Features

1st Space Exploration Conference Set to Launch at Center of Technology, Dreams. It is fitting that the 30 January to 1 February NASA and AIAA event, which is intended to review the progress of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) and advance the Earth, Moon, Mars and Beyond Vision (EMMBV), will take place at Walt Disney World's Disney Contemporary Resort in Orlando FL. Disney, a self-made media mogul and American icon, advanced science and space exploration by means of his own fantastic fictional creations. In 1955, the Disneyland television series aired its 'Man and the Moon' episode, which encouraged American support for human Moon exploration. Thirty-five years after the Apollo Program made Disney's vision a reality, NASA, government and space industry leaders will brainstorm ways to ensure the re-realization of human Moon missions, this time permanently. Conference Executive Chair and ESMD head Craig Steidle will serve as keynote speaker along with NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and film director James Cameron. NASA Chief of Staff John Schumacher will moderate the Space Exploration 1st Year Report Discussion Panel after the opening keynotes. Session presentations will cover a wide variety of concerns regarding the EMMBV's implementation. The worldly, dream-like and technologically advanced Disney World setting should facilitate the plotting of a new course to the Moon. Info www.aiaa.org.

Lagrangian Points Could Be Used For Earth-Moon Observations, Storage. David Schrunk, author of The Moon: Resources, Future Development & Colonization, says that Lagrangian Points, also called Libration Points or L-Points, could be useful for future space missions and observations. Lagrangian Points are points between celestial bodies where the gravitational pull between the two bodies cancels each other to create a gravitational balance. There are five Lagrangian Points (L-1, -2, -3, -4, -5) within the Earth-Moon system. According to Schrunk, the L-Points could be useful for observations, such as viewing the Earth and Moon together, and as "way-stations / fuel depots." He explains, "We could use mass drivers on the Moon to deliver ice from the [lunar] South Pole to L-1. When we are able to capture near Earth objects (NEOs), we will transport them to the L-Points for storage and processing (using beamed energy from the Moon). When things are really humming, NEOs will no longer be a threat, but used as a source of raw materials to supply the Earth with platinum, palladium, nickel, etc, and supply the colonies on the Moon with light elements."

Space Analyst Says US Abandonment of Moon 'Remains a Blot on American Civilization.' Mark R. Whittington, senior space policy analyst for the Clear Lake Group (Houston TX), writes in Space Policy Digest, "That abandonment [of the Moon] is especially egregious having been committed by a nation created by exploration. It's a blot that can only be wiped away by the simple act of returning to the Moon and finishing the task begun by Apollo." If the decision were made to mount an economical human return, perhaps at the cost of a Space Shuttle mission, an ad-hoc 'Lewis and Clark' group could organize and perform the mission, report the results, and then disband. The primary target would be the vicinity of the lunar South Pole, in the region of Shackleton Crater. Whittington does not believe NASA should build the first lunar base because it would turn out like the ISS. The best model for how a lunar base would work, except for a few differences, is the facilities in the Antarctic. One difference is that on the Moon private business development should be encouraged. Another is that self-sufficiency of lunar bases would be encouraged to a greater extent than in Antarctica. Also Whittington writes that since there currently is no international law fully regulating private activities in space, an amendment to the Outer Space Treaty or an entirely new treaty should be created establishing rules for private space activities.