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http://www.moonsociety.org/reports/LIDCendorsement_announce.html
Alerted in advance by Buzz Aldrin, we have been first to support this major initiative which jives well with our own International Lunar Research Park
We set the date for our 2nd Annual Membership Meeting for Wednesday, November 18th (Thursday the 19th in the Eastern Hemisphere) - See announcement for details.The next Quarterly Board Meeting will be held December 2ndTime: Wednesday 9-11 pm EDT, 8-10 pm CDT, 7-9 pm MDT, 6-8 pm PDTWe discussed our recent expansion efforts (MMM India Quarterly, Moon Society India, Moon/Mars Atacama Research Station in Chile) as examples of exercising power by giving it away. These efforts, as they come of age, will be directed locally in Chile and India. But the point is that they serve the International Goals of the Moon Society.
Time: Thursday 2-4 am GMT (UK, Ireland), 6:30-8:30 am NDT (India), 1-3 pm AEST (Eastern Australia)
The "3 years for the price of 2" renewal offer has yet to be coded into the registration page. The person who will do this has several other things on his plate that must be dispatched first.
We have identified a bilingual person in Mexico City who will help get us started in the direction of a Spanish version of our website and outreach documents. This effort will take some time.
It was displaced from November 18th by the Annual Membership Meeting.
If you would like the Management Committee to consider a new initiative or idea, contact president@moonsociety.org
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We have decided that a quarterly Town Meeting would be more productive. Attendance at the monthly meetings was sinking. So Town Meetings will be held the week before the Board Meetings in February, May, and August - that is, three times a year
The most active Team by far has been LUNAX - Lunar National Agricultural Experiment
moderated by James Rogers and led by David A. Dunlop.
This forum discussion activity mirrors actual lines of experimentation going on at our campus chapter at the College of Menominee Nation in Green Bay, WI. CMN is endeavoring to interest other Native American Colleges and is collaborating with colleges in El Paso and Colorado Springs. They have an experiment package all set to fly at Wallops Island, VA this July!
This issue concludes MMM's 23rd year of uninterrupted, continuous publication, ten issues a year, since MMM #1 in December 1986. The next issue, #231 due in December, will start our 24th years.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
In preparation for ISDC 2009, we put together MMM Classic #20 ahead of schedule so that it could be included in a CD on “MMM’s first Twenty Years” which the National Space Society then produced in quantity (1,000) so that a CD could go into the registration packet for each ISDC attendee. You can freely download this issue and all previous classic issues from:An Introductory version of the new MMM Glossary, was published May 19th. The illustrated introductory version lists over 300 terms, some new words, some old words given no meaning. Many more entries are "under construction" or at least on the "to enter" list.
http://www.moonsociety.org/publications/mmm_classics/
Ahead of the game, we decided to launch some-thing new this semi-annual “break” – July – when the MMM editor has a month off. The idea is to collect in PDF volumes all the non-time sensitive articles from the 1st 20 years, on specific themes.
MMM Classic "Eden on Luna" 1 (years 1-10) and 2 (years 11-20) are now online, along with two Mars theme issues. The Eden on Luna issues gather all the articles on Lunar mini-biosphere systems, recycling, and other environmental issues - a core focus theme of MMM from day one.
These Theme Issues are, like the Classics, free access pdf files, no member username and password needed.
To download them, go to:
http://www.moonsociety.org/publications/mmm_themes/
Over time special Classics issues will focus on the following topics, one topic per issue. In cases where there is a lot of material, as with “Mars” there will be 2 or more issues as needed.
• Lunar Resources & IndustriesThese publications will appear as we find time to put them together. A fringe benefit of organizing all past articles by theme, is that it can serve as preparation for an eventual “MMM the Book.” That is a project title, not the book title, which will be determined later.
• The Lunar Economy
• The Lunar Homestead
• Arts & Crafts, Performing Arts
• Health, Sports and Exercise
• Other Destinations: Mercury, Venus, Ceres, asteroids, Europa, and other Solar System Destinations
INDIAEvents: Annual Events, ISDCs and more.
See MMM-India Quarterly - a free access pdf file newsletterCHILE - Moon/Mars Atacama Research Station continues to advance. If you wish to be involved or just update, join our google group: http://groups.google.com/group/moonmars
MMM-India Quarterly #4 wss due for publication in October, 2009, but the date has slipped. We hope to publish it in November. The following issue, #5, is still set for January, 2010.
