Los Angeles, CA, July 12, 2002 – Calling it a "truly imperative" goal, New York University Professor and space development author William Burrows plans to recommend a serious effort at "gaining a foothold on the Moon" in order to "maximize the chances of our species' survival in an abidingly dangerous world."

Burrows' proposal will come at his banquet presentation, Friday, July 19, 2002, 8 pm, at the Space Frontier Foundation's upcoming 4th annual Lunar Development Conference, Return to the Moon IV, to be held July 18th through 20th, 2002 at the Hilton NASA Clear Lake Hotel in Houston, Texas. RTMIV is a gathering place for those who wish to design a blueprint for joint government and commercial human settlements on the Moon, including commercial hotels, mining facilities and a planetary training base for future Mars explorers.

In a preview of Burrows' remarks, he postulates that the current U.S. and international space program is "in serious disarray for lack of a single, truly vital, and far-reaching goal. That goal should be to protect Earth from catastrophe. Chaos and violence are everywhere" in the universe, as shown by the "phenomenal imagery sent back by the Vikings and Voyagers." He will say that the threat of celestial catastrophe like a collision with an asteroid or an earthbound series of major natural disasters like volcanoes, earthquakes, chemical and nuclear terrorism, could destroy civilization as we know it.

The answer, Burrows will say, is not in the space program as we know it or the International Space Station alone. "Justified or not, images of astronauts floating in near-zero gravity or bolting together station modules are considered by most people I know, including university professors, administrators, and both undergraduate and graduate students, to be frivolous and irrelevant to their lives, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Burrows will say the answer starts with the Moon. "We see the Moon not primarily as a source of raw materials to help Earth, nor as a tourist mecca, nor as a scientific outpost. We see it essentially as a life boat from which raw materials will indeed be extracted to supplement finite supplies on Earth, where tourists will visit and hopefully settle into the colony, and where science will be undertaken, at least in part to keep still another eye on the universe. Tourists will be in the forefront of lunar colonization, and science will serve our world's vital knowledge base. But they will need to be pursued, not as distinct programs, but as integral parts of the larger system of planetary defense."

Burrows will propose a concept called "Alliance to Rescue Civilization" or ARC. "The idea is to continuously copy Earth's overall civilization and nature – most or all of what we are – and send it elsewhere for safekeeping. By this we mean the near-totality of the history, politics, science, technology, art and literature of all nations and societies. It is best thought of as backing up the planet's essence for the same reason discs are used to back up a computer's hard drive."

"The destruction of the great library, museum and zoological park at Alexandria two millennia ago...the destruction of Pompeii by an act of God or part of the Parthenon by an act of war could to a great extent be ameliorated...The logical place to store all that information is on a large space station (the Moon) that is close enough to Earth so as to be readily accessible in an emergency, but far enough away so as not to get caught in whatever calamity befalls this planet.

Burrows said it would also be important that ARC be privately funded, "perhaps from a partnership between corporations and foundations. Only that way will it have the independence, flexibility, and efficiency to function as it needs to function...What is crucial is that it never be dependent on politicians of any stripe for its existence."

Burrows will conclude, "There are infinitely more compelling reasons to climb into space than to climb mountains. The eventual move to Mars, like the colonization of the Moon, should be to spread the seed in defense of all humanity."

Burrows is joined in the conference by the speakers listed in the full agenda that follows below, which include co-chairs John Young, the first human launched seven times from a planetary surface (six from Earth, one from the Moon), an active astronaut and Associate Director at the Johnson Space Center, George Abbey, former NASA JSC Director and current Senior Assistant for International Issues at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., and Wendell Mendell, head of the NASA JSC Earth Sciences & Solar System Exploration Division.

Other notable speakers include: Paul Spudis – Lunar Science Expert, James Oberg – America's Premiere Russian Space Expert, and Rick Tumlinson – Founder of the Space Frontier Foundation.

Sponsors of this year's conference include: Space Island Group, Celestis, Inc. Lunar Enterprise Corporation, Apogee Books, Forever Bound, FINDS and John Hanks Communications.


Return to the Moon IV Preliminary Agenda:

Thursday July 18
12:15 PM Registration Opens
1:00 PM Founder's Welcome - Rick Tumlinson
1:30 PM Keynote Address - Wendell Mendell
2:00 PM Conference Manager's Report - Manny Pimenta
2:30 PM Coffee Break
2:45 PM Policy, Planning and Promotion Session Part I
3:15 PM Charles Shafer - Celestis/Teen Encounter
3:30 PM Ned Dodds - An Opportunity to Promote Spaceflight
3:45 PM Jesus Raygoza - Scientific Method and Method of Organization: The Real Way to Get Space as Our Ultimate Economic Frontier
4:15 PM Coffee Break
4:30 PM Policy, Planning and Promotion Session Part II
4:45 PM David Fletcher - Human Lunar Destiny: Past Present and Future
5:00 PM Eric Dahlstrom - Crafting Government Programs for Economic Space Development
5:30 PM Session Ends

