Rationale

I had said to myself: “pop down at Christmas” but the chance to listen to Caroline Lucas MP, John Pilger, Bruce Kent (CND), Seumas Milne (The Guardian), Kate Hudson (CND), Josie Long (UK Uncut/comedian), Aaron Kiely (NUS Black Students’ Campaign), Stef Newton (NUS LGBT Campaign & National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts), Weyman Bennett (Unite Against Fascism), Lindsey German (Stop the War Coalition). [A shameless cut & paste] …is not one to be turned down.

And thus it was: Happy Campers that I found myself travelling once again into the Heart of Darkness that is the City of London Corporation and a Cancer of Compassion that will hopefully grow and metastasize: destroying the real cancer that is our current body politic.

En Route

The first Dave I met on the tube was a Banker! I drew him out about what he understood about the Occupation and its aims and found a Concensus. We ended our conversation with a handshake and hopefully he will take up my unilateral offer of a free meal and opportunity to teach the Occupation about the positive aspects of his occupation.

So Daves and Davinias around St Paul’s please make him welcome and try to learn from him as much as he can learn from you.

My second Dave was from Poland and not being long in this country did not speak English very well. However he was not too impressed with our Nation or its People: “English is Shit” On drawing him out with hand gestures and slow simple words I discovered why: he had been assaulted by four men objecting to his presence here. So much so that he had been hospitalised for three months.
Ironic that these violent morons should cause a further drain on our imperilled NHS and the threadbare public purse by senseless violence.
I tried to explain, the best I could, the debt of gratitude that Britain owes Poland for their valiant effort in the Battle of Britain and that Poland has lessons in Solidarity Solidarność Trade Unionism and overthrowing a brutal dictatorship. Also its place as a major power in the new extended European Union. I would like to think that at the end of our conversation he had a slightly better appreciation for our country. And that he remains as a taxpaying citizen.
Naturally I asked about Solaris and Stanisław Lem (Yes to both. Result!)

Indeed it was a day of “Results” all round!

Resume

On arrival, noting that no-one had tidied up the bits of broken Cathedral, I plonked myself down in front of St Paul’s; in what I like to think of as the cheap seats. To listen to Dave the Environmentalist setting out the details of making the Camp more eco-secure. Since this is one area where our Wiki could be improved, I caught up with him to provide a few links and suggestions.

But during this John Pilger arrived!  Within 10 odd minutes and here was, I your humble Voice from the Outer World, shaking hands with a journalistic legend. Result+2

Somewhat dazed after this I decided that this time I would recover my composure in the Tea & Empathy Tent. Like most of the facilities of the Camp it had improved even during the week or so that I had been away. The tea was plentiful but alas the the hot water was not! Nor were the cups.

Note to self:  next time bring own Mug!

After bumping into Livestream Davinia and returning the stolen earbuds (Long story.) …I returned to the GA; settling down beside Dave the Facilitator and just in time to catch Davinia Lucas (the Green Party MP for Brighton) deliver a superb speech. Followed by a succession of impassioned speakers.
After the speechifying I gathered up some abandoned cups and returned to the Tea Tent.

There is talk in various Eastern esoteric tracts of finding your ‘spot.’ I think that the Tea Tent is my spot in the Camp. The tea and biscuits seem never ending, the conversation political but always polite and frequently punctuated by music from a piano. The program was wide and diverse from a spirited Beatles sing-a-long, to -much later in the evening- a delighful diva naturally called Davinia, whose pure and melancholic songs were a delight!

Unfortunately I missed the “Pilger Report” too busy talking radical politics and sharing life histories with complete strangers! And catching up with new friends! And, alas, I had missed the Demo too!  They had gone without me!  Engaging with Greenpeace Dave I discovered that a rearguard was about to set off and joined them on a mini-Demo of our own.
Result+3

London is full of protest! Zimbabwe, China and something, I am not quite sure what, taking place in Trafalgar Square. Here we paused for a while. I had totally lost my bearings and was intently staring at a mini A-Z when my companion Dave pointed out the profile of Big Ben clearly on the city skyline. Major Fail on my behalf. But, significantly not the only major fail on the block!

Passing through Trafalgar Square, that eternal upraised finger to France at the heart of London, we were surprised to see a single line of police officers blocking the road.

Riot? 

“Looks like a kettle is on.” Said Dave.
We approached and I clicked into my confused elderly citizen mode.
“Excuse me officer what is going on here?”
“There is a demonstration going on!”
(Looking pointedly around!)
“Where?”
“I don’t know Sir!”
“But we can pass through here Officer?”
“Yes Sir.”
So we did. Marching in: “Whose Parliament Street? Our Parliament Street!” with a virtual demonstration of one million LSXers!
[One thousand according to official police sources!]

My virtual placard varied between: “Eat the Rich” and “Feed the Poor!”

I was feeling hungry.

The Police had done a fine job of stopping the traffic and most of Whitehall and the highway, all six lanes, were ours. Except for the taxis, who like the demonstrators know their way around London better than our poor Metropolitan Police and their Commanders in “Riot Central.”

On our way to Parliament Square I engaged with many Officers with the bemused tone as indicated above. Some I think regarded the whole exercise as a joke. And how right they were!
One striking moment was when one Officer removed the rather intimidating helmet and replaced it with a standard cap. Appreciated Sir. Appreciated!

On arrival at Parliament Square I noted that they had caged Dave Churchill: standing before Parliament in eternal vigilance against fascism! His bronze visage did not look too pleased! Clearly the National S authorities were keen to stop more Happy Campers setting down on Parliament Square. Which was odd because there were already tents there. An occupation that was started some 11 years ago.

The spirit of  Brian Haw lives on. Result +4

I had an interesting chat with some LSXers and fellow travellers and took the chance to rest my weary legs. And watched with bemusement as troops of Police dogtrotted left and right and back again. Vans zoomed around sirens blaring. All in all causing a deal more ruckuss and disruption than a real march! Even one with a million real marchers instead of a motly crew of 500 or so.

[Official Police estimate: five.] Result +5

The facts on the ground are reported here and it looks like the police may have acted illegally. Should be interesting! Waiting Is…

At this stage of my narrative, I must make a small confession. I took the Tube!  Back to the sanity and the sanctity of St Paul’s and my spot. A parallel parable of the Loaves and Fishes writ in tea and biscuits!

Rest

The sharing of food and conversation, of ideas and revelation are building a new community of hope. In stark contrast to the offerings of our current political class.

Chatting to Davinia from New Zealand: part of the female night watch contingent  I discovered she was off to Occupy Berlin in search of a warmer Tent! But during this time we were joined by Military Dave supposedly a “neutral observer” but at heart one of us to the core. I hope that our camp can put him at ease and grok him in his fullness.

At the end of a long day, I met with my friend Spiritual Dave (see last post) where we had a further meeting of minds. And some cunning ideas…

But alas the last tube train home was calling and I had to leave.

But I will Return. I have some new Ideas…

Prologue: The natural omens were looking good as I set off from the wilds of suburbia for a particularly English “urbi et orbi” [to the city and to the world] to which I might add “et deos!” The technoMagic was working a treat: I had forgotton to reset the clock! So was early for a change.

Cockfosters provided a free parking space as near as you can get and I had a delighful chat with the Station Master: excluded from the ticket office so that he could help with the automated ticket machines. And there you have it! In a nutshell: technoFail.  But more was to come!

Ascending the escalators at St Paul’s this cyber correspondent was assaulted with a hellish racket: a fire? A Bomb? The Ticket machines had exploded like something out of ET. Exposing their inner workings for all to see. Red lights blinking gates agape and in total failure mode to prevent a fare dodger.
On enquiring: the poor harrassed Station Master revealed it was a computer failure. Something to do with the clocks going back and an ‘improvement’ in the software. Twelve stations and a thirteenth: St Paul’s? Also experiencing ‘technical difficulties.’ The TechnoOmens were looking good too. Result!

