Could the moon fuel Earth for 10,000 years? China says mining helium from our satellite may help solve the world's energy crisis

- Helium 3 in dumped on moon's surface in vast quantities by solar winds

- The rare helium isotope could power clean fusion plants back on Earth

- It could be extracted from the moon by heating the lunar dust to 600°C

- Astronauts would then shuttle the nonradioactive material back to Earth

- While China has expressed an interest, it has yet to outline concrete plans about how it would mine the moon for helium

The lunar dirt brought back by mankind's first moonwalkers contained an abundance of titanium, platinum and other valuable minerals.

But our satellite also contains a substance that could be of even greater use to civilisation – one that could revolutionise energy production.

It's called helium 3 and has been dumped on the moon in vast quantities by solar winds.

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However, legal experts claim the language is ambiguous enough to allow for commercial exploitation of the moon.

In a recent paper, Mr Bozzato said: 'China appears determined to make [lunar mining] a reality of tomorrow.

'China maintains its lunar mining would be for the benefit of all humanity,' he added.

'However, given the absence of willful competitors, it is also speculated that the Chinese intend to establish a helium 3 monopoly.'

Private enterprise is also interested in using fuel from the moon – although possibly by extracting water rather than helium 3.

The Shackleton Energy company envisages providing propellant for missions throughout the solar system using lunar water.

Some teams vying for the Google Lunar X-Prize also see mining as an ultimate goal of their landers. ESA has also considered using the Moon to help missions farther into the Solar System.

Arguments have also been made for mining Helium-3 from Jupiter, where it is much more abundant – it would need to be given the distances involved.

Extracting the molecule from Jupiter would also be a less power-hungry process

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