The Reality of Human Function on the Moon

Today we've got links to three videos, from Youtube, of one of the deepest realities about the Moon and moon colonization, and certainly in setting up a base there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62jvcmjr0GE&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ciStUEZK-Y&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcn4scQmcc8&feature=related

It's the little things that complete an experience... ;)

Lunarpedia

I've just come across, in poking around with some intial research on the Moon Society (a non-profit dedicated to the topic of moon colonization and Luna in general), a neat Lunarpedia that they have started up, a Wiki for Moon Colonization and related topics.

Differing from Wikipedia in its policies (including the allowance of original work), the Lunarpedia seems mildly all-over-the-place, in a beautiful kind of way. In a few minutes of exploration, I discovered lava tubes, signal wires, and the fact that I'm not the only one that thinks 'Urban Planning' on the Moon is a legitimate concept. Awesome.

The Moon Society is a group that should be popping up here a lot, as they function as a node for a whole heck of a lot of different fronts in the world of lunar colonization, and are therefore darn near omnipresent online.

But, for now, check that Lunarpedia out, and lose yourself for a while :)

The Resource of the 21st Century

"We will provide the most reliable report on helium-3 to mankind," Ouyang Ziyuan, the chief scientist of China's lunar program, told a Chinese newspaper. "Whoever first conquers the moon will benefit first."
--
Russian space geologist Erik Galimov told the Russian Izvestia newspaper that NASA's plan to colonize the moon will "enable the U.S. to establish its control of the global energy market 20 years from now and put the rest of the world on its knees as hydrocarbons run out."
--

Those quotes, from an article in Wired magazine by John Lasker, give you an idea of the seriousness of the race to mine helium-3 on the moon. As a matter of fact, helium-3 is a primary motivation for colonization of the moon in the first place.




Helium-3 is used in fusion power, seen as many (including Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. senator Jack Schmitt, the chairman of NASA's Advisory Council) as the ultimate fuel of the future. As the Artemis Project notes, once a fusion plant is up and running (France is hosting a test facility, and the technology is expected to be in use by 2050), one shuttle's worth of helium-3 would power the United States for an entire year. Mind you that this is without any greenhouse gases, or the risk of fission power. The perfect nuclear power (or energy resource of any kind), in other words.

Helium-3 is rare on earth, but plentiful on the Moon. Above is a map of Helium-3 on the Moon's surface, with a lot of it concentrated in Mare Tranquillitatis to the middle-right.

Both Russia and China have stated in various places that helium-3 is a motivation, and the quotes at the beginning here attest to their awareness of its importance.

Helium-3 is a critical element (excuse the pun) of mankind's efforts to colonize the moon this century, and could help solve a lot of problems. It's going to be a headline-maker and a focus of our energies for a long time, and you'll be hearing a lot more about it both here in the near future, and elsewhere over the long-term.

The 2008 Presidential Candidates+NASA's future

Just came across a brand-new and interesting article from Popular Mechanics about the stance of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain on NASA and America's space future.

Providing a roundup of each, Rand Simberg's analysis ends up with it looking like a McCain presidency in particular could spell delays for NASA (as his plan for reducing the federal deficit includes a potential freeze on all domestic discretionary spending), while Clinton is fairly positive and Obama sounds the most seriously interested in the topic (which is not surprising, considering his style of soaring rhetoric and big dreams), despite his education plan including a bit about cutting back or delaying the Constellation program to pay for education.

With the baby boomer generation retiring and the economy generally in a crunch in the first place, the future of the momentum of the Constellation program looks potentially grim. Of course, the Constellation program is far from the only one out there; both foreign efforts and commercial projects are international enough by their nature to be removed from the woes of America. The Moon can move on without us Americans, in other words, and humanity might not skip much of a beat.

Still, things look pretty good for the American effort. We should at least be a part of the Base Race, though this time, we probably won't finish first.

You never know, though; there's still room for the Emperor of the Moon as a dark horse...

Picture of the Week: A Crescent Of Ourselves

Found this image last week, and I found it to be very powerful. That is, of course, not a crescent Moon, but a crescent Earth. When viewed from the Moon and elsewhere, the Earth (from the Moon, an object 60% brighter than the Moon appears to us here) waxes and wanes through phases as the moon does, if in a less dramatic and much quicker manner.

