Space Without NASA

There are many organizations that LFS members should be aware of but two are of special interest. The first is the Space Studies Institute. I would like to quote, rather extensively from President Gerald K. O’Neill’s column in the September/October issue of SSI Updater, The High Frontier Newsletter. The Institute’s primary purpose is to open, for all humanity, the High Frontier of space. That goal includes 1) using space resources of materials and energy productively, for human benefit; 2) generating wealth from space resources, to improve the human condition both for those who live on the Earth, and for those who will live in space; 3) building Earth-like habitats in space, to expand the ecological range of humanity initially to the space of the Earth-Moon system, later throughout our galaxy.

“The Institute’s deeper goals are the survival of humanity, the improvement of the human condition, and the expansion of human freedoms and human dignity. The Institute looks forward to an open future in which the free choice of individuals, rather than the dictates of governments, will shape individual human desires.

One can become a member by sending $15 to: SSI, 285 Rosedale Road, Princeton, NJ 08540. The same issue of the newsletter also includes a lengthy article on mining the moon and asteroids, and information on the 7th Conference on Space Manufacturing to be held in Princeton, May 8-ll, 1985.

Another interesting publication is The Commercial Space Report, a monthly newsletter edited and published by Tom A. Bronzy which includes “bulletins on new companies and organizations, fresh concepts, and state-of-the-art technologies,” plus articles relating to private space entrepreneurs and editorials on “controversial subjects from a liberty-oriented viewpoint—especially those subjects concerning the struggle of private companies against the government monopoly in space. A subscription to CSR is $15, and can be obtained from CSR, P.O. Box 60547, Sunnyvale, CA 94088.