Helium a source of energy for future: U R Rao

Eminent space scientist and Former Chairman of Indian Space Research Association (ISRO) Prof U R Rao on Monday said that India’s Mars mission would be launched in the next few years. He was addressing a gathering of students at Primus International School in the city on Monday.

Stating that with the current level of resource depletion, the world would not have any other choice, Rao made a case for the import of Helium 3 (H3) which is a gas found on the Moon with the capabilities of generating very large amounts of energy. “Solar energy at its current level of innovation is just too costly. H3 if brought to earth from the moon can last for thousands of years,” he said.  At the school to inaugurate a new laboratory which focuses on thinking development through experiments and on hand teaching, Rao said that such opportunities given to students would help them to select careers of their interest, instead of that ones that bring them the most money.

The lab is titled ‘The Higher Order Thinking Skills or THOTS, a brainchild of Mind Edutainment Pvt Ltd. Rao also asked children to start preparing for a future full of space-based innovations. “Your generation and the generations after you will face shortage of resources. You will have to look towards other planets in order to survive. This is a reality and it will happen,”  he observed.