MEETING
PLACE:
The Lunar Reclamation Society holds
regular meetings, open to the public, at
Mayfair
Mall on the city's west
side,
in the
Community
Room, G110),
located on the lower level "Garden Suites
East".
Note: Mayfair now requires us
to keep the door closed, but it is unlocked, and you
can see through the sidelight that we are inside. Come
on in!
This location [map]
is handy to the North Avenue and Mayfair Road exits of
the Highway 45 Freeway (northern continuation of the
I-894 bypass), southbound and northbound
respectively.
At Mayfair, from the central court, walk
north (towards Macy's Department Store, formerly
Marshall Fields) and take the first gallery to the
right. Half way down on the left will be the sign
"Garden Suites East" and a glass door leading to a
stairway (with an elevator option.) G110 is just
around the corner on the lower level.
RELAXED INFORMAL
GATHERINGS
are the rule. We usually
have cozy roundtable first name sessions at which some of
us give space news reports, updates on various chapter
projects, or projects of other groups we are following.
We usually have a presentation on a special topic, and
often, a short video. Our meeting place is very nice,
kitchen facilities available, and refreshments are often
provided by various members on their own initiative.
MSMO:
The membership of the
Moon Society Milwaukee
Outpost is too small to
meat separately and the LRS meeting serves for both
hats.
MEETING SCHEDULE
FOR
2008:
1-4 pm, the 2nd Saturday of the month except in July and
August, during which months we may have a field trip and
chapter picnic.
2008
|
Jan 12th - Feb 9th -
Mar 8th
|
Jul NO - Aug NO
- Sep
13th
|
|
Apr 12th - May 10th
- Jun 14th
|
Oct 11th - Nov 18th
- Dec 13th
|
- Saturday, January 12th,
2007, 1-4 p.m.
- Bob Bialecki brought a Discovery Channel Video
DVD
"Moon for Sale."
Very interesting, though it gave time to
Dennis Hope's Lunar Embassy lunar land sales
program, an illegitimate scheme (the Moon isn't his
to sell) which has netted him millions of dollars
from gullible people. We had a discussion about how
property rights could be established on the Moon,
as they have on empty land on Earth, by
"homesteading" and/or "working the land" or
developing land areas by providing power, water,
and other utility access.
- Charlotte informed us
about the 2008 NCRAL (North-Central Region
of the Astronomical League) Amateur
Astronomy Conference, April
18-19, 2008 at the
Lakeview Conf. Center in Port
Washington. Sheboygan Space Society member,
Harald Schenk, who teaches astronomy at
UW-Sheboygan, will be a speaker. The keynote
speaker will be famed PBS Stargazer, Jack
Foley Horkheimer, Executive Director of the
Miami Space Transit Planetarium. "Foley" as
prefered to be called in his high school days, was
one year behind MMM Editor Peter Kokh at Campion
Jesuit High School in Prairie du Chien, WI iway
back in 1952-55 (years in common). Peter last saw
him in the late 1960s, forty years ago, and hopes
to go to this event.
The February 9th meeting is CANCELLED due to weather
issues
- Saturday, March 8th,
2008, 1-4 p.m.
AGENDA:
- Report on our Exhibt and presentations at
MarsCon in Minneapolis, March 1st.
- UpdateReport on the UnderSea Lab being
built in the Aquarium area of Discovery World at
Pier Wisconsin on the Lake Michigan waterfront -
Peter will have current photos
- Updates on space and
space mission news, conferences etc.
- The calendar ahead
including ISDC 2008 in Washington DC at end of
May
- Bob Bialecki will bring another Discovery
Channel Video DVD
"Base Camp Moon"
On Our Events
Calendar
No scheduled local events at this time.
Peter Kokh is invited to MarsCon in the Twin
Cities February 29th-March 2nd as a Science GoH
January 7, 2008 - Space Shuttle Atlantis is
expected to launch on a mission to install the European
Space Agency's Columbus module. Aboard wil be Stan
Love, a contributer to MMM #s 106, 107, and
108.
