Articles about Mars in Moon Miners' Manifesto
UPDATED10-06-2004
On this page we adopt a simple "shorthand notation" to refer to issue, month, and year of Moon Miners' Manifesto in this manner.
EXAMPLE: [113MAR98] = MMM # 113, March, 1998
Most issues and articles have yet to be put online.
Some issues (1986-1990) do not yet exist in electronic form.
Putting up this page will serve as an incentive to accelerate the process.
[6JUN87]
"Mars, as I see it" by Peter Kokh
Synopsis: Arizonesque scenery, but not Arizona! Turning "eyesores" into "assets" - Mars demands a positive attitude. Cheers for "planetary chauvinism." Reality check: no one is crying to settle Antarctica which is a much friendlier place. Mining Phobos & Deimos for volatiles might be an economic door-opener. The Moon as a fuel depot for fleets of Mars bound vehicles.
"Mars, PHOBOS, Deimos" by Peter Kokh
Synopsis: Freight Depot for Earth-Mars and Moon-Mars trade. "PhD" volatiles may sell on the volatile-deprived Moon. [Nb. Prior to Lunar Prospector] PhD have regular availability to Earth whereas most near-Earth objects are irregularly accessible. Plus PhD is a gateway to a whole new world; no NEO is that. On Phobos, a steeply inclined maglev track habitat inside the crater Stickney could provide Mars-level artificial gravity.
[18SEP88]
"The Importance of the Lunar 'M.U.S./c.l.e.' plan for the opening of Mars" by Peter Kokh
Synopsis: The Lunar 'M.U.S./c.l.e.' plan is a strategy whereby items needed on the Moon are designed with two types of components, those easily manufactured on the Moon with local resources, and those which are not and must come from Earth. Products would be designed for final assembly on the Moon. This strategy maximizes the Lunar contribution and minimizes purchases from Earth for a quicker attainment of a "trade balance." If Mars, with more resources than the Moon, can produce and ship components to the Moon less expensively than they can be produced and shipped up Earth's much steeper gravity well, this would create a market on the Moon for Martian products, a market that may be big enough for lunar settlements and corporations to strongly support the opening and development of the Martian Frontier.
"Pavonis Mons: possibly the most strategic mountain in the Solar System" by Peter Kokh
Synopsis: We hear a lot about mighty Olympus Mons. But in one sense, it's slightly smaller sibling Pavonis may be far mightier - the "Peacock Mountain" sits square on the Martian equator. If launch tracks can be built, this is the place to build one. Its mass is basaltic, material we will have learned to make useful things out of on the Moon. And if space elevators can be built, this is the mountain to anchor one on - all we have to do is nudge little Deimos in slightly from its current 30.35 hr orbit to a Mars-synchronous 24/65 hr one - and find a way to keep big brother Phobos from cutting the cable!
SYNOPSES of the following articles have yet to be added to this page
[19OCT88]
"Mars: Option to Stay" by Peter Kokh
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"M-A-R-S-C-A-L-E-N-D-A-R" by Peter Kokh
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As of July, 2004, All of the above articles have been re-edited, reformated, and republished in full, some with new illustrations, in the first two volumes of Moon Miners' Manifesto Classics, available in pdf format for downloading at this address:
http://www.lunar-reclamation.society.org/mmm_classics/ Our intent is to republish in similar manner, all the non-time-sensitive articles from MMM's first ten years, December 1986 through November 1996, in this fashion. Years 3 and 4 are scheduled for publication in January 2005, years 5 and 6 in July 2005, years 7 and 8 in January 2006, and years 9 and 10 in July 2006.
