Where are we going? - Make it so!

It has been suggested that maybe I should summarize what these last posts
are about .  That is, the ones about RPG books and my reading of all
these fiction stories that take place on the Moon and Mars.

What does this have to do with the Moon, Mars, and Beyond?  Why should you care?

Probably a good idea since I could use your inputs as well.
Where do we want to go?

I have ordered a number of books about going to the Moon and Mars that
were written back 10, 20 years ago when we thought we would be out
there sooner rather than later.  Ben Bova has written a number of good
books that I never read before . "WELCOME TO MOONBASE" is one of them
and  reading at the moment, "MOONWAR".  I have more of them coming.

Since I didn't go to the NSS ISDC2007 conference, I didn't get to meet
him in person.  Trying to do that now through his books.  Here is a clip of
Dr. Bova that Theresa Holmes took at the ISDC2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeA_9fLd8YQ

Robert A. Heinlein has written many Sci-Fi books and again, I only have
a few.  Have ordered some of those and they date back to 1957.

These stories tell of living in space with all the problems and
emotions we as humans seem to bring to a quest.  I hope to compare
them with where we are today and would like to go in the future.

I have also acquired a number of books on how to write better and what
to consider when telling a fiction story, since at the moment a lot of
going to the Moon and Mars is still fiction. How soon it will become
fact remains to be seen.  You out there can have a part in making it happen.

In the mean time maybe some of these posts will be more what ifs, than
what is.  I think we need to SEE the vision, to make it happen.  Any
suggestions as to what you think it will be like would be helpful.

The GURPS books are role playing manuals that have the information on
how to build characters and design campaigns for conducting an
adventure in a given setting.   They are very detailed and have a lot
of information right down to what you should be wearing and how you
would conduct yourself in a given situation.

I just received another book powered by GURPS, "TransHuman SPACE".
- LRK -
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/transhuman/
Snip
In the coming decades, technologies like genetic engineering, artificial
intelligence, and nanotechnology will transform humanity. A strange new
world is unfolding - nightmarish to some, utopian to others. Soon we'll
have the power to reshape our children's genes, build machines that
think, and upload our minds into computers.

And Earth no longer confines us. Space tourism, mining the Moon and
asteroids, a settlement on Mars: all are dreams poised to take wing.
Snip
http://www.amazon.com/Transhuman-Space-David-Pulver/dp/1556344546/

How do you see us conducting ourselves in the near future?
How are we going to get to the future?
What politics will be involved in making the future?

In my case, I hope to see how I might better take us on an adventure
to the Moon or Mars.  I am reading them with an eye for how you would
conduct yourself in building a Lunar Base and what you would be doing
to handle the daily challenges.  What would make it exciting?
The dangers, the conflicts, the politics, they will all be there
whether it be fiction or the real thing.  How do we get there?

To add to the weight of books on the coffee table, I just received
"Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century", with W.W.
Mendell as the editor.  The cover image can be seen at
http://www.nss.org/settlement/moon/index.html
and a link to reading it online can be found at
http://www.nss.org/settlement/moon/library/index.htm
or ordered through Amazon.com as I did. [used]

How far do you want your minds stretched?
Just the facts?  Only the facts?
Or, some of what the facts might be?

Your comments and thoughts are much appreciated.
This is your journey as well as mine.
Let the force be with you.
Or, better yet, "Make it so!".

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

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I was asked if there would be videos from the ISDC2007 conference.
Theresa Holmes says there will be video postings for the ones that she took.
See snip from e-mail posted to some of us on a working group to improve
the NSS Settlements section of the website.
http://www.nss.org/settlement/
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Snip

Meanwhile, anyone who wants to view (and use) the video interviews, etc.
that I shot and uploaded to YouTube over the weekend, the way to find
them is to go to Google, pick Video, then do an advanced search on the
keywords "NSS space ISDC." You'll find all of the videos I shot, plus
one from March announcing the conference.

