill bit already 1.8 meters deep. Most of the duty engineers were dozing off; only Xiao Li was still staring at the screen.

The data curve suddenly twitched. Xiao Li rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things. Then the curve jumped again, even higher. He leaned closer to the screen; the data was still jumping—the Helium-3 concentration reading was fluctuating around 0.05.

He stood up abruptly, his chair falling to the floor, and shouted with a trembling voice: "Professor Liu! Professor Liu! Come quickly and see!"

2:15 AM. Liu Peiqiang rushed into the Command Center, his shirt buttons misaligned, one foot in a slipper and the other bare. He stared at the data on the screen, stunned for three seconds, then took off his glasses to wipe them before putting them back on. The data hadn't changed.

"0.05?" His voice was shaking. "The concentration of Helium-3 on Earth is only 0.0001. 0.05 is five hundred times that of Earth."

Xiao Li pointed at the curve and said, "This is just the surface layer. The drill hasn't reached the bottom yet, and the data is still climbing."

4:00 AM. The whiteboard was covered with formulas and numbers. Liu Peiqiang held a calculator, his fingers trembling on the keys. For every number he calculated, he would re-calculate it. The two young scientists beside him were also calculating, and the results were the same.

On the whiteboard, the final estimated figure was circled in red:

Preliminary Estimate of Helium-3 Reserves in the Oceanus Procellarum Mining Area

Ore Layer Thickness: Approx. 2 meters (Preliminary)

Mining Area: Approx. 500 square kilometers (Preliminary)

Helium-3 Concentration: 0.05%

Estimated Reserves: Approx. 1 million tons

The value of each ton of Helium-3, if used for nuclear fusion power generation, is equivalent to 15 billion US dollars. One million tons is 150 trillion US dollars. Meanwhile, all the oil, natural gas, and coal on Earth combined are worth approximately 300 trillion US dollars. The Helium-3 in this single mining area in the moon's Oceanus Procellarum is worth fifty times all of Earth's fossil fuels.

Liu Peiqiang put down the calculator, his voice raspy: "Ten thousand years. One million tons of Helium-3 is enough for Earth to use for ten thousand years."

He paused and added: "And this is just Oceanus Procellarum. There's also the Sea of Tranquility, the Sea of Fertility, and Tycho Crater on the moon. What if they all have deposits?"

The office was silent for three seconds. No one spoke; no one could speak.

8:00 AM. CEO Chu's phone rang. Liu Peiqiang's voice was still shaking: "CEO Chu, Oceanus Procellarum... has a mine."

"What kind of mine?"

Liu Peiqiang took a deep breath: "Helium-3. Preliminary estimates show it's enough for Earth to use for ten thousand years."

There was silence on the other end for three seconds. Then CEO Chu said: "I'm flying to the Command Center immediately."

June 15th, 2:00 PM. Global press conference. Chu Tianming stood on the stage, his expression calm, but the words he spoke were like a bomb.

"Xingchen Aerospace has discovered a Helium-3 rich ore layer in the moon's Oceanus Procellarum region. Preliminary estimates suggest the reserves can meet Earth's energy needs for a hundred years."

The reporters below were stunned for three seconds. Then the venue exploded. Hundreds of hands shot up, and questions pelted him like rapid fire.

The Wall Street Journal reporter raised their hand: "CEO Chu, is one hundred years the most conservative estimate?"

Chu Tianming nodded: "Yes. The most conservative. The actual reserves could be for a thousand or even ten thousand years. We need more drilling data."

3:00 PM, New York Stock Exchange. Before the opening bell had even finished ringing, pre-market trading for oil stocks had already begun to crash. ExxonMobil fell 8%, Chevron fell 10%, and Shell fell 12%. Natural gas stocks were even worse, plunging toward 18%. Coal stocks simply bottomed out.

On the trading floor, traders screamed at their screens. A middle-aged man in a red vest held his head in his hands and murmured: "I've been trading energy for twenty years, and I've never seen a scene like this."

The CNBC anchor's voice was trembling: "Helium-3 discovered on the moon, Earth's energy market collapses. This is not a drill; this is real."

On another screen, the red numbers turned green. Nuclear fusion concept stocks skyrocketed, with the stock price of a small nuclear fusion company quadrupling in a single day. The CEO spoke incoherently on CNBC: "We... we haven't even built a reactor yet. But the moon has the fuel!"

4:00 PM, Twitter exploded. The top three trending topics were all about the Moon, Helium-3, and the energy stock crash. Netizens' brilliant comments flooded in like a tide:

"Xingchen dug a hole on the moon and blew up Earth's energy market."

"Oil giants spent a hundred years establishing energy hegemony. Xingchen spent thirty days piercing through the energy market's moat."

"Saudi Aramco's market value evaporated by 300 billion. What Xingchen found on the moon is worth more than all of Saudi Arabia's oil."

"Helium-3 for ten thousand years? Does that mean I don't have to replace my gas car? Wait, where's my car?"

That evening, Saudi Crown Prince Fahd's call reached Shenzhen. When Su Chen picked up, the other party's voice sounded somewhat weary: "Mr. Su, oil prices fell 15% today. Is that Helium-3 of yours real?"

Su Chen leaned back in his chair, his voice calm: "It's real. A hundred years is the most conservative estimate."

Fahd was silent for three seconds, then said: "Saudi Arabia needs to transform. We want to invest in Xingchen's nuclear fusion project."

Su Chen smiled: "You're welcome. Bring your petrodollars."

He hung up the phone and walked to the window. Shenzhen Bay's night view unfolded outside, with the Hong Kong skyline brilliant with lights in the distance. Lin Wan stood beside him, holding a report.

"Chief Su, the International Energy Agency has sent an inquiry letter wanting to know the timeline for Helium-3 mining. The EU, Japan, and India have all come forward."

Su Chen nodded: "Let them wait for notice. The resource was discovered by Xingchen; we'll decide how it's distributed."

Outside the window, the moon hung right above the sea, large and round. 380,000 kilometers away, yutu-3 sat on the wilderness of Oceanus Procellarum. The drill was still working, and deep within the 1.8-meter borehole, the Helium-3 concentration data was still slowly climbing. In the silence, the moon was yielding the secrets it had hidden for 4.6 billion years, bit by bit.