James Rogers, Longview, TX Outpost, will be heading up both the Public Relations Committee as well as the Outreach Committee. James now joins our unpaid staff, along with Dave Dunlop, Director of Project Development. The Society has no paid staff support.

The Outreach Committee is likely to spin-off an Exhibits Committee: Prior to new outreach materials created by James Rogers (a Lunarpedia flyer (pdf) and a Solar Power Beaming Demo trifold brochure (pdf), most of the outreach materials and exhibit materials had been created by Society President, Peter Kokh. Our energetic new chapter in Phoenix has two accomplished modelers as active members, and this bodes well. The new influx of talent and fresh inspiration is most welcome. If you would like to know more or to join the Outreach or Exhibits Committee, contact James.

Dave Dunlop, Green Bay, WI Outpost, is reactivating the former ASI Lunar Agriculture team, long dormant, as the Experimental Agriculture Team. In the early 1990s, as a member of the Lunar Reclamation Society (NSS-Milwaukee, publishers of Moon Miners' Manifesto), Dave founded LUNAX, LUnar National Agricultural eXperiment corporation, to engage agriculture and ag-business students in ground level experiments that would provide data points in an effort to determine how little light, and in what lighting patterns, would be sufficient to nurse plants through the 2-week long Lunar Nightspan when direct solar power is unavailable so that they would go on to harvest: the "Lunar Nightspan Dark Hardiness Experiment."

Now Dave, having found a reawakening of interest in this type of research, wants the new team to define and undertake a research project that will identify the most effective and efficient way to evolve fertile agricultural soil starting with moon dust. [Background: some plants to well, even better in hydroponic systems but not all! Once the cost of providing extra volume for "geoponics" soil-based agriculture, a greater variety of crops can be grown.] Some preliminary research has already been done along these lines. There is much more productive mischief that the Experimental Lunar Agriculture could get into while advancing the day when lunar settlements can be realized.

In the light of NASA's recent abandonment (zeroing out all budget support) of all further biological life support research. the importance of whatever this new Moon Society team can do takes on real significance. If you would like to know more, and possibly join the new team, contact Dave.

If you belonged to one of these teams and would like to become active again on new or resurrected ASI team projects, please let us know!

Our original idea of funding a "hitchhiker" device on a Google Xprize lunar rover had to be abandoned after few found out that even if our hitchhiker thingamajig would be inexpensive to produce, we would have to pay big bucks to fly it aboard any contender, as such services are how the various contenders are raising money.

Instead, Director of Project Development Dave Dunlop is pursuing a proposal to have NASA fund placement of a reflectometer on each of the Google Lunar X-Prize contender vehicles that, via laser-range finding, would greatly improve our knowledge of the Moon's shape by pinning down altitudes of all the landing points involved to a much greater accuracy than now exists. This data would be a welcome check on altimetry data coming in from Japan's Kaguya probe now in lunar orbit.

Moon Society Program Services
PO Box 080395
Milwaukee, WI 53208-0395

That's an easy question to answer. Not only is there so much that needs attention, but we know that our members have a diversity of interests, and as we want to deserve your renewals year after year, we are seeking a wide variety of practical projects in many areas of interest. It is important for members to let us know what types of projects would gain their support, and better yet, their involvement. We will be polling members to get a better handle on their interests and abilities.

At the same time, we are limited to projects that are financially doable, either from membership dues alone, or from successful fundraising efforts. If you are in a position to do so, your special donations for projects that interest you will be most helpful.

Fund Raisers, Writers, Modelers, Artists, Project Managers, and more. Tell us about your talents, areas of expertise, and available free time. Then we’ll see how we can match you up with a need. volunteer@moonsociety.org