Image Credit: "Starseeds" by Jon Lomberg / Richards Collection

MACROLIFE
Contemplations of the Origins and Universality of Life

Is Life a local cosmic accident or a universal standard? Are we alone in a vast dead Cosmos or will we one day soon discover that there are others. This question has challenged and haunted humanity since the beginning of recorded history. The answer, either way, is profound.

In this presentation of science and speculation, Bob Richards reviews the known facts and theories of Life in the Universe as he journeys through some of the fundamental questions and potential futures awaiting us as we take our first tentative steps into the Cosmos.

Image Credit: NASA

CANADA’S FUTURE IN SPACE
Building on the Past, Creating the Future

Bob Richards has been a well known and influential personality within the Canadian space program for over 20 years. His unique approach to commercial and international space development has earned him a reputation as an innovator and forward thinker.

Today, as Director of the Optech Space Division, Bob Richards is front and centre on a number of new Canadian technology developments and space missions, including flying the first Canadian spacecraft autonomous rendezvous sensor and a significant role on the next NASA Mars Lander. He is currently the lead of a Mars Phobos Mission Concept study for the Canadian Space Agency.

In his dual role of technological innovator and space futurist, Bob Richards takes us through an aggressive vision of how Canada and Canadians can help lead humanity to a permanent human and robotic presence on the Moon, Mars and beyond while contributing to the understanding and preservation of our home planet.

Odyssey Moon "MoonOne" Lunar Lander (artistic rendering)

THE NEW RACE TO THE MOON
Old World Ideas versus New World Opportunities

Between 1969 and 1972, twelve humans walked on another world. After the most awesome technological and psychological achievement of the human species, they left, never to return. Why? Was it a useless waste of human ingenuity on an Olympian folly? What caused humanity to abandon it’s first toehold on another world? More importantly, what is the basis to go back? What new forces and motivators are at play today that make the story a different one than the Apollo dead end?

Today there is a rebirth of interest in going back to the Moon among many nations. However while nations plan and strategize how to navigate the political minefields and conflicting national priorities that justify the value of the Moon to the everyday tax payer, there are some new kids on the block not so constrained. They are the privateers; visionaries too, however their driving metric for going to the Moon is sustainable business and commerce. The announcement of the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE on September 13th, 2007 has energized their imaginations and catalyzed a New Race to the Moon.

Bob Richards is Founder and CEO of Odyssey Moon Ltd., a commercial lunar enterprise headquartered in the Isle of Man and the first official team of the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. The company made its first public debut on December 6th at the Space Investment Summit in San Jose, California, unveiling its plans to make history with the first private robotic mission to the surface of the Moon and win the Google Lunar X PRIZE. The inaugural Odyssey Moon mission will involve a unique small robotic lander designed to deliver scientific, exploration and commercial payloads to the surface of the Moon.

In this talk Bob Richards outlines how a carefully planned private Moon mission could set in motion the technological, political, legal and regulatory precedents that will allow humanity to rationally and peacefully embrace and develop the Moon as the world’s eighth continent.