Another organization has jointed the Space Exploration Alliance. The Moon Society joins the 13 other organizations that are part of SEA, according to a Moon Society press release (which curiously is not on their web site but is available at Rocketforge.) You can be excused if you haven’t heard of the Moon Society—they’re a small group, by all accounts—but their name makes it clear what the purpose of the organization is. Last month a couple of the principals behind the creation of the SEA made it clear they planned to add additional organizations, so look for more announcements like this in the coming weeks.
They really need to work on their website. It is one of the ugliest society websites I have seen in a long time.
IMO, the E in SEA is a bad idea for a name of this organization.
Should have been Expansion, Development or Settlement in there. Anything but exploration.
Im not saying that exploration is a pointless activity per se, but first, its not the ultimate goal and more importantly, NASA has been conducting space trucking business under the exploration banner for couple of decades by now.
So anyone “not in the know” hearing about more “exploration” down the road will just yawn.
To follow up on what kert said, its that word “exploration” that gives me the greatest concern about expressing my support of the President’s vision.
The meaning of “exploration” too easily morphs into whatever it is we are doing right now. Rock collecting may be exploration, but it does not fulfill my idea of “vision.”
Settlement should be the goal as George Whitesides (NSS) said in his testimoney to the Commission.
Settlement for who? The rich or famous and at some point in the future will it become no longer exploration but exploitation or property rights ownership, rather than one of discovery which is the intent of exploration.
I will state my prejudice candidly.
If we do not go to stay (which means having babies out there, eventually) there is very little out there that cannot be done by robots.
Yet since robots cannot have human babies, I strongly support humans in space.
Sorry Bill I too would want to be a settler if given the chance since I am not rich nor famous. I was only stating how we explored the western half of this great nation and of what happened to it as we settled as homesteaders. I am for Humans in space…
The release is now up on the web site. The Moon Society is still all volunteer so things take a while. And yes we know the web site could look better but none of us are web graphics experts.
By the way, both Michael Mealling there (rocketforge.org) and I are on the Moon Society board of directors – though we’ve been busy with other things lately. It’s a small organization, but it’s been pretty inspirational for some of us
Bill said: “Yet since robots cannot have human babies, I strongly support humans in space”
Cannot have human babies _yet_… Robots could one day carry frozen fertilized eggs across the galaxy, starting human life in far-flung places. But long before then, I’m looking forward to flying pigs, which may be within the grasp of genetic engineering during my lifetime!
Bill you should enjoy reading this article
Space Is Our Home, not a Program
Focusing on federally funded exploration misses the point: Settlement is the goal, and it’s key to our survival and prosperity
http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Guests/column.aspx?articleID=2004-06-17-1
I had wondered what had happened to the Artemis Project. Good to see that the work is being continued.
Kevin, you write:
“Bill said: “Yet since robots cannot have human babies, I strongly support humans in space”
Cannot have human babies _yet_… Robots could one day carry frozen fertilized eggs across the galaxy, starting human life in far-flung places. But long before then, I’m looking forward to flying pigs, which may be within the grasp of genetic engineering during my lifetime! ”
Hmmm. . .
Isn’t the old fashioned way more fun?