Once I get home, I'll also be gathering all the videos into my SSTO
Project and SPS Project groups on YouTube. You'll be able to find them
all in one place by doing a search under Groups for either of the
groups. As time goes on, I'll be collecting more videos of interest to
folks in either group.

If you have a blog, you can either post the link provided by YouTube for
a given video, or you can embed the code for the YouTube Flash player
showing that particular video. It depends on the blog. What I'd like to
see is these videos spread all over the Internet. It's called going
Viral. It would be a great boost to NSS.

Snip

Theresa Holmes
Sophia Systems Design & Engineering, Inc.
http://www.save4yourseat2orbit.com/
http://www.freewebs.com/save4yourplaceinspace/
http://sophiasystems.spaces.live.com/
http://phoenix-rising.townhall.com/

==============================================================
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22NSS+space+ISDC%22

http://www.youtube.com/group/SSTOProject
http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=SSTOProject
Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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ISDC 2007 - Featured Speaker Schedule

We are two days into ISDC 2007.
Have you been following the featured speakers?
Ron Wells mentioned that Jack Schmitt will be there, see Sunday schedule.
- LRK -

==============================================================

Larry:

You might want to post a notice to those attending the ISDC meeting in
Dallas this weekend, which you mentioned in your last newsletter. Jack
Schmitt will be there this Sunday afternoon and evening to receive the
first National Space Society Gerard K. O'Neill Memorial Space Settlement
award for his book "Return to the Moon", where he will also be
participating in a book signing. Members attending may have already been
informed, however, some in the Dallas area may want to attend for the day (if
they can get in on a single-day registration).

Ron

==============================================================

The On Line Registration is now closed.
If you happen to be in the area and would still like to attend parts of
the ISDC 2007 conference, here is the registration information.
http://isdc.nss.org/2007/register.html

Wish I was there but going to FT Drum, NY to see Army daughter before
she deploys to IRAQ.

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

==============================================================

http://isdc.nss.org/2007/schedule.html

Snip

Sunday, May 27

8:00 am -- 6:00 pm Registration - West Registration Second Floor

9:00 am - 10:00 am
* Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society

10:00 am - 11:00 am
* Donna Shirley, Former Mars Exploration Program Director, NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory
* Ben Bova, Author and Editor

11:00 am - 12:00 pm
* Dr. Alain Bensoussan, Former Chairman of the European Space Agency
(ESA) Council

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm - Featured Luncheon
* Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9 Astronaut and Chairman, B612 Foundation

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
* Ken Davidian, Program Manager, Centennial Challenges Program, NASA
* Brad Edwards, President and Founder, Carbon Designs Inc.
* William Pomerantz, Director of Space Projects, X Prize

3:00pm - 4:00 pm
* Alan Hale, Discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp
* Wallace Fowler, Director, Texas Spacegrant Consortium

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
* Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides, President, Space Generation Foundation
* Elizabeth Bozek, Chairman, Students for the Exploration and
Development of Space
* Jessy Cowan, Ames Research Center
* Andrew Hoppin, Ames Research Center

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
* Dr. Eugene Hargrove, Professor, University of North Texas
* Dr. Mark Lupisella, Researcher, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

7:00 pm - 10:00 pm - Dinner
* Speaker: Senator Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, Apollo 17 Mission Scientist
and former U.S. Senator
* Presentation of the inaugural O'Neill Award for Space Settlement to
Senator Schmitt
* Presentation of the NSS Chapter Awards

Snip

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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Bussard's fusion concept - a presentation at the 2007 ISDC - coming up.

Larry Klaes posted the link for a presentation about Bussard's fusion
concept.
We have mentioned both the 2007 ISDC (International Space Development
Conference <http://isdc.nss.org/2007/>)
coming up May 25-28, 2007 and Bussard's fusion concept
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Bussard>.