Going up to the Cathedral was a bit of a surprise because to be honest it was the first time I had ever felt the urge to actually see it close up. There was a half remembered drunken incident in and around November 1974. I think we called it the “Great City of London Bomb Blast Pub Crawl” But everything was a bit of a blur and when you gotta…

Navigating your way through the souless streets. With glass to the left and shiny steel to the right. Suddenly you turn a corner. And it looks like a bit of the Cathedral has broken off! As if some passing giant has has taken a fancy to a chunk, snapped it off and then discarded it like an empty ice cream cone made out of Portland stone.

Further on, past some very useful impromptu weapons or the makings of a very good bonfire. [Old habits die hard.] Your “Voice from the Outer World” rounded the corner into an expectant crowd and, unsurprisingly, the expectant energy was palpable.

But to Business! I was on a mission to see a man. Who it was is unimportant. However there was a nice Anonymous butler who was able to direct me to where The Man might be found. “Not in!” “Busy last night.” “He may have crashed.” Having helped run a few S.F. Conventions in my time: I was not too surprised. Indeed the dedication and purposeful activity of a thoroughly Occupied Hotel was very much in evidence. Even though it was in a Churchyard.

Distributing some real hugs and prezzies to make up for all the virtual ones over the last two weeks. And it had been just two weeks. So it was back to: “Whose Space? Our Space!” Where I bumped into a very engaging woman who turned out to be The Man’s PA! The conversation ranged from The Prisoner to Paganism with a little Politics thrown in.

Well you ‘ave to…

Monologue: On to the other Business of the day. Which started superbly and ended in a bit of a mess. It has been reported accurately elsewhere, even in some outlets of the mainstream media. But I must bear witness that although “good” = “god + o”; god + £ = gold! Putting aside such word play: I think that The Bishop actually does have a heart of gold and ultimately will be the solution to the little crisis of faith that the C of E is experiencing at the moment. Remember they have to reach Consensus too. Perhaps we can give then some training in our ways that might Facilitate the process.

Alas The Dean is less malleable. Possibly some of that discarded Portland stone. But to be charitable in a “caritatis” sort of way: he is inbetween a rock and a hard place. And possibly blaming the protestors for being put on the spot. Well we are putting him on the spot. But through no fault of our own!

“Answer the question” Dean. “Answer the Question.” No. Don’t ask your Head. Ask your Heart instead and answer: The Question.

Ultimately for this witness it comes down to whether the modern Church renounces violence. Or acting in such a way so as to cause violence. That is a conundrum for the Church to resolve. And for the Occupiers to prepare for.

Dialogue: Visiting a Process meeting, happened almost by accident but I had overheard; wandered by and got sucked in. Participatory democracy is like that: anyone of us has a problem (or two) but everyone can come up with a solution. It’s a new way of doing things and I must admit totally different from my days in Trade Unionism where you simply did not have the time to come to a Consensus. Alas it was always: Compromise. Compromise. Compromise. and we are were we are!  However, because of where I was, at that particular moment in Time and Space: I was able to sign a nice card that the Occupation had bought for the ex Cannon [sic] Giles.

After that it was a quick trip into Starbucks to see what the HIGNFY fuss was all about! Interesting. It gave me ideas… Waiting Is!

Consensus is not an easy process and coming to a collective decision, especially over complex issues may take some time. But it seems to be working. Naturally as a Left brained Scientist it can be made more efficient. But my Right brained Artist suggests that this system should be allowed to evolve organically. Indeed it behoves us, as a nation, as a species: to create the space and spaces for this movement to grow. I think that it is the genesis of a new political system. Direct Democracy. Consensus Politics. There will be a lot of labels as useless as “Anti-Capitalists.” Or from my student days: “Mooching Scum!”

I can’t speak for them (Us:) We’re are not allowed to! But it is my humble opinion it is time to end this global corporatist neo-feudal state. And I have met a huge crowd of fellow travellers. The Movement building out from all the Occupations worldwide might just do that and that is why the onepercenters and their shills are so afraid.

The evening ended with a totally unexpected heart to heart chat with one of the Occupiers with too many problems and too little time. Go down there. Join in and give them a hand.

You’ll be a changed person for it. I was.

Epilogue: Back to reality street. The bits of ice cream stone seemed to have melted in the night. And the St Paul’s ticket machines were ticketing as usual. Apparently they had been down for about three hours.

A sign from God? Or Loki just for the lulz…

“Waiting Is” Martian concept of contemplative waiting from R.A. Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land”

@brobof as you said no one person can truly represent all. No one on the roundabout represented me from day 1. #againstprotests #Bahrain

@brobof that is why if before going to the roundabout someone asked me what I want I would have been more sympathetic. But I was ignored!

First you should have gone to the roundabout and engaged in the revolutionary political process. A rare opportunity to found a new broad spectrum political party was sadly crushed IMHO. Unfortunately in a real ‘mature’ democracy the political parties tend to set out their wares much like a merchant but, alas, when they get into power their goods tend to be faulty and even non-functional.
But, unlike a merchant, you can’t get a refund.
A case in point are the LibDems in the UK who PROMISED to vote “No!” to student fee increases but the moment they got into power.
It’s called a “U-turn”
So when a mass protest movement arises so does the opportunity for real change. Hamad if he was a wise ruler would have seized the opportunity to advance his nation in the process. But we both know that another neighbouring Royal Family would NEVER allow that.

So back to the Lulu Party! At one stage I was in communication with someone claiming to be close to the CP and were trying to get around the ‘protocol’ of his arrival there. Incognito.

Imagine that for a political statement.

However he was prevented by you know who. But there were many Sunnis, ExPats and totally non sectarian individuals who wanted to join in the revolutionary movement. The latter are rare and fragile beasts but their transformative powers profound. Once a revolutionary movement is born it NEVER dies. It may not be successful but many Aristocracies and Autocracies have fallen because of it.
It becomes only a matter of time. Short of mass murder and genocide. egs Charles I, Louis XVI,… Stalin, Pol Pot, Pinochet, …Gadaffi And they all failed in the end.

@brobof Violent protesters scared me and my family! Bandits, vigilantes, and vandals! No sympathy from me! #againstProtests I wanted Police.

Well if they threatened you personally then: “Yes!” But then you would have to have been on the front line of your ex-pat state police. I have yet to read of any substantiated account similar to the daily violence being inflicted on the Shia villages every night. Or the violence carried out on the officially approved opposition. Barring of course the state media: BTV and the GDN. I suspect that this ‘violence’ was second hand via these self same sources but please correct me of this contention if, in fact, a single member of your family was actually attacked, threatened or otherwise harmed in a manner similar to the way that the protestors are currently being threatened attacked and, in some cases, killed. Or indeed if your car was smashed up, your house firebombed, or your father, uncle and son dragged away by masked men speaking with a foreign accent.
Whilst violence is to be deplored. Violence on the citizen BY THE STATE is to be condemned. You would at least agree with me there.

@brobof I am #againstProtests in #Bahrain because protesters wanted to takeover and rule me. I don’t want them to rule, I don’t trust them.

Then you don’t want a democracy. “Rulers” went out of fashion in the Middle Ages shortly after the Black Death. Their final nail in the coffin came with the beheading of Charles! Thereafter: “the ones that Govern do so by the accord of the Governed.” Those that forget this axiom often get beheaded: Louis XIV . Or shot: Nicholas II. Most Royal families in western democracies now keep their heads down and are respected for it!

@brobof #KingHamad #Bahrain is the only one I trust to rule uniting all components of #Bahrain since #ConstitutionalMonarchy with elections.

