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- Xref: sparky sci.space:18874 talk.politics.space:1677
- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!agate!toxic!tyersome
- From: tyersome@toxic (Randall Tyers)
- Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space
- Subject: Re: Question:How Long Until Privately Funded Space Colonization
- Date: 7 Jan 1993 01:47:16 GMT
- Organization: Plant Biology
- Lines: 140
- Message-ID: <1ig234INNs78@agate.berkeley.edu>
- References: <3954@key.COM> <ewright.726268414@convex.convex.com> <C0Ft56.Lxy@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: toxic.berkeley.edu
-
- In response to this question, a group called the Lunar Society appears
- to be interested funding space colonization. I would like to know
- whether they are for real. Does anyone know if this group is
- legitimate and whether they have any chance of reaching their stated
- goals?
-
- Text of a old message describing this group follows.
-
- <1992Aug24.200917.8618@news.media.mit.edu> jeanie@media.mit.edu
- (Jean Y. Kim) wrote:
- Hi netters,
- I am forwarding this for a friend.
-
- *-----------------------------------------------------------------*
-
- It's less than ten years to 2001...
-
- ... do you know where YOUR space program is?
-
-
- THE LUNAR SOCIETY
-
- was founded because of a single profound and distrubing insight:
- politicians, bureaucrats, and aerospace corporate managers are not
- going to get US into space.
-
- We can't afford the price of a ticket, let alone the space-equivalent
- of the covered wagon. The only way WE are going is if we build the
- machines, vehicles, tools, habitats, factories, encampments and
- homesteads -- OURSELVES.
-
- Think about the early visions of von Braun and Ley, Clarke and
- Heinlein, Goddard and Oberth and Tsiolkovski, and ask youself why we
- haven't come farther in the last fifty years? A big part of the
- answer is -- the national space program doesn't exist to fulfill those
- visions. It does exist to create jobs in certain congressional
- districts and to advance national prestige. That approach won't open
- the high frontier of space.
-
- The Lunar Society was created because of the deeply held belief that
- if real progres is to be made towards the goal of settling the high
- frontier, private groups and individuals must lead the way.
- Governments will not be the agents of progress, nor is it desirable
- that centralized, monolithic, bureaucratic organizations dictate the
- future of free people on the frontier of space. TOO MUCH IS AT RISK
- TO DENY OUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY TO ACT TO CREATE OUR OWN FUTURE.
-
- _What are the Society's Goal?_
-
- To provide the individuals the means to homestead the space frontier.
- To fund the infrastructure that will permit human settlement of
- near-Earth space and Earth's Moon. To conduct research into advanced
- technologies which will lower the cost of access to space. And to
- educate everyone about the challenges of the age of space, so that we
- all have the opportunity to play a role in this great adventure.
-
- In Herman Oberth's words: "This is the goal: to make available for
- Life every place where life is possible; to make inhabitable all
- worlds as yet uninhabitable and all Life purposeful."
-
- _Why now?_
-
- In the past decade there have been rapid advances in materials, small
- computers, software, propulsion systems and life support. These
- technologies have enabled an assault on the barriers of access and
- cost which blocked small, non-governmental space efforts in the past.
- Taking inspiration from the experimental aviation community, and
- employing the experiences of entrepreneurs and scientists, engineers
- and enthusiasts, the time is right for a non-governmental program
- which will create a space civilization.
-
- _Why Another Organization?_
-
- Because we have a unique role to play.
- The Lunar Society will not lobby Congress for more money for the U.S.
- space program, or publish glossy magazines for members. Others can
- play those parts. The Society is raising money to fund needed
- technology development which will make settling the high frontier
- feasible as well as economical. And then, we'll step aside and let
- private businesses pick up the effort. Let's not forget author Larry
- Niven's words: "After all, we're capitalists, right?"
-
- We're starting small, working on components such as engines, software,
- space suits, and design studies, but we're advancing quickly to flying
- vehicles, space platform design and planning lunar missions. REAL
- HARDWARE FOR REAL MISSIONS. No other organization today has the
- comprehensive space settlement program of the Lunar Society.
-
- _Join Us!_
-
- The Lunar Society is leading the way on the return to the Moon, and
- the creation of the first human home on another world. We need your
- support in order to jump-start the future. For if not you, then who?
-
- "To accomplish this goal we have committed our lives, fortunes and
- honor. If you share this vision, join us."
-
- Jerry Pournelle, Ph.D., Chairman
- James Ransom, President
-
-
-
- ENROLLMENT
-
- The Lunar Society is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization founded in
- 1986 by Dr. Jerry Pournelle, present Chairman, along with Dr. Philip
- Chapman (former Apollo astronaut) and Mr. James Ransom (Society
- President). The Society has established an Associates Program to
- permit individuals to participate directly in the greatest adventure
- ever undertaken by the human race.
-
- Associates receive the Society quarterly newsletter _Cisluna_ plus
- discounted admission to the annual Society conference. Cost is
- $100/year. The Society is not a menbership organization, and the
- contributions of the Associates are principally used to support
- hardware development programs, not to provide menber services.
- Contributions are tax-deductible. Any amount of contribution is
- welcome; any donor of $25/year or more will receive _Cisluna_.
-
- Enroll by mailing a check to the Society at the address below, or by
- calling our voicemail/fax system and using your VISA or MasterCard.
-
-
- CISLUNA 93
-
- Lunar Society Associates may attend the CISLUNA 93 conference and
- exposition (January 15-17, 1993, San Francisco Bay Area) at a
- discount. Attendance is $35 per person for the Associate and one
- guest before Nov. 30, 1992, or $50 after.
- Non-Associates $50 before Nov. 30, 1992, $65 after.
- Send a check to the Society at the address below, or call our
- voicemail/fax system and use your VISA or MasterCard.
-
- P.O. Box 2500,
- Menlo Park, CA 94025
-
- Voicemail/Fax : (415) 593-5575
- Email : cisluna@teracons.com
-
- [quotes deleted]
-