This image was taken during the Apollo 11 mission. One of the requirements of the Google Lunar X Prize is that video of the moon be sent back, so perhaps within a decade we'll have ourselves a webcam of Earth to enjoy.

Full Moon, I

Always with us
Mare Tranquillitatis
with the naked eye
when the tide is high

MoonPop: Futurama, "The Series Has Landed"

This week's exhibit of moon colonization in pop culture comes courtesy of "Futurama", the highly entertaining animated program that is the second series from the creators of "The Simpsons". The general plot and setting of the series revolves around a delivery boy (Fry) who gets accidentally cryogenically frozen in 2000, and wakes up in 3000, only to find himself as a delivery boy again in this far future.

The second episode of the series (after the pilot, and of 72 episodes in the original run) is called "The Series Has Landed" and features comedic musings on the meaning of moon colonization. The events of the episode involve Fry and the crew he ends up with (Planet Express) doing a, to them, routine delivery to the Moon (which of course, blows him away, as he has just barely arrived in this new era and is still getting adjusted).

The crew are bored with the propect of the moon, despite Fry's enthusiasm for it, as by this point it is basically only inhabited by a corny and artificial theme park. Essentially, the Moon (of such mystery to someone like Fry of our era) has been reduced for the year-3000 era folks to little more than a "big, dull rock" only a hop and a skip (all of two seconds, in the episode) away. Historical signifigance is always a fragile thing, especially when tourists show up.

The idea behind the humor here being that the Moon, which Fry describes as a "romantic, mysterious thing...hanging up in the sky where you could never reach it, no matter how much you wanted to", could very easily (and probably will) be reduced to commonplace, or something otherwise less than the mystique it carries now. This could actually potentially happen for society within the next 100 years, or sooner, at the rate at which we are progressing; the generation of kids growing up now (and this era in general) has a similar shift in perspective already going.

The episode has Fry getting frustrated with the theme park on the moon ("Great and all, but it's all just so artifical...you might as well have just stayed on Earth"), and convincing his colleagues to escape with him to the surface, where they promptly get lost, eventually rediscovering the 'long lost' original lunar landing site by accident and then getting back home.

Hopelessly lost on the surface, Fry's captain (Leela) is less than amused by it, though in the end, her seeing an Earthrise with Fry warms her to the idea of the Moon's value and beauty outside of what her era built on it.

In the end, Leela asks Fry: "So Fry...is the real moon anything like the moon you used to dream about?"

Fry's response, after their brief adventure on the surface?

"Eh, close enough." :)

You could say 'only time will tell' what the grandchildren of the teens and 20-somethings of today will have as their image of the moon and its experiences, but in reality, we do have some power over this, and it's largely up to the developers of today to decide what the moon will be like for the folks of tomorrow. :)

Atlas' Back: Mare Tranquillitatis

For the first edition of Atlas' Back, a semi-regular series of features touring selenographic features of the moon, we have ourselves a look at Mare Tranquillitatis: The Sea of Tranquility.

The name being the latin form of "Sea of Tranquility", Mare Tranquillitatis is the most famous of the Maria, the basaltic plains originally mistaken for actual seas by early astronomers (hence the name, which is latin for "seas"). The above map has the landing sites for Ranger 5, Apollo 11 (the first manned landing), Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 (the last manned landing up to this point) marked, illustrating the massive historical signifigance of this sea in the sky.

With the amount of attention and activity directed towards Mare Tranquillitatis, there's plenty of images to go around. A few visual highlights to give you a feel for the mare:




Buzz Aldrin on Mare Tranquillitatis.





A view of the mare from the window of the Apollo 11 lander, right after landing.




An Earthrise photo, taken from Apollo 11 prior to landing (different from the famous "Earthrise" photo, featured recently and significantly in the film "An Inconvenient Truth" and widely regarded as having helped found the environmentalism movement; that was taken from orbit during the earlier Apollo 8 mission).

From a distance; Mare Tranquillitatis is the expansive dark patch in the upper left there, with the Apollo 11 landing site being in the lower left corner, as can be seen clearly via the handy Google Moon (a Google Earth counterpart currently geared around the Apollo landings).

The mare is about 300,000 sq km (roughly the same size as the Phillipines), and as that bit of size research turned up, is apparently also a very good site for Helium-3, with (as that abstract notes) about 50% of the mare being minable. Though, my initial reaction here would be to think of Mare Tranquillitatis as a site for the moon's first protected historical park, and not, say, strip mining.