You don’t have a Constitutional Monarchy: Hamad abrogated its foundation (1973) and still has absolute power. Article 33 [Head of State, Powers]. You don’t have to trust him he just “is.” By dictat.
And just how many al-Khalifa’s have you in positions of power? I would contend that the actual Govt. of Bahrain actually resembles a Mafia Family Business. Do you trust all of ‘em? Sometimes this blind loyalty simply astounds me. Whilst people in the U.K. have a great deal of respect for the Queen, they have very little for the heir apparent and even less for the Queen Consort. Republicanism is very much alive here. It’s just biding it’s time and waiting for Royal Excess.
Gerrymandered elections aside the Bahraini Parliament is a toothless, tissue thin pretext of real politics.

@brobof a country as small as #Bahrain can’t Progress without Peace, Security, and Order. This public assembly terrorized rest of Bahrain!

It might have ‘terrorised’ the PM when it looked like the CP was agreeing that it was time for a new Prime Minister! (Ahem! Article 67 [Limitations] Point a.)
However for the bulk of the population: I would contend that they were mildly inconvenienced but repeatedly ‘terrorised’ by ‘terror’ reports by BTV and non-credible State spokespersons concerning the ‘terrorists’. When a government turns to lies and propaganda ANYTHING it states is void. Perhaps 30 years will pass before Bahrainiis will be allowed to discover who the real ‘terrorists’ were. But I suspect that even you know the truth just as do: the CIA, HRW, Amnesty International, the UN and many other bodies.
I would further suggest that that “Peace, Security and Order” implemented as people are dragged off in the middle of the night, harrassed at check points, killed in custody, subject to secret military trials without due process,… is not the sort of “Peace, Security and Order” of a vibrant Democracy. It is at best the “Peace, Security and Order” of repressive totalitarian state of the sort that Stalin enacted. Indeed “Peace, Security and Order” at the point of a gun is classic Orwellian DoubleThink.
BTV = MiniTru!

@brobof I’m not stupid enough to let any one group go protest decide to go rule an let them rule #Bahrain! Where’s my voice? Isn’t it civil?

In a democracy the majority rules. End of story. However in a mature democracy this is modified by various interest groups, lobbiests, and a whole bunch of other stuff to prevent excess.
But under an absolute autocrat with absolute power you have no voice. Indeed under your current imposed Constitution the mandatory respect for the King is absolute. Article 89 [Representation, Immunity]
On a lighter note I would direct you to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOOTKA0aGI0
Which explains where real power comes from.

Having been an S.F. Fan from before I was born (I inherited the gene from my father) … any Space Related Game always tempts me. Put a rocket ship on it and generally you have a sale! However being a computer gaming klutz who still gets beaten by Pong, I have always steered clear of first person shoot em ups: Lacking the killer instinct and lightning fast keyboard skills required for this sort of thing. Hunting and pecking on the keyboard even for WASD is not a viable way to survive in a combat zone. “Q” where’s “Q?” Thus I have tended to stick to the strategy games. However a friend (Thanks DT;) lent me his copy and suggested I have a go. And I did for about four days of hardcore testing. Pushing the boundaries of the mechanics. And the limits of my patience.

The game won.

So in order to get something positive out of the experience. Here is a review. Wholly personal. Largely negative!

As an initial nitpick (see below) …I would have called the game: “Teetotaler” for, despite almost all the out of combat action taking place in a Bar, Trent never gets a drink! Except an inital freebie when he arrives onto the scene. Personally knowing what I know now I would have hired on as a hand on the first transport back to my home system…

My experience can be summed up in three ‘uns’ : Uncomforting. Unconsistant. Unsatisfying. (With apologies to the Queen’s English!)

Uncomforting

The setting is relentlessly distopian (may contain spoilers) escaping endless wars on Earth the losers settle the Sirius system [1]… Where they go about continuing the process!
The singular character “Trent” arrives in the Liberty Systems settled by Americans [2]. The regime: a relentless police state where all the planets are run and owned by the Liberty Police Inc which is at liberty to create its own laws and seemingly designer drugs! Within about an hour of game play this Freelancer wanted to kill all the ‘good guys’ and join the motley crew of Rogues, Junkers, Xenos, Lane Hackers and Outcasts to bring the whole rotten regime down. Indeed the introductory sequence of  missions would seem to indicate three occasions where a singular actor can turn on their benefactor and turn the tide in favour of the opposition. Thus unlocking an entrée into the counter-culture. Alas despite pounding away at my wingman [Mission 1] I was curiously unable to kill him and pounding away at the prison ship I was supposed to protect [Mission 2]; merely produced a “Mission Failure: You fired on a friendly object.” Along with Captain Nemo I don’t regard prison ships as “friendly objects!”
And there you have it. Freelancer is predicated on the genocidal destruction of ‘terrorists’ (vide freedom fighters) and your only option is to freelance for the IDF! Whilst one can compromise by going for non lethal ‘kills’. I.e. destroying the ship and tractoring in the Escape Pod; the main method of making money is assassination and/ or mass murder[3]. Having designed real game settings for some forty odd years, I could have made any number of suggestions to make the setting more palatable. Indeed the provision of names and screams of the dying are a distinct personal turn off. You know that these people don’t have an Escape Pod. If you have to kill anything in my book: make it a zombie as it is dead already!

‘Unconsistant’

Despite being a 3D game, which it does in a workmanlike fashion, Freelancer is hopelessly planar. The local star map is flat which is really poor since an additional rotatable 3D display animation would have been well within the programming power at the time. Similarly the pretty planets, space stations, pirate bases, asteroid fields, dark matter clouds and assorted debris fields seemingly float in a flat plane within their individual systems. There are no orbital mechanics of any description. Or gravity. Annoyingly every time you enter a Gate or a Station or any other game node you have to wait for the game to right your ship into the ‘local horizontal’ before you can dock. During this needless process you still get shot at. Thus the setting is too unreal for this space cadet for whom physics comes first. To quote Montgomery Scott: “Ye canna change the laws of physics…” Or I would add: Basic Newtonian mechanics.
A simple remedy would have been to advance the timeline by say: 1000 years; use pocket universes and artifactual systems in gravitationally maintained Kempler Rosettes and other such orbital oddities. Obviously the designers had never read Phillip Jose Farmer or, curiously: Larry Niven!
However the internal inconsistancies are far worse. Apart from the horrendous misuse of particle physics, astronomical terms and almost every SF cliche in the book. My main contention is fundamental. Freelancer is based around the concept of Interstellar Trade Gates and In-System Trade Lanes manufactured and maintained by a Multi-System Corporate State. Both are very ‘whooshy’ and bright and needlessly assault both eyes and ears.

Maybe it’s my age.

