Things are more settled at the moment.

It is interesting to note that one of the more attractive income opportunities the X PRIZE Foundation identified in their Google Lunar X Prize “Market Study” was linked to “Sample Return”. Our current technology work seems clustered around the navigation and maneuvering necessary to capture a minimum mass ascent vehicle, and get its surface sample on the way back to Earth.

Since “Conventional Wisdom” is that there is nothing easy about this, it is very, very important for us to demonstrate our technologies in orbit (CubeSat style). The fact that we have accomplished many “Not Easy” things over the years cuts no ice with the “Space Pros”. “Space is Different!” And actually, it is different! Experimental work there has been so outrageously expensive that “RISK” was intolerable. The next decade will see that change.

On another front, people like Newt Gingrich are openly talking about a privately funded Lunar Base. As I have pointed out before, Mars is easier to reach than the Moon, and the logistics are similar. But if human minds aren't yet ready to believe in an affordable Mars Mission, they may be ready to believe that “Going Back to the Moon” can be done at less than NASA's price.

Can man survive on the Moon protected by only a spacesuit! The only six votes that count are all YES! (Been there, done that.) How lightweight and low cost can a human Lunar Landing be? I am going to talk about that. How long can a tiny crew live in an inflated habitat without resupply? At least 1000 days. I have been discussing that (and its easier on the Moon than in space). Yes, if things don't work out as planned, you CAN get home in five days. Five liters of LOX and five of water will keep you alive to get home.

I believe Newt Gingrich still has influence and connections, but I don't know what it is going to take to convince him that a Lunar Expedition can look more like a K2 Climb and less like “Building the Panama Canal” (a massive industrial effort). If anyone out there can find me a communications channel to him, that might help.

More soon.