1. Lunar Dreams
2. News Happenings in New York City, and dinner with Marshall
3. Our Neighbor In Space Dmitri Donskoy takes a look at our closest relative, the Moon
4. A Recipe For Green Cheese (Part Two) Nick Gauthier takes another look at moon colonization
5. Technobabble
6. Elements Featured this month: oxygen
7. Book Reviews A must-read!
8. Cosmic Dreams Luna inspires love

Lunar Dreams

The most immediately obvious change is the fact that more than one person is actually authoring the articles here. There is only one such contribution, by Dmitri Donskoy, but it is a start. He has done a fine job of describing Luna and her phases. This fits in well with this month’s theme.

A number of readers have expressed interest in my original Green Cheese article. I have written a follow-up for this issue. I do not claim to have covered all grounds, but I have tried to give a broad view of some of the ecological aspects of moon colonies. Some of the ideas for terraforming Lunar craters apply well to forming a Martian biosphere, so I have also made mention of this in the article.

I apologize for not including more info on SCUBA this month, as I promised at the end of last month’s article. There is simply too much else that I wanted to squeeze in. I will say that I have just completed my open water certification course, and am now a certified diver! Just one step on the road to Aquarius.

Perhaps it is time I got around to why I chose Luna as the theme for this month. Luna is essentially a planet. She is Earth’s daughter, and as such, draws us irresistibly. We can look up in the daytime sky and actually see her surface. At night, she is even more compelling. With a simple telescope, one can discern features that make the heart race with excitement. Sun shadows in her craters give the impression that what you are seeing up there is really another land, a real place. It is one thing to see another planet as a point of light in the sky, or to look at a fuzzy disk through a lens. But Luna is there in all her glory, showing her features to all who care to look. It is perhaps this, more than anything else, that allows us to believe that other worlds can exist, that they are real places. We can see it with our own eyes, and once we have set our sights on another world, nothing can stop us from imagining what else might lie beyond our immediate grasp.

Members of the Tri-state Chapter:

Dmitri Donskoy
William Gale
Nick Gauthier
Sam Liebowitz
Cary Robyn

Cosmic Dreamweaver is the newsletter of the Tri-state Chapter of the First Millennial Foundation, Copyright©1995. All members (Core or Cladding) of the First Millennial Foundation are free to copy and utilize any part of this newsletter for Foundation purposes.

News Happenings in New York City, and dinner with Marshall

First, the bad news. Aquarius Rising will not happen in St. Croix. Someone has beaten us to the land we wanted, and plunked down six million dollars in cash.

Now, for the good news. The project will still go on, and our membership is still growing steadily. What follows should give some idea of why things are looking up.

Two very interesting things have happened to me this month. First, on May 19, I gave a presentation on the First Millennial Foundation to the USS Phoenix, a Star Trek Club Chapter (Galaxy Class Ship). They graciously provided me with a VCR, so I was able to show the Pasadena Chapter’s introductory video, that was originally shown at the November 1995 Star Trek Convention in California.

After showing the video and handing out some informational flyers, I talked at length about the various aspects of the project, especially Aquarius Rising and Aquarius. They had some very intelligent comments to make, and at times it was more of a discussion than a presentation. This was very good practice for future presentations. In the future, I will use a set of slides that Marshall has so graciously provided the Tri-State Chapter with.

Which brings us to the next thing that happened. On May 24, I went down to NYC, and met Marshall and some other Coremembers (Dmitri Donskoy, Sam Liebowitz, Cary Robyn) for the International Space Development Conference. Marshall gave his presentation, and over the course of the weekend, Dmitri and I ran into several people whose interest had been sparked by The Millennial Project. There seems to be an undercurrent of interest, although in fairness, I think a lot of people are waiting for us to do something concrete (no pun intended), like beginning our actual colony. Once we do get our hands dirty with the actual colony, the international space community seems like it will focus its attention on us, which will only help our cause. Everyone seems to have their plan, and it will take a bit of convincing to get them to feel that our plan is going to work. We will accomplish this!

A lot of great ideas were exchanged over dinner Friday night, after Marshall gave his presentation to the Conference. We all agreed that although someone has beaten us to the land on St. Croix, we are more enthusiastic than ever about the project. This has been a very steep learning curve, but that simply means we are learning.

