Welcome to our Website
updated November 9, 2010
The Moon Society & Why the Moon [video]
Added Sections: Vector Pages | Changing Featured Image | Moonscapes
Use this page as your guide to learn about The Moon Society,
whether you decide to join us or not
(Of course, we hope you do!)
Check out our Welcome Packet
From this page, you will be able to download several useful and informative pdf files, about the Moon Society's focus, on how to navigate this website, and more.Just click on the Welcome Packet link on the Main Menu at the left.
Two great reasons to visit Our Homepage often
1) In the white lower center panel, a news feed automatically posts the top space news stories of the past 24 hours, just click on the ones that pique your interest and go!
2) Just below the image link for our Videos, there is an image or picture - a different one comes up at random everytime you visit this page. Click on it and you get either a bigger image of the same thing or a more developed image with explantory text. There are, as of August 9, 2010, some 134 images in our Changing Feature Image Library. And 80% of these have their own hyperlink. Click on the second larger or more developed image and you immediately go to the pdf file or web page where there is an article on the topic or issue behind that image.
These link are all to login-free (no username or password required) publications derived from Moon Miners' Manifesto and off-shoot publications: MMM Classics, MMM Themes, MMM-India Quarterly, MMM Papers and even Moonbeams, our science fiction rag. Over the past 24 years, MMM has covered a weatlth of ideas and topics. So clicking on these changing images allows you to explore topics that arouse your curiosity or interest.
By the way, there is another way to get introduced to the variety of topics treated in MMM through the years. Peruse the MMM Glossary. There are over 300 entries here, some of them illustrated. Each entry is a word that has a special meaning for us, and for new words coined when no existing word could be made to stretch to fit.
You can take a study course on the Moon
This course, put together by our affiliate organization, the American Lunar Society, is designed to give you basic geology information and to help you learn to recognize the interesting features you can see on the side of the Moon always visible from from Earth, through a small telescope.If you complete the course, you will get a certificate, and should you decide to join the Society, just let us know about the certificate and we will give you a $4 credit off your dues.
Just click on the link Moon Study Course link on the Main Menu at the left
.
You can sample our monthly newsletter, Moon Miners'Manifesto
MMM or "Moon Miners" or "The Manifesto" as it is variously called, has been coming out ten times a year since December, 1986, more than two decades! A regular theme of many articles focuses on how we can expand from an initial moon base to true civilian settlement, how pioneers will earn a living, how they will live, and how they will adapt as they come to be truly "at home" on the Moon.We talk about transportation to and on the Moon, about mining the Moon, about mini-biospheres in which we will have to live, about arts and crafts based on moon dust and rock, about gardening and architecture, about sports, indoors, of course, but also out on the surface.
But once a year, usually in March, our newsletter focuses on Mars. We have explored Venus, Mercury, Europa, Titan, the asteroids and more, even nearby star systems.
Now you can get the current and recent issues (within the last three years or so) in hardcopy to your home, or as a pdf file that you can download to your computer, or both,
-- only through membership.But we want you to know what you are getting,
so we have done three things:(1) All the non-time-sensitive articles from the early years have been collected, reedited, and republished in pdf files, one per publication year. You can now freely access and download the first eighteen years of this material, the MMM Classics, at this address:
http://www.moonsociety.org/publications/mmm_classics/
(2) In addition, we have begun to publish the above materia, not in annual collections as above, but organized into "theme issues" - this is an ongoing project.
http://www.moonsociety.org/publications/mmm_themes/
(3) Finally, we want you to have a have accesss to a number of MMM Papers published online.
http://www.moonsociety.org/publications/mmm_papers/
None of these publications need a member username/password login combination for access and downloading!
For more information, just click on the News Letter link on the Main Menu at upper left
Our Quick Look "Vector Pages"
How do we view alternative/additional destinations like Mars, or the Asteroids?
http://www.moonsociety.org/mars/
http://www.moonsociety.org/asteroids/
What does the Society think of the prospects for Space Tourism beyond Earth Orbit?
http://www.moonsociety.org/tourism/Do we have a Moon Flag?
Do we have a collection of Moon-related art work?http://www.moonsociety.org/flag/
http://www.moonsociety.org/art/Does the Moon Society have a general plan for research that needs to be done, so that if and when humans return to the Moon, we will be prepared to "hit the ground running?"
http://www.moonsociety.org/research/Does the Moon Society have a sense of humor?
http://www.moonsociety.org/humor/The links could not be simpler! That's what we mean by "Vector Pages" - they take you right there!
And from time to time, we may add more - /environment/? /students/? /games/ ? /stars/? stay tuned!
Two Reasons to Visit Our Homepage Often
1) The large white lower center panel automatically updates daily to give you a great selection of the latest space news articles!
2) Every time you visit our homepage, the Featured Image changes. You will see this image just below the upper central Moon Society Announcement section. When you click on it, you get a larger image with information and with links to image topic related articles that you can access and freely download without a login If you get in the habit of clicking on this image regularly, you will soon see the depth and breadth of issues which we have covered, as well as an ever better vision of what the future might hold for Lunan Pioneers. You will also get in the habit of exploring the vast amount of free access material on our website! As of this update, there are some 134 randomly repeating images, and we have plans to add dozens more!
