Should We Return To The Moon

Should We Return To The Moon?

This post is brought to you by writer Stephen Tremp, author of the Breakthrough trilogy.

Listening to the latest and greatest on a return trip to the moon, you would think you were reading an executive summary of an important business plan.

 

A return trip to the moon actually makes a lot of sense. A lot has happened since the six manned U.S. Apollo landings between 1969 and 1972.

 

New and innovative technologies will be able to utilize lunar resources to supply and replenish oxygen (found in the lunar soil), volatile gasses, fuel, water, and construction materials. We won’t have to haul all off this to the moon and worry about replenishing supplies vital to sustain life. 
 

• The moon could hold secrets regarding our world.

• Lower gravity means it’s easier to launch ships to other planets and moons.

• Telescopes would have a better view to see deep into our universe as there is no atmosphere to interfere with observations.

• And the moon holds vital resources. We know there is water on the moon in the form of ice. And the hydrogen and oxygen atoms could be used as rocket fuel.

 

At least seven major potential lunar construction materials have been identified. These include:

• concrete

• sulfur concrete

• cast basalt

• sintered basalt

• fiberglass

• cast glass

• metals

 

Add new and innovative technologies with the moon’s natural resources, and it’s not difficult to imagine one giant leap for mankind toward self-sufficiency and independence from the Earth.

Sure, more leaps need to be taken, such as producing a steady flow of food. Maybe Quisp and Tang grows there in abundance. But for now, it’s easy to see how making return trips to the moon makes a lot of sense.

 

The U.S. does not have concrete plans to return to the moon any time soon. China plans to land an unmanned exploratory rover on the moon by the end of this year.

 

The Question Is: will private industry beat governments to the punch?

 

Let’s take a quick look at private industry on the cusp of taking man and supplies into space and the moon. I’ll refer you to an earlier post on Space X, headed up by Elon Musk: CLICK HERE.

 

Also check out my article on LEO (Low Earth Orbit), the first private space telescope launched by Planetary Resources.

 

Do you have time for one more? Check out my article on Virgin Galactic, headed up by Sir Richard Branson.

 

You can visit Stephen Tremp at his blog by CLICKING HERE.

Taking the World by Storm

CassaStorm

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

From the Amazon Best Selling Series!

A storm gathers across the galaxy…

Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans.

After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy’s mind.

Meanwhile the ancient alien ship is transmitting a code that might signal the end of all life in the galaxy. And the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty years ago could return. As his world begins to crumble, Byron suspects a connection. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the middle…

“CassaStorM is a touching and mesmerizing space opera full of action and emotion with strong characters and a cosmic mystery.” – Edi’s Book Lighhouse

“…mesmerizing story of survival, personal sacrifice, tolerance, and compassion. It’s a rare jewel that successfully utilizes both character and plot to tell a story of such immense scope and intimate passion…” - Nancy S. Thompson, author of The Mistaken

"Cavanaugh makes world building on the galactic scale look easy. The stakes affect the entire known universe and yet Cavanaugh makes it intensely personal for our hero. The final installment of this series will break your heart and put it back together." - Charity Bradford, science fantasy author of The Magic Wakes

“With a talent for worldbuilding and a compelling cast of characters, Alex J. Cavanaugh combines high powered space battles and the challenges of family dynamics to provide readers a space opera with heart.” - Elizabeth S. Craig, author of the Southern Quilting and Myrtle Clover mysteries

“I thought the revelation was going to be one thing and I was completely wrong … CassaStorm pushes the limits…” - Tyson Mauermann, Speculative Reviews

$16.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 268 pages, Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.
Science fiction/adventure and science fiction/space opera
Print ISBN 9781939844002 eBook ISBN 9781939844019
$4.99 EBook available in all formats

Find CassaStorm: Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Amazon Kindle, and Goodreads.

Alex J. Cavanaugh has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and works in web design and graphics. He is experienced in technical editing and worked with an adult literacy program for several years. A fan of all things science fiction, his interests range from books and movies to music and games. Online he is the Ninja Captain and founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The author of the Amazon bestsellers, CassaStar and CassaFire, he lives in the Carolinas with his wife.
Find Alex - Blog, Twitter, and Goodreads

Visit Alex's blog for your chance to win some awesome prizes - books, mouse pads, mugs, magnets, posters, swag, and more!

A to Z Challenge Hacks – All Text, No Extras!

The next Blogging from A-to-Z Challenge is a few seasons away but it’s never too early to get a head start on mapping out your game plan for surviving this massive undertaking. 

As we close out the Summer and head into Fall, this is a good time to learn from our own previous A-to-Z Challenge experiences or those of other participants, to keep up with the alphabet and visiting new blogs without losing our minds in the process.

Since I was fundraising for my short film at the time and didn’t have internet access during most of April, my daily schedule was hectic. There were days when I found myself scrambling to get a blog post up by 11:59pm to avoid falling behind our 26-day blogging schedule. Here is one of a few tips and tricks that helped me stay on track as best as I could during the 2013 A-to-Z Challenge.

Text first, Pictures & Stuff later

I posted my blog posts without photos and then returned at a later time to edit/update the posts by adding photos. This is one of my A-to-Z Hacks that worked wonders for me by reducing the stress of not being able to have something new for those who were visiting my blog.

Putting text-only posts up on your blog is especially useful for procrastinators or those who just usually write their blog posts later in the evening due to jobs, screaming babies, whining spouses, ailing parents, church services, natural disasters, technical issues, NBC’s The “X-Factor” or “America’s Got Talent,” CBS’s “Big Brother,” HBO’s “Breaking Bad” or for whatever other reason.

Since I’ve written a lot of my A-to-Z Challenge posts at night, I would aim to get something up on my blog by 11:59pm for the current letter of the day. When the challenge reached Letter K, I did not have the time to write, edit, proofread, edit again and format my post earlier in the day, so I worked on it at night starting around 10:00pm and noticed that I was running out of time. 

So instead of worrying about the layout of photos that would support this post, I focused on getting the post to go live before midnight, so that I could remain up to date in the challenge. Afterward, (since I wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon, anyway) I searched for the images that I wanted to accompany that post and then went back into my blog editor and added them sometime after midnight, within the next hour or so.

My Text first, Pictures, etc. later A-to-Z Hack worked so well that the same trick could be applied to posts written earlier in the daytime as well. If you are among the challenge participants who write your posts in the morning or during the early afternoon hours but still need to find photos to go with them, just split up those duties – publish the post that you have so far (which is the text) and then add the images and/or any links that you didn’t have handy the first time around, later in the evening when you get to them. See…this A to Z blogging trick is as easy as pie.

Have a joyous weekend, everybody!

- Nicole @MadlabPost

*More of my A to Z Hacks will be coming soon. Until then, let me know something…

When (morning/daytime/nighttime) did YOU usually write YOUR posts for the A to Z Challenge?

Do YOU have any A-to-Z Challenge survival tricks up YOUR sleeve that you’d like to share with me?