MEXICO

The Moon Society has been actively promoting developments in Mexico for some time, through our agent Jesus Raygoza B. currently in Guadalajara.
To assist him, we have created a minisite for the Mexican Space Society [Sociedad Espacial Mexicana] which is listed as a Moon Society affiliate.

http://www.moonsociety.org/sem/

Which can be reached directly via the virtual domain

http://www.sociedadespacialmexicana.org

The following document, in both English and Spanish, was the result of much work by Jesus and David Dunlop, Moon Society Director of Project Development

MexicanSpaceProgramProposal.pdf (English)
ProgrammaEspacialMexicana.pdf (Espagñol)

Jesus has been promoting the concept of a MexLunarHab analog station in Mexico for over a decade.
This effort has had strong Moon Society support

The following videos about the MexLunarHab project and the Mexican Astronaut Corp are now on YouTube

English - Ingles	Spanish - Español
Lunar Habitat Analogue Part I http://youtube.com/watch?v=IuZ1IDB-wH4&feature=related	Hábitat Lunar Análogo PARTE I http://youtube.com/watch?v=-mK8i__YZIo&feature=related
Lunar Habitat Analogue Part II http://youtube.com/watch?v=YbISbEudrpo&feature=related	Hábitat Lunar Análogo PARTE II http://youtube.com/watch?v=SjN6MMbXsJo&feature=related
Mexican Astronaut Corps http://youtube.com/watch?v=RRkbK7mjv-Y&feature=related	Cuerpo de Astronautas Mexicanos http://youtube.com/watch?v=AsQxm-jkTn8&feature=related

News Flash! President Calderon published the Legislation creating AEXA on July 30th with it becoming law on July 31st.

Noticia de última hora! El presidente Calderón publicó la ley de creación de AEXA el 30 de julio con ella se convierta en ley el 31 de julio.

CHILE

In 2009, after ISDC 2009 in Orlando, Florida, we were approached requesting assistance in developing an exciting new project in Chile: the proposed Moon/Mars Atacama Research Station

It has become clear, that this project could benefit enormously from a network of chapters within Chile itself.
Progress had been made securing a site in northern Chile, and in putting together a consortium of Chilean Universities to operate the facility.
But in the aftermath of the devastating Concepcion earthquake, this project is on hold as the nation is preoccupied with the Earthquake recovery effort

A Spanish language version of the Moon Society website would greatly aid in establishment of local national networks of Spanish-Speaking chapters within Mexico and Chile.

 That would be a start! There are other Latin-American Spanish speaking nations with small to modest space agencies and programs. Mexico's Agencia Espaciale Mexicana, AEXA, has just been formed, a headquarters site picked (in Hidalgo state) and a launch site picked in Quintana Roo state on the Caribbean coast immediately north of Belize. Chile is likely to announce its own Space Agency, probably in the coming year.

Meanwhile these Spanish-speaking nations already have space agencies:

Argentina - CONAE - Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales - news note - August 16, 2010
Columbia CCE - Comisión Colombiana del Espacio
Ecuador EXA - Agencia Espacial Civil Ecuatoriana
Mexico AEXA - Agencia Espacial Mexicana
Peru CONIDA - Comisión Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Aeroespacial
Spain INTA - Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial
Uruguay 1975 CIDA-E - Centro de Investigación y Difusión Aeronáutico-Espacial
Venezuela ABAE - Agencia Bolivariana para Actividades Espaciales
(Add Chile and the number would be ten)
(In South America, Bolivia and Paraguay have no space agencies; In Central America, there are no space agencies in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama)

(Brazil, which speaks Portuguese, is obviously another issue. Brazil has expressed "disinterest" in a proposed Latin American Space Agency parallel to the European Space Agency.)

There have been six Spanish-speaking astronauts from Puerto Rico (Joseph M. Acaba), Mexico (Rodolfo Neri-Veda, Ricardo Peralta-y-Fabi), Costa Rica (Franklin Chang-Diaz), Peru (Carlos I. Noriega), Spain (Pedro Duque) (Bilingual US Astronauts not included in this list)

PUERTO RICO  - a self-governing commonwealth under Unites States jurisdiction

Puerto Rico's primary language is Spanish, but English is widely understood
In 2010, in preparation for the Moon Society-cosponsored Puerto Rico Space Congress, October 24-27, 2010, a National Space Society Puerto Rico chapter has been established, and we are in touch with them.

UNITED STATES / Estados Unidos de America (EEUU)

Not to forget that there may well be more Spanish Speaking persons in the United Space than in Spain, second only to Mexico.

Keeping in mind the purpose, to encourage and feed emerging Spanish-speaking chapters, much existing material is prime for trnslation, including the Space Chapters Hub website, a translation project in itself!