I hope you've enjoyed this brief tour of Mare Tranquillitatis; there's many more tours of this sort to come, both from me here, and from many others elsewhere, as this last photo below (of the mare) illustrates pretty well. Stay tuned for the next edition of Atlas' Back...

The Roster Grows: Europe and India

In the midst of a little research, I discovered two more countries/efforts to add to the Base Race roster:

-Europe (European Space Agency)
-India (Indian Space Research Organization; check out that stylin' website!)

While both have projects underway for manned/unmanned missions, it is noted that I don't see a specific reference to lunar base plans. With all the other governments/governmental organizations making similar preliminary efforts (lunar orbiters, men on the moon around 2015-2016, etc.) also having an eventual base as part of their plans, though, it seems like bases for both the above organizations could be inevitable. Might as well build one while you're there, right? You've already made the effort to get there in the first place, so you can go ahead and mine yourself some nice souvenirs (for the folks back home) that can also happen to potentially power your country for an entire year.

So now we're up to the U.S. , China, Russia, India, Japan, Sweden, and Europe all joining in on the great big Lunar picnic that is the Base Race...and the party's just getting started.

Picture of the Week: Lets Go Camping

For the first edition of the Picture of the Week, we saw our future real estate on the Moon. This week, we see what we'll first use to camp out there.

The above is an inflatable habitat, roughly describable as a 'tent'. A similar structure recently began testing in Antarctica.

The shelter reminds me of something, but I can't quite put my finger on it...

Moon Globe: Coolest Thing Ever

That there, is a globe of the Moon. Talk about a selenologist's wildest dream; and I had though nothing of the sort had quite existed yet. You can own one of these nifty little things for $55 or so, through various outlets.

*Starts saving up pennies in the piggy bank*...

Perhaps sometime in the near future, I'll set up a 'video tour' of a location (probably Shackleton or Malapert, or both) for you all, to take our touring of the future of the moon into a new dimension...

"Integration"

If you'll go ahead and turn your eyes to the top of the blog, and note the lovely little header, you'll see the blog title states this is about "Colonization and Integration of the Moon".

Everyone's familiar with the idea of colonization, but is this "Integration" business?

Integration is simply the term that seemed to best describe efforts that aren't exactly colonization, but that do increase the integration of the moon with our society here on Earth; e.g., having our human remains from Earth put to rest on the moon. While no one's colonizing the moon there, it is becoming a part of our lives perhaps in an even greater way than colonization itself would cause.

The other day, I was rather startled to see I'm not the first to use the phrase "integration" (or, "integrated" to be exact) in this context. From Odyssey Moon, Ltd:

"Moon 2.0 will begin with robotic explorers that will deliver new knowledge about the Moon and the Earth. They will be followed by people with the goal of permanently integrating the Moon into Earth’s economic and social spheres, creating a two-world system for human growth and prosperity."

"Moon 2.0" being the alternate name used to describe the Google Lunar X Prize. The way they put it wraps the concept up in a pretty nice little nutshell: creating that two-world system, though in my eye, that will technically happen before we actually ever colonize the Moon itself (while they state humans on the moon will have integration as a goal, e.g. in their future).

Integration will extend far beyond the ashes effort, and could range to include things like resources from the moon being used on Earth, being able to own your own piece of the moon, Lunar webcams for our amusement, and God knows what else that could happen along (and soon). Interesting things always happen when entrepeneurs storm new territory...

MoonPop: "Earth vs. Moon"

This edition of MoonPop comes right from the headlines of Hollywood.

This past Tuesday, it was announced that a pitch called "Earth vs. Moon" was picked up by Universal for "mid-to-high six figures", which is pretty good for what amounts to an idea. The two writers (and executive producers) of the project, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, have the interesting combination of experience of Emmy-winning TV news work and "Monsters, Inc." (with their main previous collabaration being "The Joe Schmo Show").

While the plot's still under wraps, it sounds like something in the vein of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (itself to be an extensive MoonPop feature in the next few months). While I doubt the potential of this as a 'quality film' per se, what's significant is the amount of money paid for this pitch, and the general timing.

This film will probably be released around 2010-2011 as an early guess on my part, right around the time Celestis's human remains on the moon project is projected to have had at least one trip/attempt. One could theorize that the reason four studios were in a bidding war for this pitch was not the quality of the idea on its own merits, but that the interest is based on the idea that the film could capitalize on a surge of public interest in the concept of moon colonization and integration (with such dramatic and public efforts as Celestis' in the news every day).

