Question 1-What is the Lunar Claim Program?
Answer 1-The Lunar Claim Program offers a Deed of Claim for a parcel of land on the moon.
Question 2-What is a Deed of Claim?
Answer 2-A Deed of Claim is a precise description of the location and boundaries of a parcel of land on the moon.
Question 3-Is a Deed of Claim something like a regular property deed that shows ownership of the described land?
Answer 3-No.
Question 4-Then what is its value based on?
Answer 4-Its value is based on the following concept:
- The possible future claim of lunar land territory by the US Government based upon its successful 1960's-1970's Apollo Program of manned spacecraft landings, surveys and explorations on the moon;
- The subsequent US Government offering of land parcel grants to requesting individual or business entities for the purpose of encouraging lunar development; and
- The anticipation that a land grant request based upon a Deed Of Claim precisely describing a specific parcel of lunar land would have an enhanced potential for being honored by the US Government.
Question 5-Has the US Government ever done anything like this in the past?
Answer 5-Yes.
Question 6-What did the US Government do that might be considered a legal precedent for the provision of lunar land grants?
Answer 6-As part of a program to develop its newly acquired territories of the West, the US Government passed the Homestead Act of 1862. This Act enabled people willing to stake out a parcel of land in the new territory in order to claim that land parcel and subsequently receive a free grant of that land from the government.
Question 7-Is this simply a charitable gesture on the part of a government?
Answer 7-No.
Question 8-Why is it done?
Answer 8-Populating and developing newly acquired territories produces the politically necessary clear evidence of the government's overall ownership of such territories and - importantly - provides the government with an additional source of tax revenue produced by such land development.
Question 9-Can this happen with land on the moon?
Answer 9-Yes.
Question 10-Why would a person, a company or the US Government ever want to own land on the moon?
Answer 10-The reasons for ownership of lunar land include health, profit, and the National interest.
Question 11-Why would a person want to go to the moon?
Answer 11-Due its having only one-sixth the gravity of the Earth, which means that your weight on the moon is only 1/6th of what you weigh on Earth, a stay on the moon could have a significant life-extending effect on a person, i.e., a reduced burden on the heart. There are, of course, many other reasons for a person to want to go to the moon.
Question 12-Why would a company want to go to the moon?
Answer 12-To make a product, for example, whose manufacture makes good use of widely available lunar materials and, in some cases, further requires high-vacuum processing. Such processing, for example, is a critical part of computer chip manufacture. On Earth, obtaining such high vacuums is expensive. On the moon, the absence of air would make it much simpler and cheaper to obtain the needed vacuum levels.
Question 13-Why would the government want to claim a large tract of lunar land?
Answer 13-The government would claim a large lunar tract of land in response to a clear demonstration of its citizens that this was a desirable action.
The government would do so if there were a sufficient number of voter contacts with legislative representatives, for example, with members of the U.S. House of Representatives and of the U.S. Senate.
The government might itself take such an initiative as a pre-emptive action, if there were a concern that another nation was planning to claim lunar land.
At this time, the U.S. Government has the most legitimate basis for peacefully claiming lunar territory, as it is presently the only nation that has successfully conducted a program of manned lunar landings, surveys and explorations.
Question 14-What are some of the realities of developing lunar land? That is, what are the actions that have to be taken in order to accomplish the difficult task of building a lunar base and then developing that base into a livable place?
Answer 14- Such actions will include planning, analysis, evaluations, development, test - and more evaluations - of the many and various details involved in getting to the Moon and developing a first lunar base.
Question 15-Isn't that an expensive and long-term process?
Answer 15-It doesn't have to be.
Question 16-Why not?
Answer 16-Because the U.S. Government and its many agencies, including its primary federal agency in such matters, NASA, with the considerable support of the US Industry, has already addressed a substantial part of these issues, and much more, starting with the 1950's (yes, the 1950's) space initiatives that culminated with the Apollo Program and its six successful manned lunar landings.