One of the better things to come out of that dinner meeting was the formation of the Tri-state Chapter (for those who don’t know, the tri-state region includes NY, NJ, and CT). Our pooling of resources will include the production of Cosmic Dreamweaver, Dmitri Donskoy’s web page, which will feature the newsletter and Chapter information, and the efforts of Sam Liebowitz and others, as we meet regularly to get things accomplished.

We also got to know each other better, which helps strengthen ties and keeps interest alive. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of Kail Andersen’s Chapters idea, which has become the structure of the Foundation. Meet with people when you can, and try to get things accomplished. Soon, the Chapter information packet will be coming out of Pasadena, and we will strengthen our organization by strengthening local Chapters.

To any who have any doubts about the success of the FMF, let me say this. Never has anything so positive been attempted, for all humanity, and for all of life. Those who are skeptical are still interested; from this reservoir of people will come the next wave of Core members. Those of us here and now, 280 Core and 85 Cladding members, will continue to work hard (as many of us already have). Membership is still growing, we are near 1997’s goal for membership, which is supposed to double each year (our 1996 goal is 152 members, whilke our August 1997 goal is 304 members). If you count the Cladding, we are already ahead of the game.

Now is the time to be somebody, now is the time to make a significant contribution to the Foundation, now is the time to mold the future of the Cosmos, now, now, now, now, now...

-Nick Gauthier

Our Neighbor In Space

Let me start by saying that the Moon is Earth's largest natural satellite at about one quarter the size of the Earth. Because the Moon is so small, the force of gravity on it is about six times less than here. Just like every other known object in our galaxy, the Moon is constantly in motion. It revolves all the way around the Earth about once every 28 days. It is because of this motion around the Earth that we see the different phases of the Moon. We can only see that portion of the Moon which is illuminated by the Sun. The Lunar cycle is arbitrarily described as starting when it is in between the Sun and the Earth. When the Moon is in this position it is said to be the New Moon. The Moon can't be seen in this phase because the side that is lit by the Sun is turned away from us. As the Moon continues on in its orbit around the Earth, more and more of the Moon becomes visible. The first phase that the Moon goes through is called Crescent Moon. In this phase the Moon is seen as a sliver. As the days go by the crescent grows continuously until half of the lit side of the Moon or one quarter of the whole Moon is visible. This is called the First Quarter Moon. Remember that the Moon is always lit on the part that faces the Sun and as the Moon moves around, more and more of this lit section is exposed to us back on Earth. The Moon continues to grow fuller and becomes Gibbous when more then half of a circle is visible. The Moon is said to be full when the entire illuminated face is exposed to the Earth. This occurs when the Earth is positioned in between the Moon and the Sun. The Full Moon happens about 14 days after the New Moon. From this point on, the phases repeat in reverse order as the Moon once again moves off into darkness. After the Full Moon comes the Gibbous Moon, then the Third Quarter Moon, and finally the Crescent Moon. Then the Moon has returned back to its starting point at the New Moon and the cycle is ready to start again. This explains thedifferent cycles of the Moon as seen from the Earth.

One important fact to remember is that the Moon does not rotate as quickly as does the Earth. The Moon rotates once every orbit. This means that the same face of the Moon is always directed towards us. Before robotic satellites were launched to explore the back side of the Moon no one really knew what was there.

-----------------------------
Dmitri Donskoy
Connecticut, USA
http://www.neca.com/~dmitri
-----------------------------

Editor’s note: One of the fascinating finds about the far side of the moon is that it is has essentially no marae, or dark lava covered lowlands. This is in stark contrast to the visible side, and was totally unexpected.

A Recipe For Green Cheese (Part Two)

Problems to Face
There are a few facts about the moon that we must meet head on. First, there is no water (as such). Second, there is a dearth of some vital elements. And third, the lack of an atmosphere means that an enclosed breathing space and a means of protecting inhabitants from radiation and vacuum must be provided by the colony.

The first point, the one of water, is considered by some to be an all but insuperable barrier (Berman, 1995). However, oxygen is in absurd abundance on the moon. (Eckart, 1994). The following table, taken from Life Support and Biospherics by Peter Eckart, shows the chemical composition of both the lowland, or marial, rocks, as well as the highland rocks, as sampled by the manned Apollo missions.

Note that every one of these components (excepting only elemental sulfur) is an oxygen-containing compound. By heating up the rocks to 1300ºC (Savage, 1994), the oxygen can be released as a pure gas. If it is combined it hydrogen, then water can be made to order.

