🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1ig234INNs78@agate.berkeley.edu> tyersome@toxic (Randall Tyers) writes:
>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

Well, as a charter member of the Lunar Society, I can tell you it
doesn't exist.  I'm not out the $100 I sent in, as Jerry Pournelle
(and/or his minions) never cashed my check.  My wife _is_ out her
$100, as she had to send in a money order (we have no idea if that was
ever cashed).  Either way we never heard _anything_ from them in
response, other than a couple of "We haven't gotten fired up yet, but
we'll be getting to it RSN" type responses to Email queries.

The Lunar Society was a great idea, and a bunch of people were fired
up about it, but I've only heard vague references to it since I
dropped my BIX subscription.  Jerry (IMHO) went downhill rapidly in
that era, but I'm told he's on the wagon now, so it's marginally
possible the Lunar Society exists, is for real, and is nonprofit
501(c) or whatever.  If so I wish them all the luck in the world, but
we'll not have anything further to do with them.

On the plus side, the concept of the Lunar Society is what got me
interested in my Simulated Lunar Teleoperations projects, which is a
_whole_ lot of fun.  Their concepts of low cost (Jerry has bandied
about numbers like $800M (yes, that's an M) for a lunar colony),
off-the-shelf hardware, and a real break with the usual gold-plated,
triply redundant, no holds barred, "mass of the paperwork exceeds mass
of the vehicle" ways of doing space travel were at the very least,
refreshing.

Willie Smith
wpns@pictel.com
My opinions only!!!
-- 
Willie Smith     wpns@pictel.com     N1JBJ@amsat.org
"That's the wonderful thing about crayons, they can take
you to more places than a starship."  Guinan - STNG