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Tours of the Moon? How Soon? A Compilation of Relevant Articles from MMM’s first 25 years, issues 1-250 As of end of year 2009, lunar tourism is already a near term option. Russia had announced that it would take a tourist on a loop-the-Moon tour that included a 2-week stay at the International Space Station, for the sum of $200 million, with two years notice, needed to build a logistics module to mate with a Soyuz capsule for the trip. Next, Space Adventures, partnering with the Russians, announced a $100 million loop-the-Moon tour, skimming over the heavily cratered farside during daylight, but without a stop at ISS. This would presume Russia had already built the needed logistics module. As the Age of Space Tourism unfolds, prices will come down at all levels, edge-of- space, low Earth orbit, orbiting hotels and resort complexes, and loop-the-Moon tours. As the first tourist landing on the Moon would not require building an outpost, but be an Apollo-style “picnic” – “take pictures, leave only footprints” afair, it could occur before the first space agency manned landing to erect an outpost. Next tourists will demand a place to stay at on the Moon, and at first a simple “hostel” would do. And perhaps the lunar lander crew cabin could be amphibious – with a deployable chassis and motor. Winched down to the surface, it would drive to the hostel and dock, lending the latter its galley kitchen, toilet, and life support systems (the hostel being big dumb volume: sleeping, eating, and recreation space.) For excursions, the lander would undock from the hostel and visit nearby craters and rilles, then taxi back to the rest of the landing rig for the journey home. Once the lunar frontier opens to settlement, any tourists will want to visit these lunar towns. As more settlements are built in other areas, the pioneers will be motivated to make each diferent: diferent architectural styles, diferent plants and gardens, diferent cuisine, and so on, all to attract variety-seeking tourists and the added income and prosperity that they will bring. The Moon seems monotonous only to the unobservant. When you have seen one crater, you will not have seen them all. There are rilles, plains, crater central peaks, permanently shaded craters and last, but not least, lavatubes. In time tourist facilities and concessions will facilitate visiting all these features. On Earth, there are tourists who pay for the privilege of working, on “architectural digs,” for example. This is something we may see much of on the Moon. Some tourists will pay to explore, to help build, to help prospect, and more. Tourism will be a cornerstone of a young lunar economy. MMM [Note: The reprinted material below is not organized by topic or theme, but by order of publication sequence. Also included are some articles that deal with aspects of frontier life that will attract tourists and their dollars. Some of these articles suggest that it may be up to us space enthusiasts and entrepreneurs alike to help predevelop technologies that can make all this happen.] CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX MMM THEMES: TOURISM: What tourists will come to see, as well as tourism itself MMM #2 Moon Garden MMM #3 Moon Mall; Moon Music MMM #5 M is for Middoors; Lunar Architecture; M is for Matchport MMM #7 M is for Month, or Sunth. for Meridian; for Metonic Period; Moon Calendar MMM #8 Animal Life; Parkway MMM #9 Moon Sports MMM #13 Apparel MMM #15 Rural Luna; Threads MMM #16 Jewelry MMM #20 An Amateur Lunar Telescope Design MMM #21 Lunar Overflight Tours MMM #43 Dayspan; Nightspan;’ ‘Sunth MMM #47 ABC TV Movie PLYMOUTH; Native Born; Funerals Befitting Lunar Pioneers MMM #48 Lowering the Threshold for Lunar Occupancy: Hostels, an alternate concept for both first beachheads and secondary outposts MMM #49 Hostels paper continued MMM #53 Fireside MMM #55 Moon Roofs; Skyscrapers on the Moon? MMM #56 Harbor & Town MMM #69 Tourist Earnings; 7 Wonders of the Moon MMM #81 Lunar Surrey; Go-anywhere Spider Vehicle; Lunar Camping MMM #87 The Brass Spittoon MMM #92 Pioneer Holidays MMM #94 Primitive Roots of ‘Lunan Culture; Making do without the Outdoors; Benificent Desolation: lack of global biosphere has a silver lining MMM #95 A Tale of 2 Moons: Earth-facing and Earth-oblivious; A Green Security Blanket Against the Overwhelming Barrenness of the Moonscape MMM #97 The Quest for Variety; The Small Market Syndrome MMM #102 Footsteps on the Moon and Other Leavings; The Lunar City Museum 2097 Visitors Guide; Archive Luna: The Grand Archives of Earth and Humanity MMM #105 Burial of-planet MMM #107 Earth Color Medley Calendar in the Nearside Sky MMM #109 Luna City StreetsMMM #112 The Out-Vac Sculptor MMM #112 The Out-Vac Sculptor MMM #115 Skiing the Moon