What’s New in the Moon Society?

Frontlines Masthead
Volume 2010, Issue March
Published March 11, 2010


Management Council Actions & Discussions
Town Meeting Discussions
Elections 2010
Moon Miners' Manifesto, other Publications
Chapters & Outposts   
International Presence                    
Events
Publicity
Meetings Calendar

Pre-Frontlines Reports
2008.02.15
2006.01.30
All Reports
Frontlines past issues:
2008 2009 2010
January
February
March

April
May
June
July
July

August
September

October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May (no report)
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February


About Frontlines

This is our 24rd 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

March 3rd Meeting
A number of things were discussed. No motions were made.
# Ways to speed up the lag between the delivery of MMM hardcopy and the publication of the electronic file version. There is nothing that can be done to speed up postal delivery time. The main cause of additional delay is the time required to merge the Moon Society database and the data from participating NSS chapters. The merged database is sent with the pdf file to the publisher, who prints the names and addresses directly on each copy as it is printed. Our printing outlet gives us one-day service.
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# Support for the SEDS-India Conference in Vellore, Tamil Nadu in April - last year we provided prizes for winning contestants in a moon rover engineering competition. This year, this competition will be repeated. A second event of interest to us is  a design competition for instruments to be placed aboard India's next Lunar mission, and orbiter & lander/rover complex. It is likely that we will provide prizes for the winners of both events.

# Our Solar Power Beaming desk-top exhibit was given some minor repairs and packaged and shipped to San Diego for a conference there. Dave Dunlop, Moon Society Director of Project Development, will be on hand to assemble the unit and display it. The attendance at this conference, the first, but with major financial backing from the National Science Foundation, is expected to be huge.

# We are discussing the offer of a prominent author to transfer publishing rights to several of his books to the Moon Society, as his way of helping our efforts.

# The Moon Society and MarsDrive are in informal talks about possible avenues of collaboration. One possible area is our mutual interest in orbital refelling systems. Dallas Bienhoff of Boeing is the lead expert here, and in 2007, the Society created a series of four videos featuring his ideas. You can view these by clicking on the Moon Colony Videos link top center of our homepage and then selecting GASteroid. This year, at the upcoming International Space Development Conference in Chicago, the Society will be presenting Dallas with a University of Luna Project Award. The areas of potential collaboration are wide open, however. We have suggested that MarsDrive create a page advertising its projects, for insertion in a future issue of MMM.

# Our suggestion to The American Lunar Society that we discuss creation of a proposal to identify levels of environmental and visual protection of areas on the Moon of especial scientific, geological, historical, and scenic value, has been well received by ALS. There is no timeline for this project. The idea is first to protect sensitive areas from development by a system similar to our national parks, monuments, forests, etc. and to have this in place prior to any re-discussion of a brand new Moon Treaty that allows creation of a lunar frontier, but preserves the appearances of the Moon, both as seen from Earth and from lunar orbit, and also on the surface. Such a regime, if adopted prior to adoption of a new Moon Treaty, would belay many fears that we would "trash the Moon." This proposed project received support by the Committee.

# Dave Dunlop has been evolving an original proposal for additional Google Lunar X-Prize prizes to give the also rans a reason to keep developing their projects if they will incorporate instruments that will add to our knowledge about the Moon. We may be printing this proposal in the April MMM.
The Apollo 13 - 40th Anniversary Essay Contest: "Manned Space Exploration is worth the Risk"
We have been receiving some great entries. You have until April 1st to submit your entry!
The top entries will be published in MMM, online, and in a special edition of Moonbeams!
The next Management Committee Meeting will be held on March 17th
If you would like the Management Committee to consider a new initiative or idea, contact president@moonsociety.org
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Town Meeting Discussions

NOTE: Our last Quarterly Town Meeting was held on Skype group chat Wednesday, February 10, 2010 - the next one is set for May 12th
The main topic of discussion was NASA's new marching orders from the Obama Administration. No one was bitterly opposed. One had mixed feelings. Everyone else seemed to find more positive encouraging aspects than discouraging ones.

Town Meetings will be held the week before the Board Meetings in February, May, and August - that is, three times a year - There is a calendar listing Society Meetings at the bottom of the Conferences 2010 page. You may download this one-page ready-to-print calendar with several artwork options from the bottom of our Downloads Page.
If you do not have Skype, please go to www.skype.com and download this free software. Do not download Skype 4.0 as on that version, group chat is not allowed. But Skype 4.1 is okay! When you register for it, you will be prompted to select a "Skype name" this can be your name in the format "firstlast" all lower case, or you can pick a nickname.

