Engineer: Some people argue that the world's energy problems could be solved by mining the Moon for helium–3, which ...
sakshi_hMarch 31, 2022
Why is Mining the Moon Impossible?
Hello Everyone!
I am a little confused by the wording of this question. It seems as if the argument is that even if we could mine the moon for helium-3, the process would take 50 years and is therefore not feasible.
I don't understand where the question indicates that the whole process of mining the moon for helium-3 is impossible altogether. Thanks :)
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We are looking to find the main point of the argument. This can be tricky, but this question actually follows a (somewhat) common pattern where the first sentence of the stimulus proposes an idea/question.theory, and the second sentence rejects that. In this pattern, the main point is almost always the rejection. In this case, the "This is nonsense" is probably best match in the conclusion in the stimulus. The "This" being the idea that mining the moon could solve the world's energy problems.
Note that D does not actually say that mining the moon is impossible. Rather, it says that mining the moon is not a possible solution to the world's energy problems. This actually matches the conclusion pretty well- that it is nonsense to think that mining the moon would solve the world's energy problems. You are entirely right that the stimulus does not tell us that moon mining is impossible. However, the stimulus does tell us that the problem must be solved within 50 years, and that moon mining cannot happen for at least 50 years. So while it may eventually be possible to mine the moon, it will not be possible to do so in a time frame that will solve the problem.
