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The Lunar Reclamation Society, Inc., is an independent, non-profit, membership organization promoting "the expansion of the human economy through off-planet resources." Our stated purposes include, but are not limited to, those of the National Space Society, with whom we are freely associated for networking purposes, serving as its Milwaukee chapter. LRS members are encouraged, but not required, to maintain NSS membership.
LRS was founded in the fall of 1986, and has as its main membership base the Milwaukee-SE Wisconsin area, but also has a smaller at-large membership throughout the nation. Our goal is large: the transplantation of Earth life to settlements on the moon and elsewhere in space in order to access the immense mineral and energy wealth of Earth's hinterland to use so that Earth itself can be greener and cleaner and the shares of an expanded pie more evenly distributed. Yet our resources are small, largely limited to membership dues.
We have engaged in considerable public outreach activity in SE Wisconsin, and have helped spin off two other non-profit organizations: LUNAX - Lunar National Agricultural Experiment Corporation, headquartered in Green Bay, promotes research in lunar agriculture experiments in high school science classes [after several years, LUNAX is dormant, due to poor teacher follow through]; and WSBR - Wisconsin Space Business Roundtable, which, with thirty-some members, explores ways to increase the state share of space business, promoting joint ventures and new enterprise formation.
Our own principal activity, using our limited resources to best advantage, has been the publication of Moon Miners' Manifesto. This (now 24- page) monthly has a circulation of 500 in 46 states and 10 foreign countries, from Australia to Austria. The first half of each issue is devoted to speculative articles which approach the opportunities for lunar and space settlement from every aspect imaginable. Currently in its eleventh year of publication, MMM is available as a benefit of membership in the Lunar Reclamation Society and 10 other NSS chapters (Sheboygan, WI; Portland and Bend, OR; Twin Cities, MN; Ann Arbor, MI; Knoxville/Oak Ridge, TN; Philadelphia, PA; Cleveland, OH; North Jersey, NJ), or through direct individual subscription outside the chapter areas in question. Now incorporating "Pleiades" into its title, MMM also serves (since the fall of 1995) the membership of Artemis Society International, based in Huntsville, AL. ASI's purpose is to break the ice by placing a commercial manned outpost on the moon.
The core of people who gather to collate MMM every month also serve as the Artemis Society-Milwaukee chapter, with the goal of continuing to improve MMM-Pleiades to better serve the members and goals of Artemis Society International.
MMM is published monthly except in January and August. In those two months, chapter members and subscribers receive Moon Miners' Review instead.
LRS membership dues are $15 a year, $10 for senior citizens or students. Checks should be made out to "LRS" and sent to the P.O. Box below.
LRS continues to explore other ways to further its goals, limited by the number of active participants and available funds. Currently, we have entered into a charter agreement with the local science fiction society to serve as a junior partner in the new science fiction convention, First Contact, held each fall, to which we contribute a minimum of a day's worth of science programming including a 3-hour brainstorming workshop.
LRS will also host the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Milwaukee in 1998, over the Memorial Day Weekend, at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee in the heart of the city's beautiful downtown. ISDC attendance is historically in the 500-1200 range. LRS has offered Artemis Society International as much time and space as it can use at ISDC '98.
Based on its design group experience, LRS has launched a series of brainstorming workshops, now registered under the name Mission Control Workshops. To date these have included:
"Asteroid Base Design"
"Tourism in Space"
"Space Colonies on Earth, at Sea"
"Commercial Lunar Outposts" and
"Outposts in Lunar Lava Tubes"
ISDC '98 will have a full complement of workshops for those who want to do more than just listen to presenters. Another innovation for ISDC '98 will include the Lunar Homestead Show in the space exhibits area, that will attempt to depict how the first generations of Lunan pioneers might live, depending resourcefully on the resources the moon has to offer (e.g., without wood, plastics and other organic synthetics, and without some important metals such as copper).
LRS also has a special activity group, Copernicus Construction Company, that meets regularly to brainstorm the design of vehicles, habitats, and settlements for the space frontier, with the view to modeling them and using them to assist in local school outreach activity. Our entry in NSS's 1989 Space Habitat Design Competition for a 1000-5000 person self-supporting lunar settlement took second place and has been widely circulated. Another project, designing a lunar "hostel" beachhead, was presented at ISDC '91 in San Antonio, TX, and published in its precedings. Other projects like the design of a cycling Earth-Moon hotel cruise ship, and brainstorming ideas for lunar railroads, have been published in Moon Miners' Review.
LRS furnishes speakers to schools and other local groups on request.
LRS has promoted joint venture activity between NSS chapters having shared special interests. LRS has been an official cosponsor of ISDC '89 in Chicago, ISDC '90 in Anaheim, ISDC '91 in San Antonio, ISDC '94 in Toronto, and ISDC '95 in Cleveland. LRS is a charter member of the Chapters Assembly.
LRS meets monthly, currently (Spring 1997) on the second Saturday afternoon of the month, in room G110 of the Garden Suites East lower level in Milwaukee's westside mall, Mayfair. In the summer months, we usually have a field trip, outreach activity, and a picnic instead of a regular meeting. But in the summer of '97, we will be meeting monthly in preparation for the ISDC.
For more information, write to:
Peter Kokh
Lunar Reclamation Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 2102, Milwaukee, WI 53201-2102
or call (414-342-0705) or email to <KokhMMM@aol.com>.
Publishers of Moon Miners' Manifesto, a 24-page, monthly newsletter devoted to "Expanding the Human Economy through Off-Planet Resources" Submission Address: 1630 N. 32nd St. Milwaukee, WI 53208-2040. Ph.: 414-342-0705
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