December 9, 2006 -
Our 20th
Anniversary Gala Celebration:
- It all started on Saturday, August 23rd, 1986,
when about 15 Milwaukee and Wisconsin members of the
L5 Society attended a meeting called by the Chicago
and Minnesota chapters for the purpose of getting us
to organize. The setting was at the Red Carpet Hotel
at Layton and Howell (now the 4 Points Sheraton)
across from Mitchell International Airport, during the
ongoing Triangulum 2 science fiction convention of
Science Fact, Fiction, & Fantasy. This guaranteed
a greater attendance, drawing several people from the
"con" who had not been L5 members.
- At our December 9th, 2006 meeting we had a
buffet luncheon followed by presentations on
the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) by Ben Huset,
and By Peter Kokh on the Moon Society/LRS/NSS joint
moonbase exercise at MDRS last February 26th -
March11th, led by Peter Kokh as crew commander. Peter
gave a follow on presentation about ideas for a
dedicated Moon Analog Research Station.
- Close to 30 people attended including at least
seven of us on hand at that first August 23, 1986
meeting. We cut an anniversary cake, and several
awards were given out.
- Take home freebies included a CD with the MMM pdf
files, LRS papers in pdf format, and much
more.
- Photos on our Gallery
Page
February 26-March 12, 2006 - Peter
Kokh commands Crew
#45 at the Mars Desert
Research Station - the first Moon Society
moonbase
simulation.
October 10th, 2005 - We are
informed that the dates have been set for the first Moon
Society Mission to the Mars Desert Station: February 26 -
March 12, 2006, with Peter Kokh as Mission
Commander. The Lunar Reclamation Society will be a
principal co-sponsor.
Follow our exploits on
the Artemis
Moonbase Sim 1 website
February 6-20, 2005 - Peter Kokh is
part of Crew
#34 at Mars Desert
Reseach Station
January 2, 2005 - Peter Kokh is
featured guest on the
Space Show, answering
questions from listeners and from email about the Moon
and its role in our future. The show aired
live on the web and on an AM Seattle radio station,
12-1:30 PM Pacific Time (2-3:30 s Central.) You can
listen to the show by going on the URL above and
selecting the January 2, 2005 show from the archives.
October 6, 2004 - Launching Phase I
of a project to Rent
the Mars Desert Research Station in
Hanksville, Utah to run Moonbase Operations Simulation
Exercise - in Phase I, a team will put together options
for a valid simulations program that can be run at the
Utah facility, and which has enough merit to attract
sponsors. Rent: $7,000 per 2-week crew rotation, plus
transportation expenses, and equipment expenses. Peter
Kokh is leading this effort
August 1, 2004 - LRS President Peter Kokh is
elected President of the Moon Society, for a two year
term
6/04/2004 - MMM now has its own domain name, which
forwards to www.lunar-reclamation.org/mmm/ We
hope that this simple device makes it easier for people
who have heard about MMM to find more information. The
new domain was registered on June 4, 2004. You can type
the name in all lower case if you like. Caps in the
illustration above are simply for legibility, and totally
optional. We have also created a
directory of free sample issues in PDF format
(Adobe Portable Document
File) and are working on trial subscription
offers, probably at regular prices but with a
Priority Mail Packet of back issues. The offer will be
aimed at visitors to the MMM home page, to the Moon
Society website, and to members of the National Space
Society who choose to receive MMM as a PDF file in
combination with a special introductory rate membership
in the Moon Society. These details are currently under
discussion with the Moon Society.
3/11/2004 - MMM is
Moon-bound! The only article of the maiden
issue of MMM (#1, December 1986), "M"
is for "Mole" has been uploaded in pdf
form to this website and to the TransOrbital
ARCHIVE. If TrailBlazer 1 does fly, and eventually
impacts the Moon, this archive is expected to
survive.
3/04/2004 - Two new position
papers have been drafted in response to the
Bush Administration's Moon to Mars Initiative and jointly
adopted by the Lunar Reclamation Society (Milwaukee, WI)
and the Moon Society (Plano, TX):
March 4, 2003 - Lunar
Eclipse Section added to the "Explore
From Home" Page
Fall 2002 News
Spring | Summer 2002
News
Our July
20th Field Trip to Chicago
was somewhat disappointing Six of us made the
trip, including a member of the Wisconsin Mars Society
who carpooled with us. It was great meeting some of the
Chicago area Mars Society people and seeing again several
Chicago area NSS members. The exhibits at Adler were
great as usual. But the Mars Analog Research Station
exhibit deserves mixed reviews. The shell of the M.A.R.S.