However as a ‘real’ transport system they fail. Any Star Trader or mathematician in Euclidian Space will tell you: the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. And Freelancer is positively Cartesian when it comes to ‘offical’ non-combat orientated travel. The transportation network is a non-starter bearing in mind all the stopping and starting and local horizontaling every time you enter or leave a Trade Lane or a Gate. Not to mention the Lane Hacking and the pirate attacks at each node. Or worse still, close inspection by the Police/Navy… it is quicker and quieter just to go your own way. Have a doze at the con or a can of ‘Liberty Ale’; listening out for any hostile chatter on the open comms. The sound track is also a big giveaway. Outside of both the in game and out of game ‘fuss’ of the Trade Lanes, it’s generally a case of using “Go To” and using the out of game time to read a book; work on another computer or my fave: making a cuppa. If you do get killed you can always replay the bit that went wrong. But this rarely happens as out in deep space all the usual hostiles are neutral. I have formation flown with Rogues with whom, only a few minutes previously, I have been involved in a desperate dogfight! Huh! As Spock would say: “Illogical Captain Trent.”
Mooching around a Pirate Base with a hold full of Gold is a different matter…

Attention people and Game Designers in particular: in the real (3D) universe you can select a huge number of trajectories and thus rarely run into any trouble until you get to your destination. As the old sailor adage has it: the problems get bigger the closer you get to shore! Just as there are multiple courses to a home port, there are any number of transfer orbits to Space Dock. Even Hohmann ones!
It is this fundamental fault in the game concept that finally ‘did it’ for me. Apart from the preceeding battle during which this keybord klutz has died and died and died and…. died! The lead character “Little Miss Trouble” tells us to head for the Badlands. A pleasant purple cloud with pointy obsidian asteroids. And hull rotting radiation? Hint: Set a way point and bug out if the Outcasts get a lock. (I tried to hail and join but they just won’t listen.) But LMT and the game insists on using the Trade Lanes. The obvious route is to turn up the thrust to max, drop every mine & counter measure you have and run for it! IN A STRAIGHT LINE. Jinking to avoid the occasional incoming. But no. You have to use their ridiculous transport system and get killed. Every frakking time. Even the Rogues don’t do that and they are pretty stupid!
But it gets worse. “Freelancer.” It says it on the box. You can keep declining LMT’s ‘Missions’ (to move their hackneyed plot along) but the game mechanic locks you out. Or rather in!
Despite declining her offer again and again and again and… the game still locks you into yet another opportunity to decline. Eventually it doesn’t even allow you that and locks you into the Mission anyway. No matter where you are. I have been en route from an outpost in an entirely different system; only for the game to assume that I am in the system related to LMT’s latest Mission and locked out of all Gates! Presumably they don’t mesh with the program’s ‘reality.’ If that was a glitch then it was bad programming. If it was intentional then that is damning programming by my book. If the designers had any inclination to the stated motivations of their lead character. His second action; after discovering that his previous deal had fallen through would be to make enough cash for a first class ticket back to the civilised Bretonia systems where, somehow, he managed to collect his American accent!

I defy anyone with any SF Roleplaying experience from Traveller to Fading Suns to have done anything else.

Unsatisfying

Despite the promise the trading option is a poor one, a very poor one. There is no factor for long haul. Goods are moved from point to point: flatly, accruing value as they move from source to destination. With no real regard for distance and/ or trouble involved. Commodity pricing does not seem to fluctuate even after massive deliveries. Indeed fuel cost is free, despite being a commodity! Go figure.

Oh and they still shoot at you no matter what cargo you are carrying.

As for the combat: even if I were a teenage kill freak with a yen for blowing people into radioactive debris for no meaningful reason; the game still lacks in the interest department. The dogfight simulator is very good. And the Head Up Display superb. Point & Click Piloting is one of the best I have seen and surprisingly even usable by this keyboard klutz. Which is a first! But after a few they all feel so much the same. There is little variety and as one reviewer has stated: dogfighting ceases to be exciting and becomes a chore. Even worse to get better weapons and out of Liberty, you need to have a higher “Level.” I find this mechanic most objectional. Personally I blame D&D for that kludge. And to gain a Level you need to complete missions that are either personally objectionable or of guaranteed lethality at my level of skill. Thus knowing that no matter how much time I practice, I will never win. And that the game makes no allowances for slow reaction times… Towards the end I would merely blast out into the void and look at the scenery. If trouble found my way usually the game would send its own (LPI/Navy/Bounty Hunters) enforcers to deal. A game where the only thing you want to do is nothing is not worth playing. IMHO.
Nitpicks:
1: As any astronomer will tell you the Sirius system only contains two stars and neither are likely to host planets capable of supporting life. I HATE games that pick on a real astronomical term …and then use it wrongly. No excuse. This is simple disinformation. FAIL.
2: The game is relentlesly voiced by Americans even the Bretonians (English) Rheinlanders (German) and Kusari (Japanese) were all voiced by American accents. Laughably so.
3: The attrition rate is unbelievable even if the Freedom Fighters were using accelerated cloning technology the ‘birth rate’ could never keep up. From the firepower concentrated on them, the genocide would be over in a few years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)

A Trial version is here

http://www.gamershell.com/download_1395.shtml

(The zip file scanned by Avast seems to be O.K. But “Caveat Downloador.” The MS link is busted… typical!)

Freelancer has been extensively Modded:

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/mods/freelancer/mod.html

(Maxima Caveat Downloador

Modding Tutorials:

http://uk.pc.ign.com/objects/011/011219.html

My friend paid £1. 99 in Oxfam. I think he was robbed!

However this is what I want for Xmas:

http://www.iceberg-interactive.com/games/armada-2526.html

Fine tune everything and then… Blammo!!! Watch out Universe here I come.

One of the oft quoted memes, usually by proper rocket scientists to armchair astronauts, is that “Rockets are not LEGOs.” But what if they WERE!

Preamble
For this to work we must assume a New World Order. As I write the world is in the process of designing no less than six different space to ground [S2G] ballistic capsules:  Orion CEV (NASA);  PPTS (RKA); Dragon (SpaceX); ARV (ESA); ‘Ratri ^[1] ‘ (ISRO); CST-100 (Boeing).  The capsules already in service Shenzhou (CNSA) and Soyuz (RKA) bring this total to eight. The DreamChaser(SpaceDev) -not a capsule- makes nine. Talk about needless duplication of effort!

So for the purposes of this thought experiment, this Future Historian assumes that “The Collapse” has happened: a confluence of resource depletion; water wars; global warming; eco-collapse and a mass extinction of the human population. Hurrah! The survivors have picked themselves up, formed a stable world govenment/ workers paradise and discovered they have one last chance to get Out of the Cradle. If they mess it up this time there are no second chances and the future is a one planet culture until the Sun inflates and makes us ALL a Galactic Might Have Been. Alternatively if we can avoid all that sort of thing. This sort of thing might be a sensible way forward.

First stage. Cheap access to space: Skylon. Crash program. NOW! Sorted.

O.K. Perhaps a two stage to orbit variant or even an equatorial Mag Lev launch track at high altitude to further improve efficiency. But I digress…

Without cheap access to space we remain DOOMED. Disposable rockets are an unsustainable technology. Heavy Lift an unsupportable technology. A reusable launch system remains our only long term option.

Now what does it launch so that we can harvest the Asteroids and start to incorporate the resources of the Solar System into our worker’s paradise?

Second Stage. Modular space craft: LEGOS.

The following borrows heavily from the:

“Soyuz Evolution: Vestrecha “Reunion”- a series of long term and long duration manned space utility vehicles (SUVs)” (Anglo-Russian Co-op., Project Congreve.)

All crewed SUV modules:

• fit inside a nominal 5 cubic metre box with notional interconnects on the faces of that box
• have at least one next generation: androgenous and active autonomous docking system [A4DS]
• are capable of remote operation and autonomous rendezvous and docking
• at least one Universal Common Berthing Mechanism hatch with a 130 cm square opening. (Just to be different!)
• internal whipple shields for orbital debris
• external attachments for kevlar / thermal padding, cable routers, handholds, Space Station Remote Manipulator [SSRMS] grapple fixture (or equivalent)
• integrated power systems inc. solar array (detachable); batteries (rechargable and replacable); mechanical charger (emergency); power bus (universal)
• integrated and automatic power inter-connectors between modules providing a universal bus
• a wired backup for communications and computing via the universal bus
• integrated wireless communications and computing network
• integrated thermal control cooling loop and automatic inter-connectors between modules
• an emergency distress beacon
• minimal ship to ship, ship to ground communications
• limited life support: CO2 scrubbers; oxygen reserve; emergency food and water supply

and critically

• long term durability in the space environment. Entirely space based, all systems would be re-designed to maximise ease of maintenance and repair in zero-gee: externally and internally.

