Conference 7.286::space

    I'll look for it. Bova's fiction is fairly good, but I like his
    non fiction better. See especially "The High Road".

    	I should add that this is not a science fiction novel per se,
    but a detailed, fact-based manual designed to introduce new settlers
    to Moonbase to their new home and workplace.  There is some excellent
    artwork in the book, along with a rich bibliography.  It is quite
    obvious that a lot of research went into this manual.
    
    	As I said before, the best part about WELCOME TO MOONBASE is
    that it brings back a lot of optimism about space exploration,
    especially if we approach the final frontier internationally.
    
    	Larry
    

From: [email protected] ([email protected]:[email protected],
        Beam Jockey)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Chicago lecture: Designing Lunar Structures
Date: 8 Feb 88 17:28:00 GMT
 
                        Chicago Space Frontier Society
                                   presents
 
                  MOON MANSIONS: DESIGNING LUNAR STRUCTURES
 
                                  Peter Land
                       Illinois Institute of Technology
 
                          Monday, February 15, 1988
                                   7:00 PM
 
                         Chicago Academy of Sciences
                             2001 N. Clark Street
 
                         ADMISSION FREE TO THE PUBLIC
 
    Buildings on the Moon will look very different from Earthly
buildings, according to Professor Peter Land.  If and when astronauts
return to the Moon, they will most likely establish a permanent base
with laboratory, industrial, and residential buildings.  Such
structures must be airtight and protect people against the temperature
extremes and radiation of the lunar environment.  They should be
straightforward to erect.  They should also make use of available lunar
soil, so that a minimal weight of materials need be flown from Earth. 
 
    Peter Land, a professor in the College of Architecture, Planning,
and Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, will discuss
concepts for lunar construction that include arched, domed, and
pneumatic structures, building methods, and directions for further
research. 
 
         #############################################################
 
    The Chicago Space Frontier  Society, sponsor of this event, is
dedicated to the opening of the space frontier.  Among its activities
are monthly meetings at the Chicago Academy of Sciences (just west of
the Lincoln Park Zoo) which always feature presentations on some
aspect of space development.  Meetings are held on the third Monday of
each month at 7:00 PM.  For more information call Bill Higgins at
(312)293-1050 or Larry Ahearn at (312)373-0349, or send mail to
[email protected]. 

From: [email protected] ("KEVIN W. BOLD 0-1")
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: DEFENSE SCIENCE March 1988 issue
Date: 18 Mar 88 22:16:00 GMT
 
    The current issue of DEFENSE SCIENCE included a short article on
the merits of a base on Earth's moon, Luna.  According to scientists
at Los Alamos National Laboratories, low cost, data on living in
space, and the presence of resources such as oxygen, make Luna an ideal
place for nonterrestrial research.  The article also quoted Dr. Lowell
Wood of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who has observed that
Luna would offer "surface and gravity", while a space station would
not, and the National Commission on Space Report, which described
"that portion of space beyond low Earth orbit as the key to a much
needed American technological resurgence." 
 
    There was also a sidebar on NASA's request for an additional $2.3
billion funding increase. 
 
-- Kevin "Mad Max" Bold		|When governments are outlawed,
([email protected])		|only outlaws will have governments.

      "For now we have missed our best chance.  The satellite is gone...
  Even the shuttle rocket is gone.  We are back where we were in 1950..." 
  
      "Therefore - I propose that we build a spaceship and send it to
  the Moon!" 
 
                      - Robert Heinlein, THE MAN WHO SOLD THE MOON (1949)
 

Article        31188
From: [email protected] (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Moonbase movie *Plymouth* to air Sunday?
Date: 23 May 91 07:20:00 GMT
Sender: [email protected]
Organization: The Internet
 
Here's a tip.  I just heard a rumor that the made-for-TV movie
*Plymouth* will be broadcast on NBC this coming Sunday.  I don't know
how accurate this rumor is-- but if it's true, catch it!  The director
made a presentation at last year's Space Development Conference,
showing slides of the sets and characters.
 
*Plymouth* is about a near-future community of a few hundred people on
the Moon.  The filmmakers went to some trouble to tell a hard-science
story with plausible tech.  The director had really boned up. The
people he got as advisors-- such as moonbase maven Dr. Wendell Mendell
of NASA, or space artist Pat Rawlings of Science Applications
International-- were the same people I would have gotten.  I was
amazed to hear this Hollywood guy spout all the same technical jargon
as I'd heard at professional astronautics conferences.  The colony's
main export is helium-3, and it makes extensive use of local lunar
resources.  The designs of equipment, vehicles, and buildings are
quite convincing.  Hard science is almost never done well in
Televisionland, but this movie appears to be an exception.
 
*Plymouth* was intended to be a pilot for a TV series, but didn't get
picked up by the network.  The quality of the drama is unknown to me.
If it's a mediocre story, like *Destination Moon* or *Die Frau im
Mond*, the movie should be watchable because its technical background
is strong.  (No flames, please; how many SF movies have you sat
through with interesting plots, or intriguing characters, and lousy,
lousy science?)  If the story is good, you might be *really* pleased
you tuned it in.
 
     O~~*           /_) ' / /   /_/ '  ,   ,  ' ,_  _           \|/
   - ~ -~~~~~~~~~~~/_) / / /   / / / (_) (_) / / / _\~~~~~~~~~~~zap!
 /       \                          (_) (_)                    / | \
 |       |     Bill Higgins   Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
 \       /     Bitnet:     [email protected]
   -   -       Internet:  [email protected]
     ~         SPAN/Hepnet:      43011::HIGGINS

    Re:.5
    
    	The rumor is true: I saw a promo last night for this movie. I
    don't remember the day or time but I think it's on this weekend. The
    F/X and hardware in the promo looks good but I have this funny feeling
    that the story will be lame (I don't have any proof; it's probably the
    result of all those other wicked lame space movies I've seen in years
    past on the tube, ST not withstanding :-) ).
    
    				Drew