Friday July 19
8:15 AM Registration Opens
9:00 AM Founder's Welcome - Rick Tumlinson
9:15 AM Chairman's Welcome - George Abbey
9:45 AM Keynote Address - Captain John Young
10:30 AM Coffee Break
11:00 AM Resource Availability and Utilization Session
11:30 AM Val Pechorin - Condensed Matter at the Moon's Polar Areas and Its Commercial Exploration
11:45 AM David Criswell - Lunar Power System and the Development of the Two-Planet Economy
12:00 PM Dennis Wingo - Platinum Group Metals and their Impact on Lunar Economic Development
12:15 PM Robert Strong - NEO Lunar Round-Up Project
12:30 PM Luncheon Guest Address & Book Signing - James Oberg
2:00 PM Habitats, Structures and Related Systems Session
2:30 PM Khaled M. Al Jammaz - Design for an Interfaith Lunar Chapel
2:45 PM Allen Crider - Low Cost Lunar Base through Reusable Technology
3:00 PM James Sloan - The Flow of Energy in Lunar Communities
3:45 PM Coffee Break
4:00 PM Technology Update - Lee Valentine - SSI/Cornell Closed Ecology Project; Francis
4:30 PM Cuccinotta - NASA's Considerations for Radiation in a Lunar Environment
5:00 PM Guest Address - John Hanks - Spotlight on Public Perceptions
7:00 PM Reception
8:00 PM Banquet
8:15 PM Elaine Walker - sings
8:30 PM Robert Godwin - World Premier Apogee Books Apollo 11 Film
9:00 PM William Burrows - The Alliance to Rescue Civilization: A Lunar Base for Planetary Defense

Saturday July 20
8:15 AM Registration Opens
9:00 AM Founder's Welcome
9:30 AM Keynote Address - Paul Spudis
10:00 AM Directed Discussion on ARC Lunar Base - Steven Wolfe
11:15 AM Coffee Break
11:30 AM Mission Design Session
12:15 PM Kent Joosten - Human Space Exploration in "Earth's Neighborhood"
12:30 PM Robert Howard - Aerocapture of an Inbound Lunar Transfer Vehicle
12:45 PM Jayme Findlay - Space Enterprises: A Commercial Mission
1:00 PM Randa & Roderick Milliron - Trans Lunar Research Lunar Mission and Base Concept
1:15 PM Conference Close


Biographies:

- Co-Chair Wendell Mendell – http://ilewg.jsc.nasa.gov/ILEWG/register/mendell.html
- Co-Chair Captain John Young – http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/young.html
- James Oberg – http://www.jamesoberg.com/profile.html
- John Hanks – http://www.johnhanks.com

Co-Chair George Abbey
Abbey was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force before being detailed to JSC in April 1967. In January 1967 he became technical assistant to the manager in the Apollo Spacecraft Program, the first of several NASA management positions. Abbey served as Director of Flight Operations and Director of the Flight Crew Operations organization at JSC before his March 1988 appointment as Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Flight at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In July 1990, Abbey was appointed Deputy for Operations for the Synthesis Group in which he and others defined technologies and strategies to return to the Moon and land on Mars. In July 1991 he was appointed Senior Director for Civil Space Policy on the National Space Council in the Executive Office of the President. He served in this capacity until April 1992, when he was appointed as Special Assistant to the Administrator of NASA. In January 1994, Abbey was appointed Deputy Director of JSC. He was named Acting Director of the center in August 1994, and selected as Director of JSC in January 1996. Abbey served in this role until his February 2001 appointment as Senior Assistant for International Issues at NASA headquarters.

William Burrows
William Burrows is a professor of journalism at New York University and the director and founder of its Science and Environmental Reporting Program. A former reporter for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, Burrows specialties are space and national security issues. He is the author of the following books: Richthofen: A True History of the Red Baron (1969), Vigilante (1976), Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security (1987), Exploiting Space: Voyages in the Solar System and Beyond (1990), Critical Mass: The Dangerous Spread of Superweapons in a Fragmenting World (1993 with Robert Windrem), Mission to Deep Space (1993) and most recently This New Ocean: A History of the First Space Age (1998). In addition, Burrows authored a basic reporting text, On Reporting the News, 1977. His articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Foreign Affairs, Harvard Magazine, and Harpers. Currently, Burrows is contributing editor to Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine.

Rick N. Tumlinson
A well-known evangelist for the space frontier, Tumlinson's writings and quotes appear in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Reader's Digest, Space News and dozens of other publications. He has appeared on such national television programs as ABC's World News Tonight, the CBS Morning Show, and Politically Incorrect. Tumlinson worked for noted scientist Gerard K. O'Neill at the Space Studies Institute, helped pass the Space Settlement Act of 1988, testified before the National Commission on Space, and was a lead witness in congressional hearings on NASA in 1996 and 1997. He is a founder of the Foundation for the International Non-Governmental Development of Space (FINDS), a multi-million dollar foundation which funds breakthrough projects and activities, and a founder of LunaCorp, a 7 year-old firm planning a commercial return to the Moon.