EuroHab destined for a site in NE Iceland contained good
exhibits about Mars, and some about Mars Society programs
and visions. But it was not outfitted as a M.A.R.S., that
is, as a place from which simulation exercises and
operations would be run. And that, not exhibits on Mars,
was what we thought we were going to see. What is the
sense of exciting people about this very special Mars
Society Project - simulating Mars operations in select
locations on Earth so that we can learn valuable lessons
and go to Mars itself better prepared - if we aren't
going to show people how our field operatives are going
to live and work inside these structures. A tremendous
opportunity has been lost to save a little time, effort,
and money. - PK
Peter Kokh gave a talk on
Space Tourism on Saturday afternoon,
May 18th, at the annual Rockets for Schools event
in Sheboygan. The talk was poorly attended because the
event organizers were too busy to promote the
presentation sessions.
Our website was down most of
April: because of a communications snafu, our
domain name registration was not renewed promptly. We are
glad to be online again!
We manned table at Mitchell
Field: On Thursday evening / Friday
morning, April 25h-26th, Peter manned a table at the
annual Aviation Career Day event, with the theme "Fly the
Skies of Mars." Our table was officially sponsored by the
Wisconsin Mars Society chapter. There was very good
response, about half of it to the idea of Mars in
general, half to the idea of flying on Mars specifically.
We will probably repeat this event next year, hopefully
with some key improvements to our display and
presentation.
Peter Kokh gave a talk on the
Moon to Milwaukee Astronomical Society: On
Friday evening, January 18th, 2002 Peter addressed
MAS at its monthly meeting at the UWM Physics Building on
E. Kenwood & N. Cramer. Peter spoke about the Lunar
Reclamation Society's vision and projects, about his own
life long interest in the Moon, and about the possibility
of automated optical and radio astronomical observatories
on the Moon, and their possible evolution into
occasionally tended, then permanently staffed facilities.
He then spoke about the potential interest of free
enterprise in the Moon, for tourism, and energy,
describing the various scenarios. This would mean
substantial numbers of people living on the Moon and he
described various settlement architecture suggestions and
why he thought the modular approach made the most sense.
Relying as much as possible on indigenous resources,
pioneers could learn to be at home on the Moon, even
indulging in amateur astronomy. His talk was well
received.
Fall 2001 News
15 people made our 15th
Anniversary Holiday Party one of the best
ever: Four members of the Wisconsin Mars
Society (plus two of our members in common) swelled our
ranks at our Holiday meeting on December 8th. One
of them had run into Mary Dixon (widow of Bob
Bramscher who died in August 2001) and as a result
she and son Carl came too! We had brought along our
portable Earthrise Moon Mural to use as a photo op
background - LRS VP and Media Chair Bob Bialecki had
arranged for a photographer from Milwaukee Lifestyles
magazine to be present. The pot-luck fare was great and
we all enjoyed the film "The Dish."
Journal-Sentinel Article on
local Mars Group: On October 17th,
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter Jamal Abdul-Amin
interviewed Peter Kokh at his home on Mars, the
approaching arrival on location of Mars Odyssey, and Mars
topics in general. He followed up by coming to the
Wisconsin Mars Society chapter's meeting on Saturday,
October 20th, bringing along a photographer. We were all
pleased with his thorough, accurate, and balanced
report
in the Journal-Sentinel's Metro Section for Monday,
October 22nd, 2001.
"Live, on the BBC,
London" -- On Thanksgiving Day, November
22nd, Jamilla Knowles of the BBC in London called LRS
VP Bob Bialecki, who gave her Peter Kokh's phone number.
Pete was just walking in the door when the phone rang.
Ms. Knowles interviewed him on "Moon Mining" and the
Artemis Society's Commercial Moonbase project, "live on
BBC, London" for several minutes.
6/30/01
Possible
Midwest
Radio Telescope Array
- using satellite dishes for which
Time Warner Cable has
no further use. Dishes at four area antenna farms are
being made available free of charge (we even get a check
for disassembling them and carting them away). At large
member Dave
Dunlop is working on this project, with some help
from Peter Kokh. A
consortium of colleges in Michigan and Wisconsin would
own and operate the array. Four 23 ft. dishes, and two 16
footers, with their piers etc. from the 2nd and Walnut
(Pleasant) Street site have been disassembled so far and
were trucked to Grand Rapids,
Michigan on Saturday, June 30th. Pete drew on
past blue collar experience to supervise palletizing the
many pieces and banding them for shipment.