And, perhaps soon, a 3rd reason: we might pair the Featured Image with a Featured piece of Space Art! Our collection at /art/ currently holds some 98 pieces. The purpose of this collection is to help members and visitors to visualize the possibilities!
To set this up involves some fancy code, and the person who can do this (did it for the featured images) is usually too busy with day job and other demands, so this may have to wait - if this project is approved!
Our Projects
Our projects are of two types, temporary, and ongoingA example of the latter is the two week Moonbase simulation at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah in early 2006 by a Moon Society crew of six. To learn about this click on Moonbase Trials on the Main Menu at the left.
Watch a PowerPoint presentation or a pdf file slide show about this experience. You can download either from this page.Partly based on this experience, we have begun planning our own Lunar Analog Research Station. This planning is an ongoing work-in progress. But you can see where we are now by watching this PowerPoint presentation or pdf file slide show. You can download either version from this page.
An example of an ongoing project is our continuing work on our Moon-focused wiki. Check it out at the Lunarpedia link on the Destinations menu at the left.
You don't have to become a member to post new articles or edit old ones on Lunarpedia. We welcome assistance on this project from anyone interested in the Moon.
For more on what we have done and are doing, click on the Projects link on the Main Menu at the left.
Our Blog
We do not post to our blog site regularly, but there have been lots of interesting posts. Anyone is welcome to check them out.Just click on the Check our Blog link on the Main Menu at the left.
Our new formatted email newsletter - Moonscapes
Starting in August 2010, are sending out a formatted email newsletter to those on our "Moonscapes" email list.
If you are or have been a member, and we have your current email address in our database, you will be on the list automatically, but can unsubscribe at any time. If you are not in our database, or have a new email address, and would like these free newsletters to show up in your email mail box, send us a not - moonscapes@moonsociety.org and put "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
A new issue of Moonscapes will come out when we have "enough" but "not too much" material, or in 'Urgent mode" whenever.
Moonscapes will have a few articles, beginning with a picture/photo and the first paragraph of an article, with a "read more" link to the full article which will be published on our blog site.
Moonscapes will also carry timely items for members.
We hope to increase your membership experience!
Ways Moon Society Members can get involved
We have a system of Chapters and Outposts. Outposts can be just one person who serves as contact in a local community, or two or more persons not yet organized as a chapter. To learn more, click on Chapters & Outposts on the Main Menu at the left. If there is a chapter or outpost near you, you can always make contact and get acquainted, even if you have not joined the Society.If you are are politically minded, we offer opportunities to help push legislation that will create a friendlier climate for private enterprise in space. For this purpose, we are collaborating with the National Space Society, with whom we are mutually affiliated. To learn more, click on Legislative Action on the Main Menu at the left.
For more ideas of how members can get involved, click on Volunteering on the Main Menu at the left
Additional opportunities to meet Moon Society members
The Moon Society regularly has a presence at the National Space Society's International Space Development Conference which is cosponsored by many organizations, including ours. To learn more, click on the ISDC link in the Destinations Menu at the left.We also inherited a discussion list from a previous organization, Artemis Society International. You don't have to be a Moon Society member to subscribe to Artemis-list.
To join the discussions, send email to majordomo@asi.org
with the body of your message containing the command:
subscribe artemis-list-digest
. . . or . . .
subscribe artemis-listYou can also log on as a guest in our special enhanced chat room environment. Click on the CHAT link at the left.
Other information on this website
You will find the links mentioned below in the Destinations menu at the left.Click on Lunar Directory for a list and descriptions of other Moon-focused organizations with whom we regularly collaborate.
For a list of annual conferences that we consider especially relevant to our goals, click on Conferences.
For additional papers from various Society-related sources, click on Online Papers.
For information on Moon Missions past, present, scheduled, and in the planning stages, click on Moon Missions
For much more information click on Moon Info & Things Lunar
Watch and Listen to the Movers & Shakers of the "Back to the Moon" movement
Click on the image link Moon Colony Video top front center on our home page to watch 30 some informative videos.
Moon Society Presence elsewhere on the Internet
MySpace - Facebook- Yahoo Group - Change.orgGoogle Group - Railroading on the Moon & Mars
(a collaboration between the Moon Society & MarsDrive)
The Little Engine that Can
As you can see, we are into a lot of neat things. We are few in numbers in comparison to longer established space advocacy organizations. (The Moon Society was organized in July 2000.) But we are a determined group, and as our membership continues to grow we expect to get into much more creative and productive mischief in an effort to help advance the day when civilian pioneers will be living and working on the Moon.So explore this website, learn about us, sample our newsletters, meet, some of our members in person, by email, or on the MOO.
You may email the president at any time - subject line "Moon Society Visitor"
Enjoy your visit!
Come back often.When you are ready, we'd love to have you as part of the team!