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What's ahead, Fred?

While news reports, scientists and political speeches frequently warn us that the oil supply is going to run out, the general public has no real perception of the problem: It's rather difficult to get worried about some disaster that is going to happen at an ill-defined time in the future. Between the number of "end of the world" scares that have come and gone, and having too many other distractions that are immediate concerns, it's hard for the average person to understand there is a cliff we're speeding toward. As a result, there is a massive amount of work that must be done just to raise public awareness of the problem, let alone the huge effort that's going to be required to build the solar power plants we need to survive into the future.

Obviously the task being undertaken with this site is an uphill battle, it begs the question "How do you propose to get enough interest to make it happen?" A plan of action is needed, one people can look at, understand, and have faith it can be achieved: Without a believable plan, there's no hope of getting anywhere because prospective investors need reasonable assurances they are investing in a project with a future, rather than just throwing money away.

The list presented here outlines some of the efforts being undertaken toward the ultimate goal of building a network of solar power satellites in orbit. Note that most of these projects can be done in parallel - the steps within some of the sublists need to be accomplished more or less in order, but the major items are not dependent on the others being finished.

• Develop the L5 National Bank Web site into a functioning enterprise. Once the Bank has been established, an "L5 dollars" deposit will be made into an account in the Bank in the contributor's name matching the amount of the contribution for any funds received through this site. Deposits will then be converted into bonds once the necessary business structures are put in place.
  In summary, the plan is to:
  • build the systems necessary to maintain and show balances with a level of security appropriate for banking transactions
  • create accounts corresponding to all of the contributions that have been received
  • establish the organizational and legal frameworks necessary for issuing bonds recognized as valid financial instruments
  • convert all existing deposits to bonds
• Development of the SpacePowerNow.org Website will continue to work on raising public awareness of the imperative nature of the situtation. A grass-roots organization across the whole country, and ultimately across the world, will be establishedto draw more interested people into the project. Some of the mechanisms to be utilized include:
  • set up discussion boards to facilitate the exchange of ideas and plans between interested indivduals and groups
  • create dialogs about what works and what doesn't work (and hopefully why) in publicizing the project and problem
  • build an effective marketing program leading to achieving the critical mass of public awareness needed to assure the space power network's uninterrupted development
  • develop and provide tools and literature for starting local support and special interest groups, and activities to bring more people into the effort
  • advertising campaigns across as many media channels as time and resources support - develop a YouTube channel, for example, in addition to the "old" markets of television, radio and newspapers
• Funding continued operation of The L5 Development Group is one of the primary objectives of this effort. The L5 Development Group is the business entity through which the solar power satellite network SpacePowerNow.org is endorsing will be built. Drawing on plans first published in 1986, the company's Web presence, initially established in 1997, has been through several iterations. A complete overhaul of the parts of the site that have been finished is currently in progress, and a significant amount of work needs to be done to complete the rest of the site.
  The L5Development.com Web site is planned to be a system that not only provides information to the public about the program and its progress, but also facilitates the company's operations and its interface with the business world.
  In brief, work needed here includes:
  • finish the current Web site modernization program
  • develop, enhance and expand project plans
  • build the business that's going to make it happen
• Luna Robots : This project will begin its life as a video game where participants are driving robots on the Lunar surface, either as entertainment or as a training exercise. Details are available to qualified investors.
• L5 Business, "The site for L5 business development" : This site is currently a Wordpress stub implementation. It is intended to be a news and resource center for business efforts related to building colonies at L5, and businesses conducted there.
• SpaceColonists.com, "The social point for the off-world crowd" : SpaceColonists.com is a targeted social network, an information and resource exchange, and a community and support group. It is a focus point for people involved with, or interested in being involved with, building and living in space colonies. (Think: Facebook for astronauts)
  This site will not be free to join: A membership fee increases the quality and integrity of the community, helps weed out "tire kickers" from serious participants, and helps cut down on spam: users who pay for their membership are much less likely to abuse their privileges. The objective is not to make the cost of entry prohibitive for willing participants, but rather to ensure members have a reasonable expectation of success in dealing with each other.