Hydrogen can be gotten one of two ways. Either it can be transported from Earth (a very energy-consuming task), or it can be obtained from elsewhere in the Solar System. Near Earth asteroids can provide us with all of the hydrogen that we need. Of course, it still takes energy to transport hydrogen from these nearby asteroids, but since there is essentially no gravity well to overcome, it will be orders of magnitude less energy-intensive than using Earth as a hydrogen source.

As far as energy goes, the sun shines continuously on Luna, and does so without an interfering atmosphere. Therefore, we can collect enough sunlight to power our colony. Solar bubbles will collect this energy (Savage, 1994). They are transparent in one hemisphere and reflective on the inside of the other hemisphere. This creates a concave mirror surface, which concentrates the light towards the center. This light will then power a steam turbine. This will be our power source, and it will be used initially for orbital colonies, so it should be a technology well in place before we start doming over craters on the moon. Sunlight can also be utilized with mirrors, to make day/night conditions as we please.

With enough energy and naturally available oxygen, there is little fear of lack of water. The same mining ships that will get us hydrogen, will also mine the asteroids for carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous (an element already present in detectable amounts on the moon), and any other elements or compounds we will need. We will even find water ice on some bodies, especially any comets that happen by (Asimov, 1995; software posthumously adapted from his works).

The atmosphere will exist under the bubble domes we erect. A water shield, sandwiched between layers, several meters thick, will provide radiation protection. The bubble can also be tinted with gold to provide further protection.

The atmosphere itself will have three main gases: oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. Because of the low air pressure (3-5psi, or one-fifth to one-third of sea level pressure), the air can be mostly oxygen. Because of the low pressure, a high concentration will result in the same number of oxygen molecules per volume (say, per liter), so neither breathing, nor high flammability, will be a problem. The partial pressure of oxygen will be the same that we are used to on Earth, so respiration and burning will occur at the same rate. Plants cannot survive without carbon dioxide, and anyway, we cannot help but produce it by respiring.

Nitrogen will be present as part of the nitrogen cycle (see the May issue of Cosmic Dreamweaver). If we want Terran ecosystems to survive on Luna, we will need the whole gamut of nitrogen fixers, nitrate and nitrite decomposers, and so on. We will have to experiment in Aquarius Rising to determine the proper levels of each gas. Things To Consider

The actual methods of recycling waste and managing organic resources (including life) will depend on an integration of all aspects of human life. People on Luna must understand the process that recycles their wastes, and that makes algae and plants grow. We will have delicate ecosystems, especially in the beginning. We need to be sure people are properly educated to deal with their situation.

Anyone living in the colony must be introduced to the workings of our combination recycler, greenhouse, farm, and arboretum. A wastewater treatment facility of the type that I described in the original Green Cheese article has the potential to be all of these things. We will maximize the use of space and energy by having the food we eat fertilized by the organic wastes immediately available in the same facility. Nearby there will also be a nursery, and plants can be transplanted to other parts of the dome when they start to mature.

Another feature of our facility will be an outflow pipe that will put nutrients into the lakes and streams of the colony. This will seed the colony with the basics for forming an aquatic ecology, and a continuous flow will simulate the deposition of nutrient-rich sediments carried by rivers and streams in nature. Aeration of the water by tumbling downhill will also help keep the water from becoming stagnant. Once at the lakeshore, littoral plants will absorb a large percentage of the nutrient load. Fish, crayfish, and other organisms will distribute these nutrients out among the open waters of our giant lakes, and when we harvest algae and fish from the water, we will reclaim the nutrients, and begin the cycle again.

For the overall health of the colony, separate areas of forest, meadow, hills and flats, still ponds and cascading falls, will add a variety that will give us the strength of flexibility. Both marine and freshwater environments, as well as the terrestrial ones, can support a biodiversity that will make the continuation of the colony much more feasible than having only one kind of terrain. Also, the psychological health of the colonists will be much enhanced by the multiplicity of Life.

On Luna, we will have two types of ecospheres: those mostly devoted to human living, and those domes (or areas of some domes) devoted to wildlife. There can be a mingling of species, but it will be necessary to give many of Nature’s children free run of forests, meadows, lakes, and hills that are mostly non-human inhabited. For these areas, we will mimic forms of Terran ecological succession.

