RUSSIA is planning to mine a rare fuel on the moon by 2020 with a permanent base and a heavy-cargo transport link, a Russian space official says.

“We are planning to build a permanent base on the moon by 2015 and by 2020 we can begin the industrial-scale delivery … of the rare isotope Helium-3,” Nikolai Sevastyanov, head of the Energia space corporation, was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying at an academic conference.

Source: News.com.au