Crew Modules
Vs-G Orbital Command Module [2 x A4DS] “Gagarin” At present the CEV/ PPTS re-entry module and command module are one and the same. The Vs-G has the re-entry capabilities removed but retains and extends those required for orbital manoeuvre: navigational platform; command, control and communications; integrated attitude control systems and wireless links to remote attitude and main manoeuvre rocket motors. Includes: workstations for ROV operations: minimal personal  hygiene compartment, extended life support, food storage and reconstitution facility. Normally docked to an upgraded Service and Propulsion Modules (u.i.), the VsG is thus provided with power, life support services [LSS], tankage and motor capacity for long duration flights with minimal crew (2 fixed seats). Short duration crew (fittings for 10 minimal acceleration hammocks) for transport between stations, habitats, deep space vessels or free flying platforms, from a deep space vessel to the surface of an asteroid;… and as an emergency return of crew (as many as can be crammed in) from the Lunar Orbital Outpost; L1/ L2 Gateways or other cis-lunar habitats. The VsG would include the latest in ‘fly by wire’ and auto-piloting/ naive operations support. Whilst various standard operations: in flight refuelling; rendezvous; docking; course correction and other critical operations will be manually achievable by suitably trained pilots; they should be rarely required!

Vs-L Orbital Work Module [1 x A4DS, 1 Airlock Hatch] “Leonov” An enlarged version of the Pirs/Poisk orbital module this becomes the location of hazardous activities: notably the Mk. X zero gee Toilet ^[2].
Module has internal fittings for four Next Gen SpaceSuits and MMUs; equipment for the recharge and maintenance of same; a separately pressurised vestibule for EVA preparations; airlock;…  Also standard fittings for Univeral Standard Payload Rack used for potentially hazardous experimental packages. Module has external fittings for EVA support including inflatable vacuum porch and illuminated external work platform. EVA consumables resupply, equipment storage,…

Vs-K Orbital Habitation Module [1 x A4DS] “Krikalev” This Module evolved to become a ‘safe haven’ with better radiation protection; Closed Loop Life Support  Systems [CLLSS]; compact zero gee kitchen, food storage and mess; group entertainment/briefing/’window’;  personal hygiene facilities: toilet and fresher. Provides accommodation for four (to eight) additional passengers. This may be adapted from the proposed conversion of the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ATV) into a “Habitation Module” as part of the PPTS.

Vs-V Lobby Module [6 x A4DS] “Volynov” Non-maneuverable. Largely identical to the proposed Russian multiple docking node with six UCBM docking ports/ hatches. Integrated power and life support nodes. Enables the construction of multi-module craft specialised for long duration missions.  Exterior has even more external attachments for cables.

Vs-F Repair and Construction Module [1 x A4DS, 1 Airlock Hatch] “Feoktistov” A specialised combination of the Vs-G and Vs-L optimised as a “shirt sleeve” construction tug for ‘hands-on’ large scale projects: SPS deployment; Habitat construction; recovery of spent kick stages; transportation of small asteroids;… Exterior has attachment points for a variety of remote manipulators and external tool kits.

Vs-B Re-entry Module [1 x A4DS, 1 Escape Hatch] “Belyayev” An enlarged version of proposed CEV/ PPTS re-entry modules with a long life de-orbit solid/ hypergol retro pack; hypergolic attitude control thrusters; ballute; parafoil wing; flotation bags; landing thrusters;… This Module is evolved to become capable of naive Space to Ground (S2G) transfers with an automatic re-entry capability; carrying incapacitated crew (minimally seven), or just a single frightened tourist! Initially only the interior fittings will be reuseable. With modifications, eventually valuable exterior sub-assemblies should be capable of re-use. Ultimately utilising a disposable aeroshell or ballute the Vs-B core will be wholly reusable. Range: anywhere in cis Lunar Space. Evolving to Cis Terran Space (SEL1 to SEL2).

Vs-T Greenhouse Module [2 x A4DS] “Tsiolkovski” In addition to the extensive CLLSS systems, this human tended module would contain a hydroponics facility not only for fresh foods: herbs, spices and other high value plants but an essential ‘connection’ with nature.  Carniculture and myco-protein reactors would be supported by aquaculture tanks located toroidally around the module providing radiation protection and a source of fresh protein.

Other Modules would support a Spin component. Notably a Vs-V Spin Isolation Hub with four hatches to two, or four, spin modules incorporating tether mechanisms. Once sealed and lowered into place, these modules could provide: Medical, Gymnastic, Hygiene, Experimental and other facilities where spin gravity is required. These would either incorporate a counter spinning flywheel  or on larger deep space vessels be installed as counter rotating pairs.

Support Modules

The form and function of the existing Soyuz service module [PAO] and all proposed Service Modules are divided into separate propulsion and life support modules. Both provide power via solar arrays, batteries and fuel cells; naturally feeding into the universal power bus.

Vs-N Long Endurance Chemical Propulsion Module “Nikolayev” [1 x A4DS] Requires Orbital Propellant Repository [OPR], International Space Station [ISS]; Lunar Orbiting Outpost [LOO], Nearside Station [EML-1] Farside Station [EML-2] and eventually transportation nodes beyond. Currently the Soyuz has a ‘life in orbit’ of six months with plans to extend to one year. This relatively short period of ‘cool soaking’ must be extended to a full ‘cold soak’. Ultimately with an indefinite duration ‘cryo soak’. Initially using ‘green’ hypergolics and then ‘zero boil off’ LOX/LCH4^[3] tankage; used for both main propulsion and RCS. Propulsive systems and flight electronics must be capable of being prepared for a prolonged ‘cryo soak’. In a similar manner to that of a family leaving the house for an extended winter holiday: the plumbing is drained of highly diffusable helium, cryo-propellants LOX (54.36 °K ) LCH4 (91 °K) ,… temperature sensitive equipment will be buffered using a suitable fluid, circulated via radiators, to maintain an even temperature; gyros will be spun down; most of the solar arrays retracted; batteries set to trickle charge from a singular array or external source;… In this condition the module will be capable of being docked to some facility as a last resort backup; a non-emergency return vehicle  (LOO) or spare rescue craft (ISS).

Vs-P Long Endurance Service Module “Polyakov” [2 x A4DS] Principally applied to non-closed chemical and mechanical methods of life support. Whilst attached to a node in a ‘warm soak’ would see the principle consumable: water plumbed in as part of the CLLSS or as radiation protection of that node. For a ‘cold soak’ the water would be drained while other systems: atmospheric filters, CO2 scrubbers, would be robust enough to withstand the cold. Electronics and sensitive mechanical systems would be buffered in a similar manner to those of the VsN. This module would not only provide LSS for  spacecraft returning from a distant target but also act as emergency LSS attached to a free flying orbital outpost/ space refuge attached to an automated facility.

Vs-S Long Range Chemical Propulsion Module “Sevastyanov” [1 x A4DS] Studies have shown that a nuclear engine is too mass intensive for short duration/ short haul missions. Short of a breakthrough beyond existing studies, notably: LANTR (Lox Augmented Nuclear Thermal Rocket); TRITON (Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne [pdf]) or a Nuclear powered VASIMR (Ad Astra Rocket Company) Or public acceptance of, say, a next generation pulsed bomblet system such as  MiniMag Orion; the routine operation of a nuclear vessel in cis-lunar space is unlikely. Even when the exploration of NEO asteroids, the moons of Mars and the industrialisation of the Main Belt takes place; there still will be a place for a LOX/LCH4 motor optimised to the space environment. Especially if the propellants concerned can be obtained off Earth: utilising an atmosphere skimming Hydrogen propellant factory PROFAC and lunar derived oxygen LUNOX. The starting point is an upgrade of the wide belled Apollo Service Module engine: burning LOX/LCH4 upscaled from the XCOR/ATK Methane Motor.
In addition to the durability and reliability obtained from the Long Duration variation; this Module should be capable of being repaired a long way from any orbital ‘spacedock’. The module comprises multiple motors/ nozzles and a core ‘inboard’ propellant capacity, complemented by attachment points for stageable external tanks. The latter could carry beacons to allow eventual recovery/ reuse.