Old field succession is a type of ecological succession that takes place in abandoned fields. The early stages include fast-growing, sun-loving annuals and herbs. Perennials take over, and eventually pioneer trees and shrubs. Within a few decades, there is intermediate forest, reaching a mature, climax forest after about a century. Now, this might seem like too long to wait for the area where we will have our immediate residences, but in the wilder areas of the domes, where we will be cultivating species in the sense of a national park, it would be wise to let things take their natural course. We should let our forests come by their "old growth" status naturally, like the ancient forests of the Adirondack Mountains in New York.

Another type of succession will be more useful for terraforming whole worlds, like Mars. I mentioned in the original Green Cheese article that experimentation with regolith-into-soil would be necessary. Starting in Aquarius Rising, we should try to make ecospheres strictly for this purpose, and put in some sterilized rock, preferably with a chemical concentration similar to Martian or Lunar regolith. Lichens and other simple organisms can be added, with a few nutrients, and we can watch the rock slowly turn into soil, capable of supporting a greater variety of life. A few simple atmospheric components, like water vapor, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, are all that nitrogen-fixing phototrophs would need to begin making complex organics "from scratch". This slow process of terraforming regolith-filled domes can be tried here on Earth, further tested Luna, and ultimately taken to Mars. By practicing with these methods, we can be better equipped to begin the creation of Elysium. As experiments, domed over Lunar craters, treated in this manner, can be case studies decades old. Mars itself will be more demanding than Lunar domes where we can tweak the atmosphere in any way we choose, but by giving some domes a Martian atmosphere, we can play with organisms that can be released into the Martian Wild.

Of course, the immediate planting of trees and other plants in real soil will be necessary for our living quarters. We just need to also take the long term approach, and plan for the creation of whole other biospheres. While the initial inhabitable craters of Luna will be like terrariums, the "back-to-basics", long time in coming ecospheres will someday seem more real, as they will have had time to evolve their own ecosystems. These places would need less supervision. They would be more like natural terrain on Earth, than, say, the Bronx Zoo.

In summary, by utilizing Lunar and near-earth resources, we will be able to create the little worlds we need on Luna. And we can learn to develop the methods necessary to begin the transformation of Mars, so that when the time comes, our descendants will be ready to actually perform the task.

-Nick Gauthier

Literature Cited:

Isaac Asimov’s Library of the Universe
Copyright©1995 Zane Publishing, Inc., GARETH STEVENS, Inc., and
CLEARVUE/eav, Inc.
ISBN: 1-57573-024-3

Life Support & Biospherics
Peter Eckart
Copyright©1994 Herbert Utz Publishers, München, Germany
ISBN: 3-9803925-9-7

The Millennial Project, 2nd edition
Marshall T. Savage
Copyright ©1994 by Marshall T. Savage
Little, Brown & Company, New York, NY
ISBN: 0-316-77163-5

Secrets of the Night Sky
Bob Berman
Copyright©1995 by Bob Berman
William, Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, NY
ISBN: 0-688-12727-4

Technobabble

The plane uses a spectrometer, which allows researchers to see glean from the air information that would take two a great deal of time. The estimated savings over traditional research methods is $500,000 and one year’s time.

Although the article made no mention of space science applications, such technology could undoubtedly be useful in the location of mineral resources on other worlds, such as Mars.

Elements

But first, let’s mention a few facts about this fascinating element. Oxygen’s atomic number is 8, meaning it has eight protons in its nucleus. It has an atomic weight of 15.9994. Its melting point is -218.4ºC, and its boiling point is -183.0ºC. It was discovered by Joseph Priestly of England and Carl Wilhelm Scheele of Sweden in 1774.