As an example, the Grumman Aerospace Corporation submitted in early 1962 its successful proposal to build the Lunar Excursion Modules (LEM's, later abbreviated to LM's) that landed astronauts on the moon and then safely returned the astronauts to the awaiting lunar orbiting Apollo Command Module as part of the return-to earth.
Question 17-Does this means that all of the problems with getting to and remaining on the moon have been addressed and resolved?
Answer 17-No.
Question 18-What might be a good starting point for a renewed US Lunar Program?
Answer 18-The answer is in the key word "renewed".
Many of the questions concerned with planning a successful lunar base development have already been identified and, in fact, been both addressed and answered as a part of the US Apollo Program conducted for the US by NASA.
As a result of the Apollo Space Program and its successful accomplishment of six (6) lunar landings and the associated lunar surveys and explorations, much knowledge, including spacecraft designs, spacesuit designs, and lunar base designs can be assumed to have been developed and well documented by the NASA organization.
Question 19-What is the more important effort at this time: development of technology for getting to the moon or determining what can be done on the moon?
Answer 19-One answer is that both efforts are important - but the politics and practicality of the matter suggest that the currently more important effort is the determination of what can be done on the moon.
Question 20-Why is it more important to determine what can be done on the moon rather than to accelerate the development of the "getting there" technologies?
Answer 20-Because getting the technical development monies requires justification as to why such monies should be spent on such efforts in the first place.
This approach, for example, is how the US Congress, House and Senate, decides where to spend federal funds - especially at a time when there are so many other needs to be addressed.
This approach, as another example, is how companies decide to spend "in-house" funds, i.e., their own money, when it comes to the development of future profits for the company - clearly, a smart approach if you have stock in the company.
Question 21-What is one specific way to consider what can be done on the moon after you get there?
Answer 21-First, pick out an idea that "sounds good and ought to work". Don't worry, at least initially, if the idea is workable or not. If further detailed study suggests that the idea is a good one, close the study and present the positive results to people who have available funding. You can be sure that if such funding sources share in the opinion that "it's a good idea", they will address the matter of feasibility, i.e., and can you really do this?
Question 22-What might be a good set of ideas to start thinking about?
Answer 22-The following are some ideas, not in any order of priority:
Note: Before presenting a list of possible ideas, it's important to make a few comments about "life on the moon":
-There is no atmosphere (no air) on the moon.
-The day-night cycle is 30 days.
-Stated differently, "day" is two weeks long and "night" is two weeks long.
-Day is very hot.
-Night is very cold.
-Everything weighs one-sixth of its weight on Earth.
-The night sky is very clear and black - full of stars.
-The day sky is very clear and black - and a very bright sun.
A list of possible ideas:
1-Constructing a first lunar base by the use of robots.
This idea requires an initial determination as to the architecture of a first lunar building. What size and shape should it be? Should it be a structure sitting on the lunar surface? Or, should it be a cave, natural or dug out, inside of which one constructs a livable module.
Remember the need for making or obtaining air and water locally.
Remember the need for a residence that can tolerate, on a regular monthly basis, 2 weeks of extreme Antarctic cold (night) followed by 2 weeks of extreme tropic heat (day).
Consider the possibility that robots might be used to construct and test a first lunar base before humans arrive to live there.
This approach has the advantages of economy and safety of life. The two advantages actually go hand-in-hand, i.e., robots can malfunction (but they don't "die") and still be remotely repaired, whereas assurance of the safety of humans on the moon can be costly.
2-Using robots to renew the lunar surveys and explorations begun by the six Apollo manned landing teams. This idea requires an initial determination of what to look for and what robotically controlled instruments are needed to do such explorations on the moon, and, further, a determination of where to look on a moon that has one side that is always facing the earth and a second side that never faces the earth
3-Conducting geologic and chemical explorations of the lunar surface and sub-surface in order to determine the possible extent and value of discovered materials.
4-Identifying measures for keeping the moon "clean" after it begins to be developed.
5-Determining methods and procedures for initiating the construction of a first manned lunar base by the use of robots.
Question 23-Why should I accept a lunar land parcel offering now?