The Grand Rapids area is the probable location of this
first harvest of first array elements. Hopefully, the
second array (of 16 and 18 foot dishes) will be located
in Wisconsin. One site NE of Green Bay has been
suggested, but a real site search has not yet begun, and
we are still building our college and university network.
Interest has been expressed by a prominent faculty member
at Marquette University. In the past, Carroll College in
suburban Waukesha has had a radio astronomy program, but
the indications are that this is not a current activity
there. Eventual ties to the Wisconsin and Michigan Space
Grant Consortia are likely.
It has been a lot of work so far, with much more to
come (reoutfitting, site emplacement, control setup,
network building, etc.) before this dream can become
real. At this stage, a press release or publicity would
be premature, and possibly counterproductive to
completion of the plan. So please be discrete in
discussing this development.
The idea is to build a facility for student and
amateur access. Networked as an interferometer, the
dishes should have respectable resolving power. Among
"interesting targets" are the asteroids. S.E.T.I.
searches would be "piggybacked" on all other observing
programs on a "target of opportunity" basis.
Radio Astronomy
Consortium has been incorporated as a Michigan
nonprofit to own and manage the system, with board
members in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. A website
is in the works. RAC will be associated with SARA,
the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers. We will post
website and email information as soon as these are
approved for release.
Update:
02/10/02 - Unfortunately, the partners in Grand
Rapids have not been able to carry through on this effort
for some reason, and it appears to be in limbo.
In Memoriam -
Robert G.
Bramscher
Born July 4th, 1955 in Fargo, North Dakota
Died August 17th, 2000 in Kenosha,
Wisconsin
OBITUARY (Milwaukee Journal, August 19th):
Bramscher, Robert G. 55, passed away on Thursday,
August 17th, 2000. Well known defense attorney in
Kenosha. Graduate of UWM [Univrsity of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee] and of the University of
Wisconsin (Madison) with Juris Doctor of Law degree.
Member of the Wisconsin Bar Association , and among
others, Milwaukee Lunar Reclamation Society. Surviving
Wife Mary Dixon, 3 Sons [including LRS member
Carl], and 2 Brothers. Services were Monday, August
21st, 2001 at 7 pm with visitation from 4 pm at
Hansen-Lendaman Funeral Home - 6019 - 7th Avenue
[across Library Square from Bob's office] in
Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Bob Bramscher and
the Lunar Reclamation Society
Bob joined the just launched "MLRS" in early 1987. He
had previously joined the L5 Society and was an early
active member in the Chicago Society for Space Studies
(CSSS) under Greg Maryniak (later, executive Director of
Space Studies Institute for many years).
Bob hosted meetings in his Kenosha law offices in a
failed attempt to start a Kenosha branch chapter of
MLRS.
He took part in several car pools to annual ISDCs and
made it possible for the editor of Moon Miners' Manifesto
to take in the 1st conference of the newly formed Artemis
Society in Huntsville, AL in 1995 by volunteering to
attend, and take him along.
Bob was very active in the IAF International
Astronautical Federation, traveling with his wife Mary
Dixon to annual conferences all over the world. His
Passion for space and in particular for the history of
Rocketry and Astronautics, led to the compiling of a very
vast collection of books on the subject including many
rare and out of print editions.
Bob made many gifts of books to the LRS/ MMM Library,
and bought us a high speed modem. It was Bob who found us
a connection, through his law partner, Mike Kehoe, to
Carthage College in Kenosha which loaned all the
audiovisual equipment we needed for ISDC '98 at the Hyatt
Regency Milwaukee, therefore guaranteeing the financial
success of that endeavor, both for LRS and NSS.
Bob also frequently provided a classic science fiction
film for LRS annual pre-Christmas party. In his honor,
we'll be showing Homer Hickam's "October Sky" at this
year's holiday party meeting on December 9th at 2pm.
We are hoping some of Bob's cremains make it to the
Moon! We will miss him terribly.
top
Annual Chapter
Activity Reports filed with the National Space
Society
03|07|2008
