🚀 go-pugleaf

In response to this question, a group called the Lunar Society appears
to be interested funding space colonization.  I would like to know
whether they are for real.  Does anyone know if this group is
legitimate and whether they have any chance of reaching their stated
goals?

Text of a old message describing this group follows.

<1992Aug24.200917.8618@news.media.mit.edu> jeanie@media.mit.edu
 (Jean Y. Kim) wrote:
Hi netters,
I am forwarding this for a friend.

*-----------------------------------------------------------------*

It's less than ten years to 2001...

... do you know where YOUR space program is?


THE LUNAR SOCIETY

  was founded because of a single profound and distrubing insight:
politicians, bureaucrats, and aerospace corporate managers are not
going to get US into space.

We can't afford the price of a ticket, let alone the space-equivalent
of the covered wagon.  The only way WE are going is if we build the
machines, vehicles, tools, habitats, factories, encampments and
homesteads -- OURSELVES.

Think about the early visions of von Braun and Ley, Clarke and
Heinlein, Goddard and Oberth and Tsiolkovski, and ask youself why we
haven't come farther in the last fifty years?  A big part of the
answer is -- the national space program doesn't exist to fulfill those
visions.  It does exist to create jobs in certain congressional
districts and to advance national prestige.  That approach won't open
the high frontier of space.

The Lunar Society was created because of the deeply held belief that
if real progres is to be made towards the goal of settling the high
frontier, private groups and individuals must lead the way.
Governments will not be the agents of progress, nor is it desirable
that centralized, monolithic, bureaucratic organizations dictate the
future of free people on the frontier of space.  TOO MUCH IS AT RISK
TO DENY OUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY TO ACT TO CREATE OUR OWN FUTURE.

_What are the Society's Goal?_

To provide the individuals the means to homestead the space frontier.
To fund the infrastructure that will permit human settlement of
near-Earth space and Earth's Moon.  To conduct research into advanced
technologies which will lower the cost of access to space.  And to
educate everyone about the challenges of the age of space, so that we
all have the opportunity to play a role in this great adventure.

In Herman Oberth's words: "This is the goal: to make available for
Life every place where life is possible; to make inhabitable all
worlds as yet uninhabitable and all Life purposeful."

_Why now?_

In the past decade there have been rapid advances in materials, small
computers, software, propulsion systems and life support.  These
technologies have enabled an assault on the barriers of access and
cost which blocked small, non-governmental space efforts in the past.
Taking inspiration from the experimental aviation community, and
employing the experiences of entrepreneurs and scientists, engineers
and enthusiasts, the time is right for a non-governmental program
which will create a space civilization.

_Why Another Organization?_

Because we have a unique role to play.
The Lunar Society will not lobby Congress for more money for the U.S.
space program, or publish glossy magazines for members.  Others can
play those parts.  The Society is raising money to fund needed
technology development which will make settling the high frontier
feasible as well as economical.  And then, we'll step aside and let
private businesses pick up the effort.  Let's not forget author Larry
Niven's words: "After all, we're capitalists, right?"

We're starting small, working on components such as engines, software,
space suits, and design studies, but we're advancing quickly to flying
vehicles, space platform design and planning lunar missions.  REAL
HARDWARE FOR REAL MISSIONS.  No other organization today has the
comprehensive space settlement program of the Lunar Society.

_Join Us!_

The Lunar Society is leading the way on the return to the Moon, and
the creation of the first human home on another world.  We need your
support in order to jump-start the future.  For if not you, then who?

"To accomplish this goal we have committed our lives, fortunes and
honor.  If you share this vision, join us."

Jerry Pournelle, Ph.D., Chairman
James Ransom, President



ENROLLMENT

The Lunar Society is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization founded in
1986 by Dr. Jerry Pournelle, present Chairman, along with Dr. Philip
Chapman (former Apollo astronaut) and Mr. James Ransom (Society
President).  The Society has established an Associates Program to
permit individuals to participate directly in the greatest adventure
ever undertaken by the human race.

Associates receive the Society quarterly newsletter _Cisluna_ plus
discounted admission to the annual Society conference.  Cost is
$100/year.  The Society is not a menbership organization, and the
contributions of the Associates are principally used to support
hardware development programs, not to provide menber services.
Contributions are tax-deductible.  Any amount of contribution is
welcome; any donor of $25/year or more will receive _Cisluna_.

Enroll by mailing a check to the Society at the address below, or by
calling our voicemail/fax system and using your VISA or MasterCard.


CISLUNA 93

Lunar Society Associates may attend the CISLUNA 93 conference and
exposition (January 15-17, 1993, San Francisco Bay Area) at a
discount.  Attendance is $35 per person for the Associate and one
guest before Nov. 30, 1992, or $50 after.
Non-Associates $50 before Nov. 30, 1992, $65 after.
Send a check to the Society at the address below, or call our
voicemail/fax system and use your VISA or MasterCard.

P.O. Box 2500,
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Voicemail/Fax : (415) 593-5575
Email : cisluna@teracons.com

[quotes deleted]