Michael Ross
The famed Apollo flight program (1961-1972) landed men on the Moon.
The notion of a return to the Moon would include new concepts, such as the economic development of the Moon in commercial enterprises, with as importantly, the notion of such projects undertaken now by private enterprise on its own entirely or in some collaboration with Government interests. In this conundrum of complex effort, starting small, progressing in incremental stages, would be the need for early present-day planning and preparation.
From Footprints to Blueprints examines, in its broadest spectrum of colors, the scope of achieving such a return to the Moon, with designs and arrangements to be made, resources required, in a return to the Moon, this time to stay.
Manned private enterprise in Space is here. In 2004, the spacecraft called SpaceShipOne was carried by a mother craft to 14,000 m above California’s Mojave Desert. Detaching, it soared vertically under rocket power to 100 km before returning. Immediately, plans were concerted to commercialize the achievement into carrying of fare-paying passengers on excursions to Space.
From there will come flights fully orbiting the Earth, and from there, inns in Earth orbit —portending in this century, commercial flights to the Moon, in tourist and commercial activities.
In examining the flights to the Moon in From Footprints to Blueprints, Michael Ross brings a dual background in aerospace and the construction industry to present a gripping “you are there” narrative of a new frontier.
Michael Ross is a trained aeronautical and mechanical engineer, with practical experience initially in the operation of military jet aircraft, followed by extensive background in international engineering firms in the design and coordination in chemical plant construction. He therefore brings a dual background of experience to the theme of From Footprints to Blueprints in building and operations on the Moon. He has written articles on the uses of the Moon, and the International Space Station. He is Sole Proprietor of M.R.Services (Space Studies), and is a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The famed Apollo flight program (1961-1972) landed men on the Moon. In its wake, that momentum for travel to the Moon subsided, while launch gantries rusted in a long (many believed overlong) hiatus. The dawn of a new century, though, seemed the occasion for a new panegyric, heralding new possibilities, new aspirations, new mindsets, for a return to the Moon. In Apollo, men had landed on the Moon for visits—brief visits, but spectacular achievements for all that. Now the focus was for a return to the Moon—but to stay this time.
The notion of a return to the Moon would include new concepts, such as the economic development of the Moon for commercial enterprises, with as importantly, the notion of such projects undertaken now by private enterprise on its own entirely or in some collaboration with Government interests. In this conundrum of complex effort, starting small, progressing in incremental stages, and not fully realizable until well into the century, would be the need for early, present-day planning and preparation.
From Footprints to Blueprints examines in its broadest spectrum of colors, the scope of achieving such a return to the Moon. It represents a “punch-list” of things to do, designs and arrangements to be made, and permitting from that, an appreciation of the resources involved, and the advantages pertaining, in a return to the Moon