You might just be interested in seeing what some of the scheduled tracks
are about at the 2007 ISDC.
ISDC2007 View Tracks
<http://isdc2.xisp.net/%7Ekmiller/isdc_archive/isdc.php?link=trackViewForm>

The presentation for Bussard's fusion concept will be in Track 01,The
Transport Frontier.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
001 The Transport Frontier - to space - in space - from space
<http://isdc2.xisp.net/%7Ekmiller/isdc_archive/isdc.php?link=trackSelect&track_id=80>

Explores the principles and practice of transport in the new frontier.
From suborbital to interstellar, this track is about the means of
traveling to and from the many destinations in space.
Space Transport 101 -- Overview - Orbital Law - Orbital Mechanics &
Navigation
Stage 1- Suborbital & Earth to Orbit - Terrestrial Facilities -
Orbital Facilities - Space Tourism Transport
Stage 2- Trans-LEO - Cislunar & Lunar surface - Fuel Depots
Stage 3- Out to Mars & Aldrin Cyclers - Space Elevators - Solar Sails
- Nuclear Rockets - Key to the Solar System - Interstellar Flight
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tom Ligon
<http://isdc2.xisp.net/%7Ekmiller/isdc_archive/isdc.php?link=personSelect&person_id=516>
will be giving the talk.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Ligon is a former employee of Robert Bussard's Energy Matter
Conversion Corporation, and now works for Athena Controls. Mr. Ligon
holds two BS degrees from Virginia Tech, and is a frequent contributor
to Analog Science Fiction and Fact. His article "The World's Simplest
Fusion Reactor", published in Analog in 1998, won an Analab award.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a copy of the ABSTRACT:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. R. W. Bussard, of the Energy/Matter Conversion Corporation, released
a paper entitled �The Advent of Clean Nuclear Fusion: Superperformance
Space Power and Propulsion� at the 57th International Astronautical
Congress in Valencia, Spain, October 2-6, 2006. The EMC2 device derives
from earlier Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) devices pioneered
by P. T. Farnsworth and R. L. Hirsch in the 1960�s, but overcomes the
inherent losses in the earlier machines by utilizing a quasi-spherical
magnetic method of dynamically confining electrons to produce an
electrodynamic potential well. A device called WB-6 successfully
demonstrated a high rate of fusion in November 2005, and Dr. Bussard
believes the device can be scaled up to a size that will operate at over
100 MW. Furthermore, the technology should be capable of utilizing p-B11
fuel. Tom Ligon, a former employee of EMC2, will discuss the program,
its stunning implications for space travel, and what steps we need to
take to make it a reality.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the link to the Power Point file.
http://isdc2.xisp.net/~kmiller/isdc_archive/fileDownload.php/?link=fileSelect&file_id=422 


Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

==============================================================
A note from Larry Klaes informs us that:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A presentation on Bussard�s fusion concept at the 2007
International Space Development conference is online
here:

http://isdc2.xisp.net/~kmiller/isdc_archive/isdc.php?link=submissionSelect&submission_id=576 


Look for the link button near the bottom under PPT at the
bottom right of the Web page.

Snip
==============================================================
ISDC 2007 *Confirmed Featured Speakers and Guests
*http://isdc.nss.org/2007/speakers.html*

*Snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/main/index.html
*Why Explore Space?*

"Today," writes NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, "NASA is moving forward
with a new focus for the manned space program: to go out beyond Earth
orbit for purposes of human exploration and scientific discovery."
Administrator Griffin makes the case for completing the International
Space Station, "the most complex construction feat ever undertaken," as
a stepping stone to future exploration.

"Using the space station and building an outpost on the moon to prepare
for the trip to Mars are critical milestones in America's quest to
become a truly spacefaring nation," Griffin writes. "I think that we
should want that. I want that. I want it for the American people, for my
grandchildren, for my great-grandchildren."
+ Read More
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/main/griffin_why_explore.html>
Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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