The early Terran atmosphere had very little oxygen (Anderson, 1986). Therefore, the organisms that existed then were adapted to life without it, and utilized glycolysis as the only metabolic pathway for releasing energy from food molecules. However, photosynthetic organisms, those with pigments to capture light energy, combined carbon dioxide and water vapor in a special way. Then from these molecules, carbohydrates were formed, allowing them to store energy in the form of simple sugars, like glucose, and oxygen from the water molecules was released. Contrary to some popular opinions, oxygen in photosynthesis does not come from carbon dioxide. Certain phototrophs (utilizing retinal, the same pigment in our eyes, as the photosynthetic pigment) utilize carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide in place of water, and they produce free sulfur. This gave Van Niel the idea that where CO2 and H2A are involved (the variable A standing for O, S, or any other suitable element), the A element is released. This was tested with CO2 containing ordinary O, and H2O containing radioactive O (O18). The radioactive O was released, indicating water as the source of free oxygen, rather than carbon dioxide (Anderson, 1986). As a result of this oxygenation of the atmosphere, certain organisms evolved the ability to use oxygen in more advanced metabolic pathways. Beta oxidation of lipids, for example, and the citric acid cycle, both depend on the electron transport chain, in which oxygen in the final electron acceptor. These metabolic pathways allow a much greater energy yield. For example, pyruvate, which is the end product of glycolysis in human cells, eventually gets broken down into acetyl coenzyme-a in the mitochondria, which then combines with oxaloacetate to form citrate (citric acid). This citric acid cycle (also known as the Kreb’s Cycle) continues through a series of steps, producing a fair amount of energy from the end product of glycolysis. As you can see, without the availability of oxygen for energy utilization, most of the advanced life forms we see today, which include everything beyond certain anaerobic bacteria and protists, could not exist (Anderson, 1986). Yet for all its usefulness, oxygen can be dangerous. Oxygen radicals, such as hydrogen peroxide, can cause severe damage to our cells (it is worth noting that hydrogen peroxide, or H2O2, is used to kill infectious organisms in an open wound). To counter this, our cells have organelles, such as peroxisomes, that contain enzymes to deal with these oxygen radicals. One of the most toxic oxygen compounds is ozone, which is used in some sewage treatment plants to kill anything that might prove inimical to the health of the stream that the water is emptied into. Happily, it is short-lived. Of course, most people are familiar with the ozone layer, which protects us from UV radiation (Anderson, 1986). Fine up there, but everything in its place ("I’m not prejudiced, but I wouldn’t want any ozone in my neighborhood!")

Literature Cited:

Helena Curtis Biology, fourth edition, fourth printing
pages 988-989
Copyright ©1983 Worth Publishers
New York, NY 10003
Editor: Sally Anderson

Periodic Table of Elements
Version 1.52
Copyright ©1991 SMI Corp.
Tulsa, OK 74158
Written by R.S. Luhman

Book Reviews

John M. Ford
Copyright©1993
Bantam Spectra, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
ISBN: 0-553-37306-4

Growing Up Weightless is a novel about a young, barely teen-aged boy growing up on the moon. The characters, from the main protagonist, Matthias Ronay, to his friends, his father, and the incredibly ancient living artifact, Leon Avakian, are memorable and believable. Some of the characters’ names can be a bit awkward for the tongue, but overcoming this is worth the effort, and enhances the believability of the setting.

The book describes a possible future of a fully colonized Luna, several generations after such colonization has begun. This is true science fiction, where only speculation based on known principles is allowed to enter the picture. Yet there is much more than mere technical expertise. The interaction between the characters gives one a true feeling that this is what a group of kids growing up on the moon would look like, act like, and talk like. Even the made-up curse word, "Vackin!", apparently derived from vacuum, but resembling a familiar four-letter word, has the ring of plausibility.

There are many surprises in this book, starting with the unsurpassably thought-provoking cover art by the talented Pamela Lee. I can hardly describe how well John Ford integrates a fabulous storyline, interesting characters, and a setting so real that it just has to be what the moon will really be like. The only other book I know of that accomplishes any feeling close to this is The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov. The story also has a deeply satisfying ending. Read this book, for only $11.95 (or check out your local library). You will not be disappointed.

Cosmic Dreams

The midnight sun, dim but pure
Betwixt the wax and wan
Silently desiring
The maiden of the land

Breathes his wish and sends his soul
Searching far and wide
And it alights upon a bud
On a dark hillside

Awakened by his magic breath,
She feels the need to cry
And tears do drip and falleth down
And catch his silver sigh

A virgin sweet, she unfolds
A soft caress cast down
For her alone he sends his love
And of that, she is proud

The damn of night lies broken; light
Pours in waves upon the land
The image of nocturnal love
Fades, but will return again

At Night Alone

I saw her in a moonbeam; exquisite beauty!
That the night could not conceal.
She danced with shadows, she danced with light.
Alone, she danced into the night.

Her perfect form; and oh, what grace!
That the moon chose to reveal.
Wildly ‘bout her, swirling hair
Like magic in the night time air.

Merrily she smiled; her eyes were jewels!
A sight that made my senses reel!
How I longed to win her heart
And share with her the joys of art.

At last she swooned; the angel’s dance
How wonderful it made me feel
The greatest beauty to behold:
When angels dance at night alone

End June Issue

contact the author of this home page: Dmitri Donskoy
Last modified: Friday, June 14, 1996

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