A Spanish-Language Quarterly spin-off of Moon Miners' Manifesto

"Manifiesto Mineros de la Luna Trimestral" - proposed title, translation double checked

Proposed initial Masthead

Dave Dunlop, Moon Society Director of Project Development and Society President Pater Kokh, have worked on a plan to advance this projct. Peter will1) solicit articles from known Spanish-speaking colleagues,

1) Solicit articles from known Spanish-speaking colleagues,
2) Have Goggle translate existing and new MMM articles
3) Provide or suggest some illustrations
4) Perhaps a fresh appeal to members for a volunteer editor
5) Consult with NSS, who might want to cosponsor such a publication

This project needs not just a special Editor but an Editorial Team with members from Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and other interested countries, including someone from the Spanish speaking community in the U.S.

It would be very difficult to produce MMM monthly in Spanish as well as English. Further much of MMM's content (news of US Moon Society and NSS Chapters) would not be useful

We believe the best solution is an all new newsletter. The proposed name is given above. The Editor(ial Team) would have blanket permission to translate into Spanish any past articles preserved in the MMM Classics, MMM Theme issues, MMM-India Quarterly, online papers, or any current articles and use them as they see fit. But fresh articles by Spanish-speaking writers from various nations would be welcomed.

MMM Editor Peter Kokh has volunteered to produce a first edition (U.C.) of Manifiesto Mineros de la Luna Trimestral in an effort to flush out prospective editors and co-editors, and timed to be available to those attending the Puerto Rico Space Congress in San Juan, October 24-26, 2010, and for the attendees of the 6th Space Conference of the Americas (CEA) in Pachuca, state of Hidalgo, Mexico november 15-16, 2010.. But he is not committed to carrying this project past this first "pump-priming" issue.

Translating old articles

I tried Yahoo Babel Fish - http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ and entered the address for the page (MMM #1) that describes the original eureka moment that has inspired MMM from the beginning
http://www.moonsociety.org/chapters/milwaukee/mmm/mmm_1.html
set the target language for Spanish and clicked "translate"

I  then reverse translated the article by the same process back to English.
This process revealed numerous places where the sense in which I had used a word, was not the sense in which it was translated. I spent many hours trying alternative wordings and at times had to give up. If Spanish has a word for what we mean by "reclamation" as in reclamation of waste land, I could not find it.

Another problem is that English syntax and word order is quite different from that in Spanish, and that is a source of many mistranslations. Spanish Dictionary: Spanish Translation and Yahoo Babel Fish are not the place to start! I tried Google Translation and tested it in reverse, and the results were even more ridiculous. So much for Google.

Here is the Spanish version of this MMM #1 article, after much experimentation and many hours of rework, paragraph by paragraph, imperfect though it is.

It is obvious that translation is an art that is quite beyond any online mechanical translation programs.
I am reminded when Maria von Trapp of th Trapp Family Singers, on her way to America from Austria, wanted to use the German phrase that we would translate as "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Well the literal mechanical translation of the German turned out to be "The ghost is anxious, but the meat is soft," which would suggest an entirely different mental condition.

It is clear that we need human translators, pre-acquainted with "MMM-Speak" - the special meanings I've given to some existing words, as well as words coined when no English word or phrase would quite do.

Perhaps we have to begin with translation of the MMM Glossary of key words and phrases with specific meanings when used in MMM.

Society Vice-President Charles F. Radley is leading an effort to hold a major Space Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 23-26. 2010 - "Puerto Rico Space Congress"

The Space Renaissance Initiative which is still in the organizational formation stage, had pulled out of this effort, on the grounds that they were not ready for it. The local host is the newly-formed Puerto Rico Chapter of the National Space Society.  The major sponsor is The Leeward Space Foundation, with the Moon Society on record as co-sponsor.

Three weeks later another major space conference will take place in Mexico. The 6th Space Conference of the Americas (CEA) will be held in Pachuca, the capital of the central Mexican state of Hidalgo, November 15-19, 2010.

Participant nations: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador and other countries of the region.
The topic will be "Space and Development: Space applications to the service of humankind and the development of the Americas"

Our Collaboration with The Mexican Space Society / Sociedad Espaciale Mexicana

We have been hosting a temporary website for SEM

If you would like to help in the Translation area, please send a note to

David Dunlop - dunlop712@yahoo.com (in either English or Spanish)
And/or to Peter Kokh - kokhmmm@aol.com (English only)

Put "Moon Society - Spanish" in the subject line.

Many thanks!

Another way to help!

If you know a Spanish-speaking person who is interested in Space, no matter where located, please send us (David, cc. Peter) his/her email address if you know it. These people will go on the mailing list for announcement of the publication of the first and future issues of "Manifiesto Mineros de la Luna Trimestral"

Many thanks!