July 31, 2010 - On this day, President Calderon signed into law the legislation that creates The Mexican Space, Society, AEXA. This was a long time coming. In the past few years there has been a concerted effort, with the support of the Moon Society, to cultivate public enthusiasm for space in general, and for the creation of a Mexican Space Agency in particular.

Our part in this effort was the publication, February 2, 2007 of a proposal with the title "Rationale for a Mexican Space Development Program" [español] - the work of many hours on the part of member Jesus Raygoza B and Moon Society Director of Project Development, David A. Dunlop. The essence of this proposal was a list of ways a Mexican Space Program could create a meaningful and exciting program on a budget of a few million dollars (millions, not billions)

To further support this effort, we also crated a page for the Mexican Space Society. How much help these efforts have been is, of course, uncertain. But it is clear that Jesus' determined and persistent efforts within Mexico have attracted significant attention.

His first achievement was to create COMEXCEBA (Mexican Council of Space Sciences and Bioastronautics - Colegio Mexicano de Cienias Espaciales y Bioastronautica), a collaboration of several relevant organizations. Its website, http://www.comexceba.com is under construction.

But we should go back several years to the Jesus original "MexLunarHab" proposal, which dates from 2002, if not earlier. This is a comprehensive plan to establish a Mexican Lunar Analog Research Station with a visitors center. Over the years, a number of sites have been considered, including one East of Ciudad Juarez, and some locations in the Yucatan. More recently (2010), the state of Jalisco has shown interest in his proposal for a "space theme park" which would include the MexLunarHab [español] at a site north of Guadalajara.

And in anticipation of the official creation of AEXA, a Mexican Astronaut Corps has also been created. (watch this VIDEO) [español]

Meanwhile, the Moon Society has taken the first humble steps to cloning a Spanish version of its website, along with a proposed Moon Miners Manifesto Spanish Quarterly - masthead concept below.

This effort will not get much further, however, without the recruitment of a volunteer Chief Editor, whose first language is Spanish, but who is also fluent in English, especially written English. Without that talent mix, we can not be sure that any translated articles read correctly.

We have also been involved, since the summer of 2009,  with the proposal to erect a Moon/Mars Atacama Research Station in northern Chile. This effort originally had strong government and air force support. But two things have happened since to put this effort in limbo: a change of administration, and perhaps more significantly, the powerful and devastating Concepcion earthquake.

What's in it for those of us, a majority of our current membership, who live in the United States? There is a significant Spanish-speaking population in this country, and while interest in Space in this community is uncertain, such a vehicle could only help it grow.

If you have talent that may be helpful in moving this effort forward, please email us: español@moonsociety.org and put "Spanish" or "español" the subject line.

The Moon Society looks forward to Mexico's future role in Space!
La Sociedad de la Luna espera que el futuro papel de México en el espacio!

Peter Kokh, President, The Moon Society