Throwing Down the Gauntlet

> Agree, it is even more than a bit silly, but I am tired of just
> sitting around. I want to see something happen and I thought this
> might start a dialogue on a different take towards financing a
private
> space program.
>
> If you have a better approach, I am all ears.

Well, since you seem sincere, here are some ideas:

- Write stories about space colonization (as Mike Combs has been
doing). Or, if you're artistic, make some good modern visualizations.

- If you have the means, produce a realistic movie or TV show about it.

- Support the nascent space tourism industry politically, perhaps
through a group like the SFF or NSS.

- Go to work for a company that's doing something, like Bigelow
Aerospace, XCOR, Virgin Galactic, Benson Space Company, or any of a
number of others.

- Buy the products of these companies, or if that's too much, at least
buy a flight on Zero-G.

- Volunteer to help with the X Prize Cup.

- Enter any of the Centennial Challenges currently or soon underway,
for example, the tether climber, or the autonomous regolith-digger.
Many of these could be done for a few thousand dollars or less. If
you're not of an engineering bent, find somebody who is (at your local
university perhaps) and sponsor them.

- Lobby to get space solar power the funding it deserves. Maybe set up
demonstrations of wireless power transmission (WPT), or build an
exhibit that can travel to museums around the country.

- Resurrect the work on mass drivers (how long has it been since
anyone's built one?), and see what can be done with modern materials
and electronics.

These are just off the top of my head, but I think pretty much any of
them is more likely to be successful, and far more closely tied to what
progress we make toward space colonization, than setting up
"sustainable villages" on Earth. And note that if any of the terms I
use above aren't familiar to you, then you should start by doing
further background reading, because that would mean you're missing out
on a lot of giant shoulders you could be standing on.

I understand your frustration at how slow progress seems to be on a
day-to-day scale -- I think we all feel that. However, I'm much
encouraged lately, because if you take a step back and look at a
timescale of years or decades, we're making more progress now than we
have since the end of Apollo. (And more of the right KIND of progress
since, well, ever.) It's an exciting time, and the difficult chicken-
and-egg problem is finally starting to crack. Above are ways that you
can help push, if you really want to help out.

Best,
- Joe

Joe Strout -- joe@...