Then
go to the top menu and click on Contacts, "Add a Contact" and search for Peter Kokh
and select peterkokh, and add to your new contacts list. Then, when you want to join the meeting, just click on his name in your contact list and you should immediately find yourself in the Town Meeting group chat.


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Moon Society Elections 2010

Step 1: Call for Nominations for Society Officers and Directors
Our annual election ritual begins again. This year, these positions are open: if you are interested in contributing to the leadership of the Society, please respond by April 20th to elections@moonsociety.org

Moon Society Officers:

President: for a two year term, ending in 2012: currently held by Peter Kokh. (While Peter enjoys his work, he will have plenty to do in secondary roles should someone else wish to run for this post.)Secretary: for a two year term, ending in 2012: This position is currently vacant, and you may volunteer at any time to serve the rest of the current term, as well as to nominate yourself for the new term.

Moon Society Directors:

Three Director (Board member) slots:
Two slots for two year terms, ending in 2012: currently held by Ben Nault and Fred Hills.
One slot for the balance of a term ending in 2011, vacated by Shaun Moss
Notes: All of the above incumbents are expected to run for re-election, especially if there are no other candidates. We will need at least two new persons for the vacant office of Secretary and the vacated Board seat. But anyone may nominate him/herself, or accept nomination of him/herself by another member in good standing, for any position.

Remaining Office and Director posts will be up for election next year – 2011.
Eligibility for Office or Board positions
• Any current member, who has bee a member of the Moon Society for one full years as of August 1, 2010, is eligible for nomination and election. That includes all members with membership #s 1567 or below.
• For officer positions, it is important that only those apply who believe that they can regularly attend our Management Council meetings held on the ASI-MOO (our advanced chat room environment) the first and third Wednesday evenings each month, 9-11 pm Eastern, 8-10 Central, 7-9 Mountain, and 6-8 Pacific Time (2-3 am Thursday morning UT).
• We understand that now and then, something may come up that makes attendance impossible. But unless you are sure that such occasions will not be frequent, please do not nominate yourself or accept a nomination. To keep the Society on the move, it is vital that we meet on this frequent schedule to tend to business and opportunities as promptly as possible.
• For Board positions, the above also holds but if  a Board member misses a quarterly “Board” meeting without a prior excuse, that will be grounds for removal under the revised bylaws adopted last year.

To nominate yourself, write elections@moonsociety.org
Please respond by April 20, 2010
Candidate Statements: Include a brief statement about yourself and what you will bring to the position (250 words, max) These statements will run with the ballot in the May issue of Moon Miners' Manifesto, #235.
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Moon Miners Manifesto & Other Moon Society Publications

MMM #233 March was published March 6th, 2010. The hardcopy version went to press on March 10th.

Members can download MMM pdf files here and Selenology pdf files here (username password required for both) 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

MMM-India Quarterly #6 issue is due for publication in April: the 7th in July, the 8th in October this year.
All "M3IQ" issues may be freely downloaded from this address
http://www.moonsociety.org/india/mmm-india/
MMM Themes Collections - http://www.moonsociety.org/publications/mmm_themes/
The following issues have been published:
We are working on the following
  • The Lunar Economy (Exo-economics)
Next on the list are
  • Lunar Resources & Industries
  • The Lunar Homestead
  • Arts & Crafts, Performing Arts
  • Health, Sports and Exercise
  • Other Destinations: Mercury, Venus, Europa, and other Solar System Destinations
These Theme Issues are, like the Classics, free access pdf files, no member username and password needed. See download address above.

These 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.

Introducing new, special "Vector" pages:
Members and visitors may wonder what the Moon Society stance may be on interrelated space issues. The following pages are now online:
Yet to come:
  • http://www.moonsociety.org/astronomy/
  • others?
We hope to make these pages accessible by direct link from our homepage. The current idea is to add a "Vectors Menu" just below the "Destinations Menu" in the right hand column of our homepage.

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. Unfortunately, this glossary is on the Lunar Reclamation site - www.lunar-reclamation.org - which has been off the Internet for two plus months over a DNS dispute, which we are having a hard time correcting..

Many people have asked us to produce a "subject index to MMM."  As the glossary grows and matures, it will become just that or a working substitute.

But perhaps even more essentially, it will serve as a guide to the wide-ranging content of MMM, which many new members, not bothering to read through the MMM Classics, will not fully realize after just their first year's ten issues.

