This is our fifth issue. Frontlines is a formatted monthly Moon Society news report that comes out each month just after the first (of two) Management Council meetings each month, and/or after the publication of the month's issue of Moon Miners Manifesto. These report are being archived, so members and visitors can check past reports.

Frontlines reports on Society activities, efforts, and projects. You pay your dues, and have a right to know what we are doing to make your membership worthwhile and to address your interests in a place for humans on the Moon.

We have been making steady progress on a wide variety of fronts. We want you to hold us accountable for continuing to do so!

At the August  6th Meeting, we discussed our second opportunity to exhibit our finished Solar Power Beaming Desk-top Demonstration Unit at the recent Space Frontier Foundation Conference in Crystal City, Virginia. We also made further progress defining a "kit" that would allow other groups to build their own such unit.

We also decided to organize new recruitment and future activity around Project-oriented Teams. This plan is described in detail in the August issue of Moon Miners' Manifesto, pages 10-11. As of this time, our Project Teams include:
Why the diversity of Projects & Project Teams?


We also announced our first Annual Membership Meeting to be held on Wednesday, September 17th. The meeting will be online, in the ASI-MOO special chat room environment, 9-11 pm ET, 8-10 pm CT, 7-9 pm MT, 6-8 pm PT. We realize that this window will not be convenient for many members. But neither would any other window. But why this window?  This is the time and day slot in which the Society’s Leadership Council, Management Council, and Board of Directors meets. Practice now! If your schedule makes attendance at this event possible, and you have never been on the ASI-MOO, you will save yourself a lot of frustration that evening, if you first practice loging on. It is quite simple.

As this time, there was only one candidate per open position, all candidates were elected. Despite the lack of competition, over 10% of the members participated. This is twice the percentage of involvement that is common in the much larger National Space Society, even when there is spirited competition for many positions. We are very pleased about this, and if you sent in your ballot, we thank you!

MMM #217 - August 2008, was published August 16th, a week later than we would have liked. There was no July issue as the Editor has January and July off to reenergize as well as to prevent burnout. This policy has been the principal reason behind MMM's longevity, now in its 22nd year of continuous publication.

Noted author and editor, Philip R. Harris, has sent us a major article, "Lunar Enterprises and Development" which will run exclusively in Moon Miners' Manifesto in installments over the next few months. For those reading this who are not current members, this important piece is extra incentive to come aboard now!

Members can download MMM pdf files here (username password required) If you have no username and password, or have forgotten it, please contact us as soon as possible and we'll get you up and running.

Moon Society Members may now choose to join the NASA Federal Credit Union. While their offices are principally in the Maryland, District of Columbia, northern Virginia area, NASA FCU operates in some 43 states.For more information, go to our registration page and scroll down the list of membership benefits for those who belong or are joining the Society. NASA Federal Credit Union offers a full list of banking services including checking, savings, loans, credit cards, and a long list of local no fee ATMs. We (Peter Kokh) checked, and there is one less than a mile from our home.

 

Open Luna Foundation: This is a brand new wiki-based project involving Paul Graham and others, that attempts to do, on an open-source model, what the dormant Artemis Project attempted to do on a proprietary basis. We will keep you informed. Paul has been the head of the Mars Analog Research Stations (Utah and Devon Island) Engineering Team, and was Peter Kokh's crew commander on Kokh's first MDRS Crew assignment (Crew #34, 2005). Paul has a strong interest in designing Lunar Analog Research Stations as well. The Open Lunar Foundation project could be the long-awaited successor to the Artemis Project that so many of us old ASI members have been yearning for.

MarsDrive: Google Group: Railroading on Moon and Mars - There have been a number of new direct and indirect submissions (these to be uploaded shortly) including valuable comments by Canadian Materials Research specialist and Moon Society Member and Advisor Gordon Haverland. But in general, the activity on this site has been much quieter than we had hoped for. We have yet to advertise this brainstorming opportunity to the railroading buff community at large.

To do something, that is to conduct a project, means someone has to step up to the plate and take charge. Most active persons in the Society already have their plates full. There is so much more we could be doing, but it won’t happen without new "take charge" volunteers rising to the challenge. How about you!? How about someone you know who has talent waiting for a challenge?

Priority volunteer needs.

International Space Development Conference: ISDC 2009 will be held May 7-10 in Orlando, Florida.
Our David Dunlop is already signed up as chair of the Moon Track.

There are many other space conferences where it would be good to have a real presence. See Conferences List 2008. But the Society is unable to provide travel and other conference cost subsidies, which makes it difficult for Society leaders to attend. We had several members present at the recent Lunar & Planetary Institute conference in Houston, and at least one at the Space Access conference in the Phoenix area. If you are going to a conference or even to a science fiction convention and are willing to put out flyers, let us know! president@moonsociety.org.

St. Louis, Houston, and Phoenix report meetings and other activities. In MMM 217, we congratulated the Houston chapter on its outstanding website.

The Green Bay, Wisconsin (David Dunlop) outpost reports activity in recruitment and its core project area, experimental lunar agriculture.

An Outpost consists of one or more members in a local community that serve as (a) local contact(s) for area members and prospective members of the Society, and which have not yet met the qualifications to be given a chapter charter. To establish an outpost and become a local contact person for the society, write the Chapters Coordinator.

Outpost Formation Plug - take a look at our Chapters & Outposts map [http://www.moonsociety.org/chapters/chapter_outpost_map.html]
If you live in an unrepresented area, why not take the plunge?

Partner Groups - We are also represented by three NSS chapters and one Canadian independent chapter in Calgary AB who partner with us, in Portland OR, the Twin Cities, and Milwaukee. We hope to add several other Moon-interested NSS chapters to this list. Several NSS chapters get MMM and can read the Moon Society Journal section: Sheboygan WI, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Denver, Portland, Minneapolis-St. Paul. All these chapters will welcome you if you live in their area.

If you live in an area where neither the Moon Society or National Space Society is represented, please consider serving as a local contact person. Even if you are not sure you are up to the job of organizing a chapter, as a listed contact, you may get an inquiry from someone else who is up to that challenge.

Write: chapters-coordinator@moonsociety.org