Tuesday / 4 September 2001

Philanthropy May Open the Way to Moon and Mars. A new approach to funding space missions may be winning favor, as events at the 4th Mars Society Convention (23-26 August at Stanford University) attest. During the convention, dot com millionare Elon Musk described his interest in funding space missions, including a program that might eventually lead to settlements on Mars. Musk, along with several others, has set up the Life to Mars Foundation. The Foundation will consider proposed space missions for 2003 and beyond that could be budgeted up to $10 - $20 million each. While Musk did suggest that being "inclusive" was desirable, Keith Cowing of NASA Watch noted he shied away from a commitment to collaborating with the Mars Society and this has raised some concerns. Says Mars Society President Robert Zubrin, "He (Musk) should not do this alone." However it is clear from recent activites of such noted millionaires as Joe Firmage, Dennis Tito and now Elon Musk, that philanthropic gestures toward space missions are increasing. At the same time, there is also a shift in attitude away from dependence on NASA or government funding and toward more independent private initiative.

Dark Side of the Moon May Provide Data on Earth Climactic Changes. Two physicists, Philip Goode of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Steven Koonin of Caltech, have teamed up to create a global network that will monitor "Earthshine" reflected from the Moon. They hope to track changes in Earth's albedo, the amount of sunlight Earth reflects back to space. Studying the albedo lets scientists gather data on how much solar radiation is being retained by Earth to drive its climate system. A detector on the back of a 6-inch telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory in the San Bernadino Mountains of California, tracks variations in "Earthshine," coming from the dark side of the Moon which correlate with seasonal or day-to-day shifts in the albedo. A second telescope, which will be shipped to an observatory in Crimea, is now being built to help with long-term monitoring efforts. Koonin says that they eventually hope to establish another monitor in China and they are also working with collaborators in Taiwan to develop automated Earthshine telescopes that could be placed around the world.

'2001: Destination Space' Exhibition to be Documented on Film. The successful exhibition at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose CA, which ended yesterday, will be presented as an independent documentary about how the show began. Still photos will be used for an on-line version of the exhibit scheduled to be complete by 1 October. The Tech Museum's '2001: Destination Space' web site will remain on-line. Dennis Gonzales, who managed '2001: A Space Odyssey Collectibles Exhibit', will post the new URL on his website http://www.2001exhibit.org. Co-star of the Kubrick / Clarke film classic, Gary Lockwood has updated his product page with a new autobiography and a color photo of himself and Kier Dullea. Click here for access. Warner Brothers is planning a re-release of the film this fall at selected theaters in USA. '2001: HAL's Legacy' will be shown on PBS for nationwide airing on 27 November at 21:00 in 3 time zones. Gonzales says the following models will be on his website soon: Clavius Moonbase, Lunar models Space Pod and ARIES, Leonov from 2010, and HAL 9000. A traveling collectibles exhibit is being considered. Contact Lee Shargel for details. Dennis Gonzales can be reached at 650-604-0429.