What’s New in the Moon Society?

Frontlines
Volume 2008, Issue November


Current Management Council Actions & Discussions
Moon Miners' Manifesto
Chapters & Outposts                        
Events
Publicity
1st issue of "Moonbeams" SF published
Meetings Calendar
Pre-Frontlines Reports

2008.02.15
2006.01.30
All Reports
Frontlines past issues:
2008 - April
2008 - May
2008 - June
2008 - July
2008 - August
2008 - September
2008 - October

About Frontlines

This is our eighth 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 reports 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!

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Current Management Council Actions & Discussions

Projects under discussion or development

Refreshing the Artemis website, asi.org - since the transfer of membership services from the Artemis Society to the new Moon Society in July, 2000, the asi.org site has suffered from lack of attention. Many links are broken and need correction, replacement, or renewal.

The links between the asi.org and moonsociety.org websites are not as thorough as they should be.

We want to create linkage in both directions between articles in the Artemis Data Book and www.lunarpedia.org

We also need more thorough linkage between the asi.org Moon Miners' Manifesto archives and the Moon Society MMM archives.

Peter Kokh is working on side by side, current and proposed revisions, page by page. When finished, these proposed revisions will be presented to  The Lunar Resources Company, the proprietary owners of asi.org

Lunar Lander Fuel Tank Proposal: At the ICEUM - International Conference on the Exploration and Utilization of the Moon, in Orlando, Florida at the end of October, Board Member, and Director of Project Development David A. Dunlop suggested that all parties landing anything on the Moon design the fuel tanks involved for reusability. Once we start producing oxygen on the Moon, whether for use as rocket fuel to return to Earth of for other uses, we are going to need a lot of surplus tanks. A NASA person involved with the Altair lander team said the idea had merit and deserved serious consideration, as did David Bienhoff of Boeing, who had last year demonstrated that NASA could land 60% more on the Moon if each Moon-bound rocket were refueled in Earth orbit. Reusability of fuel tanks was one of the ideas floated in the series of articles "Thinking Outside the Mass Fraction Box" that ran in MMM #s 209, 210, and 211.

MMM-India Quarterly. We are hoping to introduce a new special quarterly publication for the space community in India. India has more English speakers than the United States, publishes more books in English than any other country, and now, as of November 10th, has its probe Chandrayaan-1 in lunar orbit, soon to begin its science mission.

This publication will be a free access pdf file available to our members and friends everywhere, not just in India. This is a high priority project as timing is everything.

masthead of new MMM-India Quarterly
Note the silhouette of India behind the words "Moon Miners' Manifesto"
The use of an "india" subdomain (in place of www) is a proposal under discussion

We continue to work on our Solar Power Beaming Demo project. The unit is now in Green Bay, Wisconsin under refurbishment before making the rounds on display in Wisconsin and Illinois and neighboring states. Pending confirmation of two order requests made at ISDC 2008 last spring, we will begin work on an updated, more sturdy, less damage resistant model, and then put together an online kit so that others can follow our lead.


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Moon Miners Manifesto

MMM #220 - November 2008, was published November 12th. This issue contains the 4th installment of Phil Harris' major article, "Lunar Enterprises and Development" which is being run exclusively in Moon Miners' Manifestos.

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


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Chapters & Outposts Report


The CMN campus/student chapter (The College of the Menominee Nation, Green Bay WI Campus, a Native American institution!) has agreed to take surplus back copies of Moon Miners' Manifesto and market them as a chapter project.

The Houston Moon Society is back on track after an interruption from Hurricane Ike. The chapter's next meeting is set for Monday, December 1st.

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?
We are ready to give you plenty of help and direction, including names and addresses of current and former members in your area (xx miles form your zip code)

There is plenty of material and how-to information on the Space Chapters Hub website that we share with the chapters of The National Space Society and The Mars Society..

Write: chapters-coordinator@moonsociety.org
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Events: Annual Events, ISDC, other conferences, other events and observances

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.


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Publicity Report

MMM Library subscriptions project courtesy of the Lunar Reclamation Society, publishers of MMM. We have received 6 so far. If you would like to have MMM go to your local library, send ch/mo for $10 (one year) to the publishers,
“Lunar Reclamation Society”
PO Box 2102
Milwaukee, WI 53201
(include the name and address of the library)
  • Looking for volunteers to put out flyers at various space conferences and science fiction conventions they may be attending. Let us know about space conferences and science fiction cons that you are planning to attend. Write president@moonsociety.org
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Moon Society Fiction - First Issue of "Moonbeams" Released November 10, 2008

See our Announcement

And go to the archive site, or just click on the image link below

cover of Moonbeams inaugural issue

MMM Editor Peter Kokh drafted the first issue mockup but Charles Lesher of our Phoenix Chapter volunteered to take it over, re-edited it and gave it his own look. We are on our way.

Moonbeams issues are freely available in pdf file format, and members and visitors are welcome to circulate them freely and widely.

The purpose is to provide fictional illustrations of what life could like on the Lunar Frontier and elsewhere within the Solar System.
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Leadership/Management Council MeetingsTown Meetings

We meet on the ASI-MOO on the 1st & 3rd Wednesday nights monthly, 9-11 pm ET, 8-10 pm CT, 7-9 pm MT, 6-8 pm Moon Leaders room. Directions from the Commons: "north", then "moon-leaders"
Anyone may choose to audit our meetings and to contribute input to discussions. Use your Moon Society username and password, or sign in as a guest. Note: let us know in advance so we can tell the Door Dragon to let you in!

Next:  October 15, November 5, November 19, December 3, December 17

Town Hall Meetings - This is something new, and our next will be our first. These meetings will be held in the ASI-MOO in the Auditorium. Directions from the Commons: "NorthWest" - The meetings will have no agenda, though there may be introductory remarks, and the President may suggest topics needing input at various times during the meeting. We will try this on the 2nd Wednesday evening (same place, same time slots as the leaders/management meetings) of each quarter except Fall (when our annual membership meeting is scheduled: (2008) none (October 8th would be the logical Fall date but it follows the annual membership meeting too closely), (2009) January 14, April 8, July 8, October 14. This is a tentative schedule, and we will see what happens at the first such meeting on January 14th. Note: Peter Kokh plans on being in the Auditorium on the October 8th time slot just in case someone does show up.)

Why Wednesday and why that time slot? Well, that's what the Society leaders are used to. They will not be "expected" to attend, but of course are most welcome to do so. In these meetings, we want to hear from members (current and former), from visitors, from friends, etc.

If you have never been on the ASI-MOO, check out this page.

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