Frontlines2008-07 -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 7/1/2008
Last Visited: 8/12/2008
James now joins our unpaid staff, along with Dave Dunlop, Director of Project Development.
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Dave Dunlop, Green Bay, WI Outpost, is reactivating the former ASI Lunar Agriculture team, long dormant, as the Experimental Agriculture Team.In the early 1990s, as a member of the Lunar Reclamation Society (NSS-Milwaukee, publishers of Moon Miners' Manifesto), Dave founded LUNAX, LUnar National Agricultural eXperiment corporation, to engage agriculture and ag-business students in ground level experiments that would provide data points in an effort to determine how little light, and in what lighting patterns, would be sufficient to nurse plants through the 2-week long Lunar Nightspan when direct solar power is unavailable so that they would go on to harvest: the "Lunar Nightspan Dark Hardiness Experiment."
Now Dave, having found a reawakening of interest in this type of research, wants the new team to define and undertake a research project that will identify the most effective and efficient way to evolve fertile agricultural soil starting with moon dust. [Background: some plants to well, even better in hydroponic systems but not all!Once the cost of providing extra volume for "geoponics" soil-based agriculture, a greater variety of crops can be grown.] Some preliminary research has already been done along these lines.There is much more productive mischief that the Experimental Lunar Agriculture could get into while advancing the day when lunar settlements can be realized.
In the light of NASA's recent abandonment (zeroing out all budget support) of all further biological life support research. the importance of whatever this new Moon Society team can do takes on real significance.If you would like to know more, and possibly join the new team, contact Dave. Other dormant Artemis Project Teams are being considered for reactivation.
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Instead, Director of Project Development Dave Dunlop is pursuing a proposal to have NASA fund placement of a reflectometer on each of the Google Lunar X-Prize contender vehicles that, via laser-range finding, would greatly improve our knowledge of the Moon's shape by pinning down altitudes of all the landing points involved to a much greater accuracy than now exists.
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On the drive back to Wisconsin from ISDC 2008 in Washington, DC, Dave Dunlop (Green Bay) and Peter Kokh (Milwaukee) began brainstorming a whole new concept for a Lunar Analog Research Station.
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Dave Dunlop will again chair the Lunar Track.
Looking for volunteers to put out flyers at various space conferences and science fiction conventions they may be attending.