Two Reports This Month:
(1) From Moon Society President Peter KokhPradeep Mohandas, who was the previous President of SEDS India, has now put together a team of four or five other persons, known to me and/or Dave Dunlop, to organize the Moon Society of India. There are many legal reasons why they have to incorporate as an organization under Indian law in one state or another (of India.) This raises questions for us. Some of you may ask, both with respect to the Indian effort and to the initiative in Chile, "if we aren't in control, why are we doing this?"Our goal is to see to it that the Moon is opened to civilians and industrial settlement. What we get any affiliate or spin-off organizations to do counts as a feather in our cap. As the current wisdom goes,"to exercise real power you have to give it away.As to India, the National Space Society of Australia < > National Space Society relationship is a model and paradigm to follow. There is no way that we as a US corporation can be as effective in India as can an autonomous organization with whom we share goals and those resources that do not involve money. Dave and I firmly believe that this is the only way to get anything done. The Moon Society in India will not be involved with NASA, but with ISRO, with their own commercial startups, and programs. But it will work to help make an international lunar presence real and uncancellable. Any one-nation outpost can be cut. International agreements have a momentum and organizational immunity to political mischief on the part of shortsighted legislators and leaders.We expect MSI to have its own website, with mutually linked pages. They will probably take over the MMM India Quarterly or start their own periodical. They will have permission to use anything I have written, and access to the MMM Classics and MMM Theme issues is already free, no username or password required.I foresee Moon Society International and Moon Society India collaborating on papers on subjects of mutual interest, various initiatives and projects, conferences and more. Meanwhile, we will watch, help, and see what happens.(2) From Moon Society India leader Pradeep MohandasI have joined Jayashree Shridhar (who was already on MMMIQ board) and Avinash Siravuru (who organized the Moon Rover competition in India last year and which was sponsored by the Moon Society). I have asked Jayashree to lead Moon Society, India with myself and Avinash providing help and support needed.We thought a nice date to launch Moon Society, India officially would be November 14, 2009 since it would be on the first anniversary of the Moon Impact Probe impact, the first Indian object to touch the lunar surface.At least till the end of 2010 we would like to upload a website on the Moon Society website and continue with MMMIQ. We might then look at the option of going monthly with a MMM India Edition and perhaps in investing in a hosting option here in India (since this is safer legally). Currently, our efforts will be at building organization (in structure and in size) and in parallel bring out a series of projects, hold competitions in India, etc.Avinash, myself and Jayashree will meet online before November 14 and discuss this issue. We then have a period of one and a half years to finalise the bylaws, build up an Interim Executive Committee and administer the organization. The Interim Executive Committee then will conduct elections (August - October, 2010) and hand over power to a legally elected committee.Those interested in helping create Moon Society chapters in India should contact
Contact: pradeep.mohandas@gmail.com
Currently our focus is on firming up the organizational structure needed to build and operate this facility; to complete a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation to fund a team trip to Chile; and working with an independent NASA contractor who has offered to design and build a central facility (most likely the Command & Operations Center) that will function "off-grid, all as a donation.SPINNING OFF A Spanish version of the Moon Society Website, and a Spanish language edition of Moon Miners' Manifesto - "Sociedad Lunar" y "Manifesto de Mineros de Luna" (the editor's amateur translation attempt.)
There is some concern that things are not friming up fast enough and dates are slipping. We hope that this does not cost us essential support locally and nationally, in Chile itself.
MMARS will not only be a research facility, it will be an anchor for involvement of students at all levels. From the ranks of students will come the future leaders who will return us to the Moon to Stay. We hope that the MMARS project will enthuse students the world over.
We have identified a very varied list of research opportunities. Which directions MMARS will take will depend on which support facilites (labs etc.) are funded and built first and which researchers join the team first.
Our time spent on brainstorming and designing MMARS is gaining us many great and improved ideas that will be applicable to a Lunar Analog Station in the US someday. Identification and acquisition of a precise site is the first hurdle to be vaulted. Then comes finding funding for a startup.
As to Chile itself, while this country does not have the population nor the economy to become a space-faring country, it does have the Atacama Desert, arguably the premier location for both Moon and Mars analog research, and already the host of a growing complex of world-class astronomical observatories. Given the importance of analog research to prepare the way to the Moon and Mars, this role is not an insignificant one
If the Moon Society's role in Chile is to expand beyond a merely advisory one, we need to develop a family of chapters within Chile to play a supporting role at MMARS. And we need to clone the Society "in Espaņol."
The Moon Society Management Committee has given its support to this proposal. But more than a vote is needed. We do not have the team to pursue this goal. Instead, we must recruit such a team. We have recruited Jesus Raygoza of Mexico City who has both a wide knowledge of and interest in Space affairs and is fluent in both English and Spanish to start the process as soon as we send him a list of web pages and documents needing translation. Jesus has been working in Mexico build a Moon Society presence there as well as campaign for the creation of AEXA, a Mexican Space Agency with a small but effective budget. (Espaņol)SWEDEN
We are looking for English to Spanish and Spanish to English translators, webmasters, and editors.
As we have also been involved in Mexico for some time, and now in Chile, it makes sense to prepare outreach materials for Spanish speaking countries, including the growing Spanish speaking population within the United States. The United States is now the 2nd largest Spanish Speaking Country in the Western Hemisphere (after Mexico), and soon worldwide (eclipsing Spain).
If you can help in any way or point us in the right direction, please contact us
Write: president@moonsociety.org
Subject line: Spanish
Subject line: Spanish "at large chapter" in the USA
Subject line: Mexico
Subject line: other Spanish-speaking nations
Subject line: etc.
The member-organized Moon-Mine Project in central Sweden which we support, is making major advances towards becoming a functioning research facility, thanks to Society Advisor and ISRU (in situ resource utilization) expert, Niklas Jarvstrat.AUSTRALIA
New Board member Shaun Moss of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia has helped organize a new NSS chapter there, the Victorian Space Alliance, that will represent the interests and work of NSS, the Moon Society, and the Mars Society. He thought that a coalition chapter would be the strongest option.
The Moon Society is looking more International every day.
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As Chicago is a 90 mile hour and a half commute from where most of the Moon Society (and Lunar Reclamation Society) exhibits are stored (in Milwaukee) we expect to provide a major contribution to the exhibit room. And as we have worked closely with the conference organizers for over twenty years, we expect a good chunk of presentation opportunities as well.
Hotel room rates and conference registration rates will be considerably lower than those in Orlando.
The hotel is brand new - The Intercontinental O'Hare. (map) (Hotel's in Chicago's downtown "Loop" have a very hight hotel tax.)
Chicago has excellent air connections to everywhere. (Flights to Midway will involve higher transit costs to the hotel which is near O'Hare.) Plan now on coming, or at least keep the dates open! Chicago 1989 was a super-ISDC and the same people are bringing us this one. We can only expect the biggest and best ever.