We might even push the Glossary as an "Explore Me First" guide not just to MMM but the hopes and aspirations and goals of The Moon Society.

Moonbeams #5 (our near term science-fiction electronic rag) is still open for submissions:  The editor  is Chuck Lesher, of Moon Society Phoenix.
If you have a "high frontier" tale in you, work it out and email it to moonbeams@moonsociety.org

To download the first four issues, go to the archive site. 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.
2010 1-sheet Meetings Calendars have been published, in 7 artwork versions, 4 horizontal, 3 vertical
Just print on card stock and frame
A new issues of Selenology has been published.
The Fall 2009 issue of this newsletter from our affiliate The American Lunar Society can be downloaded from this directory, using your Moon Society member username and password - http://moonsociety.org/members/selenology/

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Chapters & Outposts Report
- see the updated map of Moon Society Chapters and Outposts
Also check our regularly updated Chapter Events page

Society Chapters come in two versions: Community-based (St. Louis, Phoenix, Houston, Tucson) and Campus based (College of Menominee Nation - Green Bay Campus). The Nashville Outpost may be our next full status Chapter. The San Diego Outpost has four members and meets every other month, but has not organized (selected officers.) The Milwaukee Outpost now has four member but will not organize separately, but continue to  meet conjointly with the Lunar Reclamation Society NSS chapter which has been partnering with the Moon Society, and with Artemis Society International before it, since 1995.

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. There is no reason why a prospective campus chapter cannot start as an outpost, one or more not-yet-organized members.

International Chapters - see below

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 ample help and direction, including names and addresses of current and former members in your area (xx miles form your zip code location.)

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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International Presence
LATIN AMERICA
The Moon Society is assisting the Space Renaissance Initiative in organizing a conference to be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 23-27, 2010 which would be the latter's first international conference. It will also endeavor to advance ongoing sputtering efforts to create a Latin American Space Agency. Initially, we were aiming at an October 2010 time frame, but realizing that does not give us enough lead time, we are now looking at a 2011 date.
Several Latin American countries already have their own space agencies. Brazil's is by far the most advanced and that country indicates that it will continue to work on its own, and would not be party to a regional Space Agency.

Mexico has just created a Space Agency (actually, it awaits final approval from one house of Mexico's legislature), and Chile may soon follow suite.

Our decision to spin off a Spanish Language Moon Society website and to create a number of papers and flyers in Spanish, should help promote this effort, as well as to promote the creation of Spanish-language Moon Society chapters in Mexico and in Chile, the two nations in which our efforts are currently concentrated.

We are looking for proficient English to Spanish Translators

On December 17th, we put up a temporary Spanish Homepage placeholder


INDIA

See MMM-India Quarterly - a free access pdf file newsletter

MMM-India Quarterly #6 is in process aimed at an April release date
The Newly announced Moon Society India is moving swiftly to come into its own. Indian writers have contributed a major portion of the 5th issue of Moon Miners' Manifesto - India Quarterly - "M3IQ" as we have come to call it.
 Eventually, M3IQ will either become an all-India publication or be replaced with a new publication put together inside India. This is as it should be, and we in the Moon Society look forward to the Moon Society India organization coming into its own, with pride and satisfaction.
(2) From Moon Society India leader Pradeep Mohandas
The Moon Society India is in the final stage of improving proposed bylaws needed for incorporation,  as well as aiming at a major presence at the SEDS India Conference to be held in Vellore, 113 km west of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state, and 150 km east of Bangalore  in April
Those interested in helping create Moon Society chapters in India should contact

Contact: moonsocietyindia@gmail.com
CHILE - 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 - This report is unchanged from last month's report. Activity continues behind the scenes.
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.

This project promises to be much larger than first conceived, and much more difficult to launch. It is understandable, then, that 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 facilities (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

We are hoping that the economic fallout from the recent 8.8 Richter scale earthquake in Chile will not lead to lessening of the major support for this project by the current Chillean Administration.

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."
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.)
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)

We are looking for proficient English to Spanish 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.
SWEDEN
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.

The Moon Society is looking more International every day.
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Events: Annual Events, ISDCs and more.

April 11-17, 2010 - Apollo Moon Party #2 - 40th anniversary of the near disaster Apollo 13 missions
  • See Essay Contest "Manned Space Exploration is worth the Risk"Announcement.

May 27-31, 2010 - International Space Development Conference: ISDC 2010 in Chicago, IL
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.

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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 fliers 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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CALENDAR for Leadership/Management Council/Town 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: January 20th, February (and March) 3rd and 17th


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