[30NOV89]
"N.I.M.F.: Nuclear rocket using Indigenous Martian Fuel" by Robert Zubrin
Published in MMM at Bob's request
"Wanted; Split-Personality Types for Mars Expedition" by Peter Kokh
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[41DEC90]
"Imagineering Mars Rovers" by Peter Kokh
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"Lunar Develoment and Mars" by Peter Kokh
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"Ceramic-Fiber: Marscraft in the Works" - an interview-based report by Peter Kokh
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"Questionable Simulant for Martian Soil Proposed" by Peter Kokh
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"To Mars and Back: Lighter, Safer, Sooner with Lunar Regolith" - a paper by Brian Tillotson
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"Flavor Martian Settlement Culture with the Romance of Old BARSOOM" by Peter Kokh
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[54APR92]
"Mars: plenty of time to wait, but none to waste" editorial by Peter Kokh
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"Terraforming Mars" by Peter Kokh
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"Xities on Mars" by Peter Kokh
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"Global Access to Mars the World" by Peter Kokh
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[62FEB93]
"Convincing 'Economic Case for Mars' Yet to be Made" editorial by Peter Kokh
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"The Triangle of Earth-Moon-Mars Trade Routes" by Peter Kokh
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"Picking Townsites on Mars: Climate Considerations" by Peter Kokh
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"Frontier Repuclic of Mars" by Peter Kokh
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"CANALS on Mars: from self-deception to reality" by Peter Kokh
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"M.A.R.S. - Mars Antarctic Research Simulation" by Peter Kokh
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[73MAR94]
"Urbs Pavonis - the Peacock Metroplex: the site for Mars Main Settlement" by Peter Kokh
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"Canal Names" by Peter Kokh
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"A Tale of Two Calendars: Zubrin's vs. Kokh's" by Peter Kokh
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"The Mars Heritage Zoning Resolution of 20 ME ~ 1997 AD" by Peter Kokh
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[83MAR95]
"Rural Mars" by Peter Kokh
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"Searching for Old Life on Mars" by Peter Kokh
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"Sowing New Life on Mars: Kim Stanley Robinson's GREEN MARS" review by Peter Kokh
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[93MAR96]
"Mars will require a hardier breed of pioneer" - editorial by Peter Kokh
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"MMM's 'Platform for Mars'" by Peter Kokh
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"REDHOUSING: breeding 'Mars-hardy' plants in compressed Mars Air" by Peter Kokh
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"The Shifting Climate of Mars" by Peter Kokh
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"Searching Mars for Lavatubes" by Peter Kokh
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"Surveying Mars for Permafrost" by Peter Kokh
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[103MAR97]
"The Moon's Role in the Opening of Mars" - editorial by Peter Kokh
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"Outlining a Comprehensive Mars Fossil Discovery and Mapping Program" by Peter Kokh
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"Feasible Goals of Assistance in the 'Opening' of Mars for an early profit-seeking Lunar Industrial Settlement" by Peter Kokh
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"Tempering Enthusiasm for the Red Planet as 'The Next Human Frontier' with Personal Honesty" by Peter Kokh
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"How to Re-start a Space Race to the Moon & Mars" by Alan Wasser
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[110NOV97]
"Lunar Quarantine Facility for Mars Sample Returns" - editorial by Peter Kokh
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[113MAR98]
"In a word: 'Marsandback', NO! 'Marstostay', YES!" - editorial by Peter Kokh
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"NSS Statement on Mars Policy September 25, 1996 & Commentary"
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"Yolk Sac Logistics: a Strategy Tailored for Mars" by Peter Kokh
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"Pantry Stocking: the role of Creative Smuggling in the Building of Marsport" by Peter Kokh
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"MORE TO MARS: sending 12 men to mars for the price of 4, or 24 for the price of 8" by Peter Kokh
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[123MAR99]
"First Steps toward Mapping the Martian Permafrost" - editorial by Peter Kokh
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"Mars 3/8ths Gravity Enroute to Mars" by Peter Kokh
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"Lunar THORIUM: Key to 'Opening Up' Mars" by Peter Kokh
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To be added: articles from 133 March 2000, and 143 March 2001
The issues 153 March 2002, 163 March 2003, and 173 March 2004 are online in their entirety in PDF format at the following address:
Also available at this location are MMM #1 December 1986 (the maiden issue which sets the tone) and eight other select issues from the period 2002-2004
In Addition to these articles, many of the articles in Moon Miners' Manifesto, ostensibly about the Life on the Lunar Frontier, have considerable application to Life on the Martian Frontier as well. This is especially so with respect to the following considerations:
- Mars has an atmosphere, but it is very, very thin. As on the Moon, space suits are required when venturing outdoors. And settlers must protect themselves against largely unfiltered solar ultraviolet, solar flares, and cosmic rays.
- Martian habitats must be shielded, as those on the Moon, with a regolith blanket
- Mars is expected to have many intact lavatubes, as does the Moon, especially in the slopes of the great shield volcanoes: Olympus, Ascraeus, Pavonis, and Arsia.
- While Mars may once have supported a biosphere, and may someday again, microbes aside, it is now a barren and desolate "virginal" planet.
- It will take people, and a lot of work, and a lot of diversification, to make this planet a "human world"
- While Mars has relatively abundant volatiles, they are in rudimentary, elemental and molecular inorganic form. Mars is as devoid of the usual organic chemical building blocks for making plastics and synthetics as is the Moon.
- Even more than will be the case for Lunan pioneers, Martian pioneers will have to be self-reliant to the extreme. Resupply and Rescue is a long ways away, a long ways off in any emergency. Triage may be the predominant medical reality.
- etcetera, etcetera.
In this light, we hope to put together a second set of articles from Moon Miners' Manifesto that will be good reading for would be future Martians. One thing at a time! - PK