How to fill a new Habitat?

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "deangerl"
> >From my experience, fund raising for mechanical projects is very
> difficult. People tend to give money more freely to projects that
> help other people in misery or strives to find a cure to a disease
> (that they might have a potential of getting). To get many people
> (businesses) interested there has to be something in it for them
> (human nature).
>

I think there also is a disbelief factor to overcome. "You're
donating to what?"

> People tend to like to gamble (hence public lotteries, casinos and
> places like Las Vegas), maybe a lottery system with proceeds to a
> space launch system maybe a profitable method to finance a launch
> system development company to boot strap the whole space
> infrastructure. Call it SpaceBall or Lucky Lunar.
>

As I understand it, gambling is illegal with certain exceptions. You
might operate within those exceptions but why would anyone invest in
it. You'd run into the same problems of people investing in space.

> People can give something more beneficial than money time and
> skills. Some people "volunteer" their time to collaborate to build
> better software packages that are offered to the general public for
> free, know as open source software (i wrote this message using a
> program suite that replaces the Mircrosoft Office suite Open
> Office google it and download for free, it works the same way).
> The typical reason why developers do this is because they want a
> better software tool themselves but they need the effort and skills
> of others to help them. Plus they get a kick out of using
something
> they made. People have pride in the work they do themselves, that
> is why Home Depot has become popular. Home Depot sell a product
> plus they show people they can do the work themselves. Do you
> remember building a soap-box car or tree house as a child and how
> much fun it was knowing that you did it (or helped)?
>

One huge difference between volunteering for open source programming
and volunteering for this. Location. To volunteer for something like
this, one must leave behind their entire life. They would have to
find a new job at the location to make ends meet. Huge risks. Very
few people can do this, let alone will do it.

Another option is to just do the engineering with volunteers and then
find financing after the engineering work is done. Still has the
problem of financing.

There are actually a few organizations doing this that are relying on
volunteers. 1Kplanets is one that comes to mind. I had a personality
clash with the head honcho there a little while back and left. If
you're more tolerant than I am of people, it may be worth looking
into. If that's what you're looking for anyways.

> Can we attract people with the proper skills to volunteer a little
> time build the launcher system? Maybe retired professionals might
> be interested in helping? Promote it as a hobby? Possibly a
> government agency, like NASA, could allot a few of their trained
> professionals to oversee and guide the project. A high profile
> agency involvement might be enough to lure the critical mass of
> people to get the project really going.
>
> Dean Gerl
>

Joe