MMM #117 Scenic Cableways; Land-cruising Gypsy House Boats; Cruising Mare Crisium MMM #135 Ist Moon Tours: The Farside Loop MMM #136 An ‘All-in-One’ Moon Resort MMM #138 Regolith Beach: A Lunar Golf Course MMM #161 Tourist Clusters on the Moon MMM #164 Eclipses: The Lunar Experience MMM #172 Lavatube Blacklight Fantasy Excursions MMM #175 Creating "Nature Walks" on the Moon MMM #225 "Skinsuit" Accessories May Open Great Lunar Outdoors MMM #244 Could Paying Working Tourists Open the Moon Faster, for Less? MMM #246 Most Popular Souvenir?; How to taker a walk on the Moon and not get lost SUB-THREAD INDEX: MMM THEMES: TOURISM What Tourists Will Come to See MMM #2 Moon Garden MMM #3 Moon Mall; Moon Music MMM #5 M is for Middoors; Lunar Architecture; M is for Matchport MMM #7 M is for Month, or Sunth. for Meridian; for Metonic Period; Moon Calendar MMM #8 Animal Life; Parkway MMM #9 Moon Sports MMM #13 Apparel MMM #15 Rural Luna; Threads MMM #16 Jewelry MMM #20 An Amateur Lunar Telescope Design MMM #43 Dayspan; Nightspan;’ ‘Sunth MMM #47 ABC TV Movie PLYMOUTH; Native Born; Funerals Befitting Lunar Pioneers MMM #53 Fireside MMM #55 Moon Roofs; Skyscrapers on the Moon? MMM #56 Harbor & Town MMM #69 Wonders of the Moon MMM #81 Lunar Surrey; Go-anywhere Spider Vehicle; Lunar Camping MMM #87 The Brass Spittoon MMM #92 Pioneer Holidays MMM #94 Primitive Roots of ‘Lunan Culture; Making do without the Outdoors; Benificent Desolation: lack of global biosphere has a silver lining MMM #95 A Tale of 2 Moons: Earth-facing and Earth-oblivious; A Green Security Blanket Against the Overwhelming Barrenness of the Moonscape MMM #97 The Quest for Variety; The Small Market Syndrome MMM #102 Footsteps on the Moon and Other Leavings; The Lunar City Museum 2097 Visitors Guide; Archive Luna: The Grand Archives of Earth and Humanity MMM #105 Burial of-planet MMM #107 Earth Color Medley Calendar in the Nearside Sky MMM #105 Burial of-planet MMM #138 Regolith Beach: A Lunar Golf Course MMM #161 Tourist Clusters on the Moon MMM #164 Eclipses: The Lunar Experience MMM #172 Lavatube Blacklight Fantasy Excursions MMM #175 Creating "Nature Walks" on the Moon MMM #225 "Skinsuit" Accessories May Open Great Lunar Outdoors MMM #246 Most Popular Souvenir from the Moon?; How to go for a walk on the Moon and not get lost Stages of Lunar Tourism MMM #21 Lunar Overflight Tours MMM #48 Lowering the Threshold for Lunar Occupancy: Hostels, an alternate concept for both first beachheads and secondary outposts MMM #49 Hostels paper continued MMM #69 Tourist Earnings; MMM #135 Ist Moon Tours: The Farside Loop MMM #244 Could Paying Working Tourists Open the Moon Faster, for Less? MMM #260 Telepresence Tours of the Moon? How Soon? Lunar Tourism Private Enterprise Opportunities MMM #48 Lowering the Threshold for Lunar Occupancy: Hostels, an alternate concept for both first beachheads and secondary outposts MMM #49 Hostels paper continued MMM #161 Tourist Clusters on the Moon MMM #244 Could Paying Working Tourists Open the Moon Faster, for Less? MMM #260 Telepresence Tours of the Moon? How Soon? NOTE: Many of the articles included below, describe things that would be of interest to tourists visiting early lunar frontier settlements. MMM # 2 February 1987 MOON GARDEN [First of a series of articles on the need to predevelop the software of Lunar Civilization] By Peter Kokh [email protected] Yes, the air and water of a Lunar settlement can be chemically recycled; and yes, the settlers can be fed synthetic foods so that it would not be strictly necessary to bring to the Moon any representatives of other living Earth species, plant or animal. However, most of us, would hardly find this conducive to morale on a lifetime basis. A settlement of colonists chosen for their indiference to the "real thing" could hardly be called "human." Whether we think of it or not, human beings cannot be divorced from the rest of Earth life amongst which we have evolved not only biologically and physiologically but culturally as well. True, many persons live in homes and apartments that seem almost anti-septic, but Nature is just outdoors. On the Moon there is no world of living nature just outdoors, and colonists will most certainly feel compelled to go overboard in compensating for the Lunar sterility and barrenness by living in homes (i.e. not mere modules) that are lush with greenery, vivid with floral color, and sonorous with bird song. Now the Lunar dayspan-nightspan cycle is twenty-nine and a half times as long as our day-night cycle; this presents a problem for Lunar gardening. True, a solar power satellite at L1 or some other amply sized power unit (e.g. nuclear) might allow colonists to cycle light and darkness to their gardens on an artificial 24 hr schedule.
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