What are your opinions on the nuclear fusion reactor idea do you think it is worth building a moon base in order to get

Question: What are your opinions on the nuclear fusion reactor idea do you think it is worth building a moon base in order to get adequate amounts of helium 3 by sifting the lunar surface. A moon base will also provide a very good starting point to expand out into the solar system (because of its very low gravity compared to earth's) to provide space and resources for our ever growing population what is your opinion on that?

Asked by anon-201720 to Sophia, Sarah, Meirin, George, Emily, Andy on 12 Mar 2019.
- George Fulton answered on 12 Mar 2019:
  
  Nuclear fusion uses two forms of hydrogen as fuels. One of these hydrogen forms can be found in normal water and the other is created from lithium. If the moon contains alot of lithium, then this would be a great idea 🙂 Although, I’m not sure the moon has a lot of water on it. It is actually a problem on earth to build nuclear fusion reactors because of their massive weight. The moon would make these structures weigh much less so the materials would be better suited to cope with these big machines.
- Meirin Oan Evans answered on 14 Mar 2019:
  
  I think a nuclear fusion reactor is a great idea for energy on Earth. We’re counting on people like George to get it working 😉 Before thinking about building a nuclear fusion reactor on the moon, we need to get it working on Earth first. When nuclear fusion becomes a reliable energy source on Earth, then we can think about getting it to work on the moon.
  Regarding a moon base for space colonisation, I think that there are many things that need to be done on Earth to improve the resources for a growing population. Though a moon base would be really cool, we can’t give up on Earth yet.
- Emily Lewis answered on 14 Mar 2019:
  
  Nuclear fusion is an excellent idea! (Come on and get it working George…)
  On earth we are currently using hydrogen-2 and hydrogen-3 as fuel together and our reactor designs are based on this reaction.
  An alternative, as you have suggested, is using helium-3 and hyrogen-2 instead. This reaction would also produce energy but slightly less. So I think it is unlikely that we will go to the moon to get helium-3 anytime soon. However in the next couple of years if fusion really takes off and we start running low on hydrogen-3 (which is very likely), then it might make sense to go mine the moon!
- Sarah O'Sullivan answered on 14 Mar 2019:
  
  I think that while it could be a good plan, for a first attempt it’s perhaps asking too much of resources and infrastructure. Best to get small scale (well, not that small but you get the idea) proof of concept sorted first then scale up to bigger ideas