(VsT+ Long Range Service Module ) “Tsiolkovski Mk2″ Long term life support will probably require more than just tankage and will require regular access for sowing, weeding, pruning, harvesting and general tender loving care. Resembling his “cosmic greenhouse” this module will be largely uncrewed with a CO2 rich and water saturated atmosphere.)

Long Range Ion Propulsion Module An autonomous SEP Tug based on the CLIPPER Program.

From the above Modules a variety of Space Utility Vehicles can be configured in orbit suited to the task at hand. Large scale passenger transit can be achieved by a cluster of Vs-K attached to a Vs-G+Vs-N; emergency repairs by a Vs-F; refurbishment of a free flying facility by a Vs-L and a Lunar Orbiting Outpost (LOO) constructed by an appropriate assembly of modules integrated to the Lunar Orbital Propellant Repository (LPR). Similarly stations at the various Lagrangian points gain modularity, redundancy and reconfigurability. Such Modules also become the basis for bases on Phobos & Deimos and other NEOs until we start to terraform these worldlets into habitats!

Bootnotes:

1: This author’s designation: Hindu goddess of Night.

2: Space Potty humour

3: LH is just too volatile and valuable to be wasted as ‘boil-off’!

(A Song of Patriotic Prejudice, Flanders and Swann)

This slightly amended expanded post was inspired by American inquiries as to the latest on the Mini-Magnetospheres experiment that made the Space Blogs abuzz (2) (3) almost two years back:

New spaceship force field makes Mars trip possible

Rather than derail the thread any further I decided to post this update/ reply/ sloppy piece of partisan hyperbole here.

Alas no new news from Rutherford-Appleton. Which may be good news! The original paper was proof of concept.  With funding (the magic word!) the next stage is a working model (1) and more importantly a facility to test it. Generating a solar strength plasma is in IMHO the REAL challenge! From what I understand the team reckon about 5 years (say 10) to turn the working prototype into space capable hardware. Then we would need to test it, BEO, on mice and (then) old men.
I say (handwaving) that the 2020 timesale fits.  (Solar Max is around 2022 so bad solar flares  but less GCRs Swings and Roundabouts.

As for details? Sorry this is British Boffinry. Like the Jet Engine, Apollo Fuel cells, …Skylon. This is one of the disruptive technologies we will invent. Only to have our Government: ignore it. Then underfund it. And then fail to capitalise on it commercially. Then slap a D-Notice on it stating “National security.” And then hope that everyone else ignores it too.

Why? Because it is Science and our Politicians don’t do Science because they are Stupid. This especially true with Space Science. To understand even a smidgen about Space Science you have to be really really clever. At about the level of your 7th Grade. This embarasses our Polititians as they are just not that clever.

I would add that although we British do not have a space program per se. We like to think that our under funded, under resourced under appreciated boffins do our bleeding edge ‘bit.’
Examples: Ion engines on GOCE; impact penetrometer and an accelerometer on Huygens (Titan lander) and the super conducting magnets in VASIMR! (4) Also our MilComSatNet: “Skynet”

I would add that we have our ‘bits and pieces” on Planck.
References:
(1) http://www.minimagnetospheres.org/
(2) http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/yournews/36558
(3) http://www.universetoday.com/2008/11/04/ion-shield-for-interplanetary-spaceships-now-a-reality/
(4) http://www.adastrarocket.com/Release060309final.pdf

I thank you for your tolerance

This post acts as a prolog to the next: Why Solar Flares are good for us.

This sensationalist (see title above!) believes that it is, in part, due to the large number of Solar Eyes we now have in place:

Credit: SOHO NASA ESA

• SOHO still giving us some great data and lovely images (Ro.)
• STEREO providing the now obligatory third dimension
  and the new kid on orbit:
• SDO The latter links to an awesome home page that provides live pictures of the surface of Sol! With a zoom feature and multispectral filter.
• As well as PICARD; HINODE; RHESSI et al

With such an abundance of data, it is easy to get carried away. Like IKAROS. Yo Ho Ho!

So why all the hardware? Well apart from the dangers of an over- or under-heated primary and the fact that an erupting sun makes for some awesome public outreach. With a bit of luck sometime during the next solar maximum we will be venturing out beyond the cosy blanket of our Earth’s magnetosphere. The magnetic screen that protects Gaia and her extensions such as the humans aboard the ISS from the worst excesses of an angry sun…

But I hear you say “Hang on a minute you said Solar Maximum! Surely we should travel during a Solar MINIMUM.”

Well you would be right. In a perfect Universe. But there are a lot of other Suns out there: some of them very nasty indeed. Also colliding supermassive black holes, magnetars and other such exotica that throw out what are called Galactic Cosmic Rays. [GCRs] Now whilst a solar flare or coronal mass ejection [CME] are pretty bad, these two types of Solar Particle /Proton Event [SPE] do not have the penetrating power of a GCR. Which, according to Wikipedia, have energies (measured in Electron Volts) …so high that no known natural process could have created them!

If a SPE produces proton bullets, these GCRs are heavy metal cannonballs: stripped nuclei of elements ranging from hydrogen up to iron; with some exotics from even higher up the atomic mass scale!

To take the analogy further: a machine gun bullet is easier to stop than a cannon ball. As the SPE energies are, on average, lower than those of an individual GCR. Also in the Cosmic Battlefield Beyond Earth Orbit [CBBEO] a spray of bullets from a SMG (Solar Machine Gun) will kill you but… here the analogy breaks down. Whilst on the terrestrial battlefield the effects of human vs cannonball are …messy; the chances of being hit by a cannonball are markedly less than that of being hit by a machine gun bullet. More significantly whilst a GCR will cause significant cellular damage, the body can repair itself. At a biochemical level: the damage to DNA could trigger cancer or inherited genetic defects. However both these effects can be mitigated. Either with post mission scanning and prompt oncological techniques. Or techniques commonly used by in-vitro fertilisation labs all over the world. Should a mission require astronauts still wanting children even at the end destination(?) It would be a simple task to produce some viable embryos, freeze them down and store in a radiation hardened medical space located in the ‘storm cellar’ within the space craft. On arrival at the colony: implant and gestate to taste!

As to the long term effects of GCRs the jury is still out. Only 27 humans: the Apollo Astronauts have ventured beyond our magnetosphere through the Van Allen Radiation Belts and out into the CBBEO. Whilst dodging the SPE bullet, the solar storm of August 1972 during the gap between Apollo 16 and 17; all the astronauts encountered GCRs. Causing scintillations as they zipped through their eyeballs! Fortunately none of them seem to have experienced any lasting damage except a almost imperceptible increase in contracting cataracts and mild forms of cancer. However as a statistical sample, the population is too small and the exposure largely unmeasured.

A heavy and prolonged SPE is, however, lethal. Even a lesser event will cause the gamut of  symptoms of radiation poisoning. Ranging from slight nausea at around 50 milli Sieverts (Sv)  to radiation burns, bleeding from all orifices and death due to metabolic breakdown. (LD 50 is around 4 to 5 Sieverts.)

Now the above Solar Eyes and their successors will allow us to predict ‘inclement’ solar weather. But as for the GCRs that sleet across our solar system in all directions: there  is no warning. And to protect  a crew from all their effects would require positively herculean amounts of shielding. So much so, that vast amounts of fuel and massive engines would be required. Further complicating an already complex mission.