Movie marketing is rarely based on quality, and more on public brand recognition. If something's in the news everday, and it captures the public's fancies in a way that, say, the Iraq war doesn't, a fun film on the subject could tap into something in the minds of moviegoers, while also cashing in on an established and visible entertainment genre at the same time.

So while that Hollywood Reporter article on a film with no revealed plot (other than a very telling title) may seem minor and unassuming, it could say a lot about what the pop culture is thinking about this era as it develops into its adolesence.

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Moondust

As many have heard through various news outlets lately, a company (Celestis) is now offering to send human remains to the Moon or the Moon's orbit. Celestis actually describes it universally as "Luna", e.g. the "Luna Service", which I guess sounds more romantic.

First thing I noticed with Celestis' Luna Service is it is through a partnership with Odyssey Moon, Ltd. and Astrobotic Technology, Inc., with the general lean being to go for the Google Lunar X Prize, worth a cool $30 million.

Commerical ventures to the Moon are, as you can tell, a reality, and in fact may very well be far more important in implications than any governmental effort. This ashes effort may go down as a large, early step down a historic and critical path.

For now, though, let's look at the practical matters of having our remains on and around Luna.

For an easy $10,000, you can have one gram of remains transported to the moon (or, as they note, attempted to be transported to; the remains get a free! re-flight if the mission fails). For two participants (e.g., husband/wife), or for more remains (7g instead of 1g), the cost is higher, up to $30,000 (well, $29,985).

As the Yahoo!/Reuters article linked above notes, Celestis projects 1,000 capsules will go on the first flight, with 5,000 on later flights. Half a dozen have already registered remains for the first flight. The service was inaugurated some time ago, in 1999, for the remains of Dr. Eugene Shoemaker. Celestis is itself a company of Space Services, Inc. which has already had other ventures, such as Name a Star.

The thing I wonder about personally with the remains is, where exactly are they headed? Looking at Earth's history with this kind of thing, and from my perspective of having recently finished my Bachelor's in Urban Studies and Planning...I respect the idea of putting remains on the Moon, but the track record for future respect to their location is not a pretty one (and so proper identification of their location becomes critical). And therein lies one of the first Lunar Environmental Planning issues: How, exactly, to prevent the resting place of these remains from being turned into a waste dump, or a base for a country or company unaware of the location's significance, or something else similarly inappropiate.

It seems like a no-brainer now that we'd be able to avoid something like that with such a high-profile and newsworthy venture, but mankind really is a race never to be underestimated, especially when we're building things.

Whenever we as a race get in a big rush to pioneer somewhere, the little things (like preserving the sanctity of people's remains) often get passed over in the excitement of the moment (just like Neil Armstrong's missing A). Let's see what we can do this time to make sure these little oversights remain a habit of mankind on just Earth, and not on other celestial bodies :)

For now, though, we have an exciting project to keep our eye on and to entertain our daydreams. And, really, who knows what they'll come up with next? :)

Picture of the Week: Shackleton Crater+ Malapert

Here for the first installment of the Luna C/I Picture of the Week (every Wednesday) is a view of mankind's future colonial site(s): Shackleton Crater , with Malapert Mountain (a Peak of Eternal Light) on the horizon. The image is courtesy of JAXA's lunar orbiter, SELENE (a.k.a. Kayuga). Due to the eternal sunlight on Malapert, and similar conditions on the rim of Shackleton, this area near the South Pole is a perfect location for solar power.

Get used to that above landscape; we'll be seeing it a lot in the next 30 years. (Click here for a much larger version.)

Fly Me to...Antarctica?

In order to begin testing potential habitats for a moon colony, NASA is sending a prototype inflatable habitat into an extreme region of Antarctica.

Cozy, eh? It's 384 square feet (larger than my own previous apartment...), heated, and powered, despite looking like a "backyard bounce house for children", as the press release (linked above) puts it.

Hmmm...

CBS 60 Minutes Feature: "Towns on the Moon" (New!)