Answer 23-Acceptance of a lunar land parcel offering immediately provides the owner with a Deed of Claim for a land parcel of dimensions of 1/3 degree of lunar latitude by 1/3 degree of lunar longitude. This accurately described parcel, in terms of size and location, has been intentionally selected to be of relatively large size in order to provide the potential owner with a wide variety of future options as to the use of this land. Stated differently, this parcel contains a land area of about 6 by 6 miles,
i.e., 36 square miles, or 24,000 acres, a size that provides considerable flexibility when it comes to determining future use of the land, including the space above and below the lunar surface.
Question 24-What is another reason for accepting the offering?
Answer 24-The notarized 8 ½ by 11 inch Deed of Claim provides a precise and truly accurate land parcel description, i.e., one can locate the parcel on the package-provided detailed lunar map to an accuracy of about 1 foot at each of the parcel's four corner locations. This accuracy of parcel corner locations is due the fact that all location measurements are referenced to the location of an Apollo manned spacecraft lander, which NASA has determined to an accuracy of 1 foot. An 11inch by 14-inch suitable-for-framing quality paper copy of the Deed of Claim is also provided.
Offer acceptance also provides 11 inch by 14-inch suitable-for-framing quality paper matching maps and photographs at three levels of increasing detail for the specific lunar land parcel, i.e., a territorial level of detail of the moon indicating lunar terrain features and the location of both the parcel and its related Apollo landing site; a section level of detail more precisely indicating the parcel and Apollo landing site locations and terrain features; and a block level of detail, wherein the parcel size occupies an image dimension in excess of one by one inches, with both map and photo images providing high resolution details of the parcel and its related lunar terrain features.
Question 25-How was the offered individual lunar parcel size of 6 miles by 6 miles arrived at?
Answer 25-The offered lunar parcel size of approximately 6 miles by 6 miles is based on the use of Lunar Latitude and Longitude lines as a convenient way of describing the East-West and North-South boundaries of the property and, importantly, by dividing the parcels into exactly 1/3 degree by 1/3 degree segments, such segments being equal in the mid-Lunar latitudes to approximately 6 miles by 6 miles, or about 24,000 acres.
The important values are 1/3 degree by 1/3 degree. This size parcel is the smallest size for which lunar maps and photographs currently available to the public can provide a reasonable picture of the terrain within a unit parcel, e.g., how much of a particular lunar crater, mountain or plain lies within the parcel boundaries.
It is for this reason that the maps and photographs provided with each lunar parcel offering are so valuable. Whether it is used as a detailed display of the lunar surface in which one has a very real and personal interest, or as the basis of a study of what might be done with the particular parcel, the selected parcel size of 6 miles by 6 miles assures a high probability of potential parcel value.
Question 26-Why should someone be interested in lunar property at this particular time?
Answer 26-One reason that now is the time for developing an interest in the moon is the combination of two current space-related activities: 1-the current extensive activity of preparing the most detailed and informative lunar maps and processed photographs ever developed by the United States Geologic Survey (since the 1970's period of Apollo Space Program Manned Lunar Landings) by using the 1995 period of Clementine Spacecraft Lunar Surveys with high resolution cameras and other high performance sensors; and 2-the anticipated Mars Surface Television Imagery expected to be transmitted by NASA's Odyssey Spacecraft and received by NASA and globally displayed in early 2002 - an event that will serve to generate much interest in manned Mars missions and considerable renewed interest in Lunar missions, robotic and manned, to develop a foundation for Mars travel and colonization. The not-so-obvious reason for involving Lunar activities in Mars missions is that it takes about 6 months to get to Mars and less than 6 days to go to and land on the moon - a fact that quickly leads to the conclusion that probably the best way to demonstrate a high safety potential for a planned first manned Mars landing is to demonstrate a series of manned lunar landings (and their related safe returns to Earth) with the to-be-developed Manned Mars Mission technology.
The important by-product of the above activities is very likely to be a major and rapidly growing renewed interest in lunar exploration and development.