But to quote Wiki:
“The Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE) was launched in 2001 in order to collect more data. Estimates are that humans unshielded in interplanetary space would receive annually roughly 400 to 900 milli-Sieverts (mSv) (compared to 2.4 mSv on Earth) and that a Mars mission (12 months in flight and 18 months on Mars) might expose shielded astronauts to ~500 to 1000 mSv.[7] These doses approach the 1 to 4 Sv career limits advised by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements for Low Earth orbit activities.”

But any radiation is to be avoided. Like compound interest, it is a killer!

So here we are in the middle of the CBBEO, SMG’s to the centre and GCRC’s in all directions. What is the poor spacegrunt to do. Well curiously nature has provided an answer. At the height of the Solar Maximum: the magnetic field strength of the solar system or “Heliosphere” is vastly increased and, just like our Magnetosphere, prevents many but not all of these GCR Cannonballs from entering the inner solar system. Perversely the safest time to travel to Mars or anywhere else is at the peak of the solar storm season! Hoping that the sun only flares and any CME is heading directly away from your path. My best guess: a set of sequential hydrocarbon rich walls filled with water surrounded by more hydrocarbon composite fuel tanks filled with methane or hydrogen reaction mass. A bit of advanced British Boffinry, light ship, a big engine and a short journey!

Nautical parallels abound and spacefarers will add to the legacy of their seafaring ancestors. We even have icebergs!

Of course we now know that the whole solar system is sailing; bobbing up and down as it circum-navigates our Home Galaxy. Some time ago we left the sunny doldrums of of the Local Bubble. Currently our Solar System is cruising the choppy waters of the Local Interstellar Cloud but what’s that ahead the G-Cloud?
We may be entering some rough waters. We have 1,000 – 100,000 years to get ready. (Don’t say I didn’t warn you!)

Some advanced reading: Galactic cosmic ray response to heliospheric environment changes and implications for cosmogenic isotope records.

V. Florinski and G.P. Zank

http://www.ast.leeds.ac.uk/~jh/ICRC/PAPERS/SH34/usa-florinski-V-abs1-sh34-oral.pdf

Addendum

Brilliant! One cup of really hot tea and this appears on the Interwebs:”

Magic Anti-Radiation Curtain to be Installed in the ISS

Thus proving once again that all we really need to know is where our towel is!

Farewells and Hatch Closure
Useful video showing how the Russians K.I.S.S.

Undocking from the ISS
This video has several firsts for me. An occlusion of ‘da Moom’ by the Soyuz as it departs; followed by an orbital Moon Set as the ISS and Soyuz orbit round the curve of the Earth and a very wierd digital glitch that makes Pulsar look like it is leaking ‘smoke.’
The banter is good too!

Arrival
The camera crews arrive at the landing site with some VERY trippy footage.

Sitting in State
At least the weather was better this time for the usual post landing presentation! Welcome home to Khazakstan and Earth: Oleg, T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi.

Some captured images here:
Business End
Beautiful View
Contact
Moon Set
Smoking Hot
After a smooth (?) re-entry the Official NASA Photos by Bill Ingalls (Sequence of six.) First makes NASA Picture of the Day!

May I add my thanks to @geekygirlau, @bethbeck @charlesgalles and @ChrisAstro for their live tweets of the event. As, despite all my good intentions, I nevertheless managed to sleep through the re-entry!

This just in the Roskosmos Pictures

“It’s the Science Stupid”
It’s not just space coverage that is poorly reported by the Main Stream Media [MSM] but science coverage in general. In addition to its somewhat ‘dry’ nature, Science gets little coverage because the media types don’t have a science background. Media types understand the media. Locked in this media bubble the development of the current Celebrity culture with a focus on Hollywood becomes a given.
This is a positive feedback loop.
It will get worse.

This does however suggest a solution: cultivating Celebs who espouse Space. Tom Hanks and James Cameron spring to mind. Giving Colbert the chance to train as an Astronaut may be the best thing NASA ever does for public outreach. Short of putting him up there via a Soyuz. (Fingers crossed!) And whilst they are at it @milesobrien is owed one too.
[Miles O'Brien is a long time Science and Space News journalist who was to be the first American reporter in space. Alas Columbia...]

I would add here for the British reader that our very own ‘Major’ Tim Peake is an ideal focus for the pro-Space agenda:
UK astronaut Tim Peake makes first weightless flight. (BBC)

“No bucks. No Buck Rogers.”
Alas the public are all too satisfied with the fictional Buck Rogers. Reality comes in a poor second. IMHO it was Star Trek that destroyed public interest in RealSpace. As fighting and then making friends with the Klingons, Borg, etc. was far more satisfying.

I TOTALLY agree with Keith that there should be a better connection between the product of Hollywood and NASA. Actors and Producers need to be courted and supported if a movie has a ‘space theme.’
We need a “Space Camp” for the next generation and more product placement. I would suggest a TV Serial along the lines of Moonbase 3 or Star Cops. I.e near term human drama in space.

“Defying Gravity” (<–really good criticism piece here) is a perfect example of how not to do it!

Conversely the BBC’s excellent Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets was nigh on perfect. And that, as my friends know, is true praise indeed! All which goes to prove my hypothesis. Here in the UK we don’t have a real space program so naturally our Space Programmes are better! Indeed we have a Space-Time program based in Cardiff!

“The World according to [the] Gap!”
Frequenting and commenting on the various Space Blogs in the States (sad BOF that I am!) this Space Cadet continue to be AMAZED by the partisan comment that swamps every topic under the sun. I am reminded of the politics between Clinton and Gingrich. Only worse. Whilst the broad right and patriots bemoan “The Gap” and the Tea Party claim that anything Obama does is a commie plot to destroy Amerika… This is NOTHING like the interregnum between Apollo and Shuttle. (July 24, 1975 to April 12, 1981.) Indeed it is an amazing opportunity to demonstrate the international nature of the effort.

Some space propaganda needs to be revisited.
Footage includes the son of Khrushchev stating that one of his father’s regrets was not accepting Kennedy’s offer to go to the Moon as a partnership. The history of Apollo-Soyuz and how we got to where we are on the ISS.

AND WHERE WE COULD BE GOING.

At the low point perhaps NASA/MSM could sponsor a Space tourist and follow their progress through Russian space training. Or better still the process a Flight Engineer has to undergo.
Survival training in Siberia anyone!

Also needed is better coverage of international partners. NASATV has started this. But there is room for improvement! I would suggest a series on Space Ports co-sponsored by the Discovery Channel. Featuring the usual suspects plus the newcomers Brazil and India and a chance to see behind the Bamboo Curtain! Iran?

“Childrens Crusade”
The fusion between children (of all ages) and the biggest sand pit ever (our Moon) using Tele-Robotics is freaking ginormous. But most here will know that I have been banging on about this topic forever. For those that don’t:
http://brobof.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/the-third-way/

To continue the theme introduced in my last outing; this Loonie notes the re-emergence of (Liquid) “Gold Fever” notably here at the somewhat  excellent Space Review of Jeff Foust. In this piece Jim Gagnon sets out a rational for ‘divvying up’ the Moon and takes it further at his Blog: “On the Path to Space.”

One quote from the first article leapt out at this former space cadet.
So much so, that what was going to be just a simple comment; has evolved into the piece you are now reading. (Thank you! )

[A reason for HSF]“…that resonates with Americans and all peoples of the world at a visceral level.”

This somewhat innocuous statement is a quantum leap in the right direction. (Although you will note it is still the US and Them!) Nevertheless up to about a year ago this latter collective noun would not have been seen. There might have been a codicil for the “poor impoverished” Russians and some bleak sabre rattling statement about the inscrutable Chinese… But “all the peoples of the world?” It would seem that,  in the somewhat right of centre space community they are at last shaking off the Unilateralist Vision of Bush the Younger. Vide “Question (lunar authority)” By Taylor Dinerman (Space Review, 29th Sept 2008):

“Why should anyone in America accept the idea that a European straightjacket is a suitable garment for our next moves into the cosmos?” (ibid.)

