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With the landing of China's lunar probe Chang'e-3 on the moon, experts have begun to calculate the wealth of resources that lies beneath the lunar surface.

"The Chang'e-3 probe's successful soft landing and the operations of the lunar rover Yutu mark a new chapter in man's exploration of the moon, a stride in China's scientific and technological capabilities, and a concrete step toward the peaceful development of the moon," said Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor-in-chief at Aerospace Knowledge magazine.

Wang said the moon has abundant mineral resources including titanium, silicon and aluminum.

"The most valuable is helium-3, an ideal fuel for future nuclear fusion power plants. There is an estimated 15 to 20 metric tons of helium-3 on Earth to be exploited, but the reserve on the moon is at least 1 million metric tons," he said.

Nuclear reactors fueled by helium-3 will be much cleaner and greener than today's fission-based plants, which consume uranium, Wang said.

He cited a NASA report that a fusion power reactor using helium-3 and deuterium, which can be extracted from seawater, will generate only a very small amount of radioactivity, equivalent to that produced by the radiological medicine departments of hospitals. Used in such a plant, helium-3 would produce so much energy that only 20 tons would be needed to supply all the electricity used in a large nation in a year.

Another clean and effective source of power would involve the collection of solar energy on the moon's surface for transfer to Earth, Wang said.

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