  SpaceColonists.com currently only has a stub home page. Briefly, it needs:
  • development into a functioning and useful site
  • conducting the necessary marketing to draw enough of a membership to make it self sustaining
• Interplanet Dating, "Find a mate from any of the inhabited worlds" : Interplanet Dating is designed to be a dating service for people who are involved with building human presence beyond Earth, for anyone living on another planet or in a space colony, or for those interested in being a member of one of those groups.
  As with SpaceColonists.com, membership in this site will not be free, for similar reasons. The differentiating factor between the two sites is this one is specifically aimed at members looking for a dating relationship, and SpaceColonists.com is a general community site.
  • InterplanetDating.com is currently only minimally developed. It needs an amount of development work similar to SpaceColonists.com.
• L5 Colony, "News and info about building colonies at L5" : Prior to construction and habitation of the L5 space colonies, this site will primarily be focused as a news source regarding the development and construction efforts. Once the colonization is under way, it will become the main source of information regarding population, infrastructure and community, and the on-going colonization effort: In general, this site is intended to be about the people and physical property of the colonies, as opposed to the government thereof.
  • L5Colony.com has only been minimally developed at this time. It needs to be developed into a fully functioning site.
• L5 Nation, "The government of The L5 Nation" : L5Nation.com focuses on government within, citizens of, and international relations with The L5 Nation. This site is the sole authorized source for obtaining L5 Nation passports and other official documents. It is the main contact point and official channel for international relations with The L5 Nation, and the primary agent for securing international recognition of the Nation and the sovereign status of its citizens. The site also maintains a list of the L5 national holidays we celebrate.
  Prior to actual construction and habitation of the L5 space colonies, this site will initially be focused on securing international recognition for The L5 Nation. Operating as a government in exile, The L5 Nation will need to obtain diplomatic immunity for its citizens to protect their rights in order to be truly effective.
  The efforts undertaken through this site will be the primary source of our national identity, building over time as more and more of Earth's governments come to recognize our own independence. This will not be a trivial task, as the long history of humanity's development attests, but it is an effort that will be worth all of the work when its goals are achieved.
  Construction of the L5Nation.com web site into a useful resource is a relatively finite effort that could be accomplished in six months, and for less than $100,000. The larger effort of changing The L5 Nation from an interesting idea into a real, living entity is a lot more work, a process without a real end point. The campaign of "simply" getting established Earth governments to recognize The L5 Nation as an independent entity will probably take many years at a cost that cannot really be predicted. Establishing embassies and securing other necessary extraterritorial properties will likely cost tens, or even hundreds, of millions of dollars. Building secure facilities to produce passports and other official documents that cannot be readily counterfeited will easily cost millions of dollars (probably tens of millions) and take several years. In the end, the cost of establishing the government of the L5 colonies will likely come to match a significant percentage of the hardware costs of building the physical colonies themselves.
• SpaceHistoryNews.com : Starting in the summer of 2004, the Space History newsletter has been sent to its subscribers on a daily basis. While new events have been added to the database sporadically since 2005, there are significant gaps in its coverage. In order to attract more subscribers and enhance its value as an educational and inspiring resource, the coverage needs to be expanded and validated. Improving the quality of the newsletter will also make it more attractive to advertisers, utimately leading to covering its full operating costs.
  Immediate development work on the site will include:
  • move the space history newsletter from L5Develoment.com to its own site
  • continue validating existing entries, citing sources
  • expand the database of recorded events
  • publicize the newsletter to attract more subscribers
  • replace non-functional advertising with relevant revenue generating links
• SpaceQuestions.org :
  • develop the site to become a widely recognized authoratative educational resource

These are just a few of the projects that are currently under way. There are many more waiting "in the wings" for time and resources to become available so they can go forward as well. The range of work involved is a lot more than can be done by one person, or even by a small group. In fact, this project is going to require millions of people working on it for it to succeed: Building solar power plants in orbit will create a huge number of jobs.

None of that will be possible, though, if we don't start putting time, money and effort into it now!

Continue...

Please tell everyone you know about this site, invest, participate - Let's make it happen! The future of humanity depends on it!

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Send an email with your thoughts.