Right smack in the middle of the Yahoo! start page today was a link to a brand new 60 Minutes feature, courtesy of CBS News, that they just ran about the new NASA space program (Constellation). Constellation (which is replacing the "boring" Space Shuttle program, as NASA themselves put it), includes their efforts towards moon colonization, which NASA Exploration Chief Rick Gilbrecht describes in the video below as "Towns on the Moon", with habitats that are "short-sleeve environments":

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3996816n (11 minutes 18 seconds)

Some great, great stuff in there. And a 'Woot' for massive, mainstream PR for the subject :)

One particular nugget, besides the exciting concept of entire towns, is the rovers that can roam 10 times farther from the base than the Apollo program's did (60 miles versus 6 miles); I believe this means 120 miles total, with 60 there and 60 back. Nice. For reference, the circumference of the moon is 6, 790 miles, versus Earth's 24,859.

Freeways on the moon?... :)

Selenology

Before starting this blog, I wondered about and spent time brooding on what, exactly, 'geography' would be called for the Moon. 'Lunagraphy'? I also thought to myself, "Hey, a 'Google Moon' would be really neat, something just like Google Earth!"

Well, after discovering this, I quickly discovered this.

Slap me silly, and call me Selene Dion: somebody else had already thought about both. As it turns out, the geography of the moon is encompassed within the geology of the moon, also called Selenology. Selenology sounds cooler than 'geology of the moon', though, so I personally figure that's the name that's going to stick.

Some of the major seleneographic features of the moon are the mountains/mountain ranges, called Mons and Montes, respectively; the lava flow plains, maria; and craters. Lots of craters.

We'll tour many of the notable features of the moon in detail here as time goes along, as selenography is (understandably) an important indicator of where moon development will end up happening. Perhaps, even, we'll pull out some maps and start squiggling (and dreaming). :)

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MoonPop: "Tonight, Tonight"

With 3:45 AM being my first chance 'today' to post, it's a great time for the first edition of MoonPop, a series of regular features on pieces of pop culture (asteroids in the great Milky Way of our fancies) that feature looks at Moon Colonization/Integration.

For this first edition: The legendary video for the Smashing Pumpkins tune "Tonight, Tonight", featuring a Melies-style adventure besetting some would-be Moon Tourists.

Step aboard, slink back into the sounds, and enjoy this miniature Voyage to the Moon:

"Tonight, Tonight", Courtesy of that magical digital wonderland that is Youtube

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Basics of Moon Colonization, Part 1: When

To get us started here at Luna C/I, here's Part 1 of a quick 'Visitor's Guide' to Moon Colonization, to help you loyal readers get acquainted with the basics of what's rolling with M.C. in the early 21st Century.

Each of the bits noted in these features will be discussed in greater detail in the future, as developments occur and I complete more specific features on each program. So, without further ado, here's the general details on When we'll start seeing lunar bases popping up (and yes, that's plural):

When: The good ol' U.S.A. currently has a plan set down to have construction begin on the Moon for a base in 2019, with the base being completed in 2024. So, in a mere 16 years, the U.S. plans to have its moon base up and operational (with astronauts living there for 6-month shifts, like the Int'l Space Station).

Mind you now that the U.S. is actually not the only country with its sights set on the lunar real estate market. China has plans to have a moon base of its own, in a competitive timeframe to the U.S.', with moon landings and numerous other missions in the next 15-20 years leading up to it. In addition, never being ones to get left behind, the Russians are getting into the act, planning (according to one article) to have a base up around 2025, and according to another planning to have a mine up (for the Earth-rare, but Moon-common fuel resource Helium-3) on the Moon by 2020.

And we're just getting started! Japan's base is planned to be operational by 2030, and even the Swedes have had plans in the works.

So that's no less than five different countries that could have bases on the moon within a mere 25 years (!).

In the 1950's and 60's, we had the 'Space Race'. Now, in the early millenium, it looks like the world is gearing itself up for a 'Base Race'.

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Magnificent Desolation

One small post for a blog...one giant leap for this blogger.

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In my brief research for this post, I came across an interesting fact about Neil Armstrong's original quote: turns out, he actually flubbed it. It was supposed to be "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind", but in the excitement of the moment (or in the static of the broadcast, depending on who you ask) it came out as just "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Whoops.

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Expect daily updates here, full of golden nuggets like that, as well as everything you ever wanted to know about the colonization and related integration of our Mistress of Many Names (including Selene; Luna; The Moon; and... 'Cacklogallinia'?) that will be occuring within the next twenty to forty years, and beyond :)

-Nick, your magnificent guide for our tours of the Moon (and of what Earth is planning to do to it)