Prior to this, there was the even more outrageous initiative set out by Alan Wasser (Space Future, October 2001) A massive (1,600,000 square km.) land grab for the first ‘private’ enterprise to achieve a settlement. Noting that this area neatly encompasses one of the lunar poles! One of the passages is telling:

“The profits on land sales which take place in the U.S. will, of course, be subject to U.S. taxes, so the Budget Office will score this legislation as a revenue producer, not a cost to the U.S.
It sounds strange because we haven’t done it yet, but there is growing sentiment for extending private property and the benefits of free enterprise to space. Former House Science Committee chair Bob Walker has suggested that the Bush administration would like to develop such a legal structure. “

However according to the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty such a concern would need to be operated by stateless persons, from a launch platform outside of any internationally agreed border and equipped and financed by a similarly stateless fashion. Shades of Captain Nemo! And it would still be illegal!

One imagines that as the gilt continues to peel off America’s Global Hyper-Trappings the concept of “first come, first served” is also losing its gloss.
Indeed such a lot of “Liquid Gold” has passed under the bridge since then, that the recent Committee on Human Spaceflight (Augustine II) took critical submissions not only from ESA but Roscosmos as well!  And thus, unless I am VERY much mistaken, the Unilateralist plan to ditch the ISS in 2015 is history. One also hopes that America will also be able to extend the  Shuttle… in one form or another.

But let us return to the Moon.

A good summary of the current state of play is the wonderfully prescient: “Who owns the moon? It’s ‘complicated,’ say experts!” (Lara Farrar, For CNN 19th May 2008) which ends with: “My feeling is until we know what is there, we shouldn’t mess with it,” [Henry Hertzfeld, a space analyst at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute. (ibid.)]

“It” of course is the infamous Moon Treaty currently languishing as a ratified but largely impotent international framework for advancing beyond LEO. This Loonie believes that one of the reasons why we, as a space faring species, have not advanced further… is because we know that  (re)negotiations are going to make Kyoto and Copenhagen look like petty domestic issues! But the discovery of substantial reserves of water compels the international community (Space Div.) to seriously revisit the Moon Treaty.  Now that we know that certain areas of the Moon are even more: “the most valuable pieces of real estate in the Solar System.” [To paraphrase Paul Spudis.] Namely the rather small polar locations possessing (near) continuous insolation and proximity to the shadowed depths where water and other volatiles might be found.

Some stop gap solutions:

A/ Peaks of permanent photoelectricity.
First come first served! After all we need a land rush don’t we? So the first persons; companies; space agencies or other entity to deploy an array gets to keep that bit of ground and rights of access via an associated  transmission line. Should the facility fall into disuse or abandonment: laws of salvage could be employed. No solar squatters as it were.  Hopefully though, the first settlements will be international in nature and thus power: a cooperative resource. Whilst the rush may be on at the poles;  at lower latitudes solar will only be 50% of the mix with nuclear the next most likely option. In the long term this Loonie would suggest that solar power will be beamed down from SPS constellations during the long lunar night.  Solar Power as a driver for a land rush is ideal as the short term urgency is replaced by irrelevancy in the long run.

B/ Non replaceable volatiles.
Common heritage. After scientific analysis, all deposits of non replaceable hydrogen, organics and whatnot are ring fenced by your local Life Support System and held in trust for future generations. In converse to the issue of Solar Power; it is important that the ideals set out in the Moon Treaty,  or its successor, are demonstrated right from the start.  Thus setting the tone for a Solar Commonwealth as our nascent ecologies move out into space. Again, in the long term, these volatiles are not in short supply but mining the Oort cometary halo may take a while!

C/ Replaceable Hydrogen and other volatiles
Conversely the big discovery by the Chandrayaan team that Hydroxyl ‘dew’ forms on the lunar surface is the real game changer. These volatiles: ‘mined’ from the solar wind can be expended for rocket fuel. Critically, as we run out of Helium here on Earth, lunar extraction may be our only source! This Loonie sees large scale concessions on the FarSide – so as not to spoil the view. Micro Graphic advertising requiring a really powerful telescope may also prove lucrative! These concessions fund the global ‘Divvy.’

D/ Oxygen (LUNOX) all the traffic will bear… Ditto: Al; Fe; Ti and any Platinum Group Metals you find using the Wingo Hypothesis! Again concessions and some form of profit sharing would add to the ‘Divvy.’

E/ Land With the exception of sites of special historical interest:  the  various probes, Apollo landing sites,… or those of special scientific interest; this Loonie would propose that a base would claim a radial 10km per person in permanent residence; allowing for crew rotation.  Or a generous 314.16 sq km. (MoonPi!) However a multinational base  would get a radial 100 km and a truly international base: 1000 km! (i.e. roughly one tenth: 3. 142 × 10⁶ km² vs 3.793 × 10⁷ km² total lunar surface area)
However when it comes to the Moon we have to think of “Cubic.” And there’s plenty of Cubic for everyone: 2.7245 cubic km/person. 2.195 8 × 10¹⁰ km³/  World Population (2020) 8.0563 x 10⁹

(Bagsies the bit at the centre!)

Lunar Authority: A solution.

Before very long we will need some sort of straightjacket governing body to oversee the exploration and exploitation of the Moon. Whilst this may be an anathema to Taylor Dinerman and other MegaCapitalists who want the MegaCorporate approach; this Loonie believes that the capitalistic meme is not one to be perpetuated. Especially in the light of recent events and  lessons learnt by the Captialisation of Russia. Outer Space Oligarchs? No thank you! Nor should the Nationalistic meme prevail. Instead we take one step away from a pure national interest by using the various Agencies: NASA, RosCosmos, CNSA,… as the founding members of a Lunar  Cooperative. Whilst each would, in practice, represent their respective governments’  national interests;  in the long term a Lunar Authority charged: “with the sacred trust of Luna for all Humankind” [To paraphase RAH in "Moon is a Harsh Mistress."] …might just evolve into a body with a Supra-National outlook without the need to placate the Shareholders.
Or stuff the expense account!

This would consist of permanent members; rotating members and a Chair.

• Permanent members. Those Organisations/Nations with an indigenous human launch capability. Thus encouraging the same. Currently: Russia, America, China. Soon: France (not ESA!) India, Brazil …UK (Last to the party. As always!)
  Permanent Members supporting a Lunar Base would have the right of Veto!
• Rotating Members:
  Countries without an indigenous launching capability and equal in number to the permanent members. Chosen in the same mysterious manner as the current Security Council!
• Chair: Chosen from the great and the good in the same way as the U.N. Secretary-General and again from those Nations without an
  indigenous launching capability. Has veto and casting vote!

For an existing parallel this Loonie would suggest the International Seabed Authority set up by the Law of the Sea Convention.

Business Model

Alas this former space cadet has no head for money. Let alone high finance. Clearly the Lunar Society of Equitable Pioneers cannot consider a per capita ‘divvy’. The last thing we need is a positive reinforcer for population growth. Perhaps a backdated inverse relationship to terrestrial pollution: CO2; radiation; toxic chemicals;… might figure in the algorithm. Which would bring the Green Movement into the fold, instead of growling at its contents from outside the pen: currently milling around in confusion!  Reluctantly this loonie must leave the division of the Moon Pie to experts in Game Theory and Cake Cutting.

In researching this article I have also found other worthies pondering this problem:

Who Owns the Moon? (20th November 2009 Richard Elkind, Cornell Daily Sun)

There’s Water on the Moon, But Who Owns It? (18th November 2009 Ashby Jones, Wall Street Journal)

We do!