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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.
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CANADA’S FUTURE IN SPACE
Building on the Past, Creating the Future
Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards has been a well known and influential personality within the Canadian space program
for over 20 years. Bob Richards was front
and centre on a number of NewSpace initiatives and Canadian technology developments, and played a key role in Canada's successful
participation on the NASA Mars Phoenix Lander mission. His unique approach to commercial and international space development has
earned him a reputation as an innovator and forward thinker. Today
he is Co-Founder
and CEO of Moon Express, Inc. (MoonEx), a privately funded lunar transportation and data services company competing in the Google Lunar
X PRIZE competition and awarded a lunar services contact by NASA worth up to $10M,
In his dual role
of technological innovator and space futurist, Bob takes us through an inspired 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. >> see "A
Galvanizing Vision for the Canadian Space Program" on the B-log |
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Image Credit Moon Express, Inc. |
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 is Co-Founder and CEO of Moon Express, Inc. (MoonEx), a privately funded lunar transportation and data services company competing in the Google Lunar
X PRIZE competition and awarded a lunar services contact by NASA worth up to $10M, Bob has seen both sides of the private-public
space question, being front and centre on a number of NewSpace initiatives and having played a key role in the NASA Mars Phoenix
Lander mission. 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. |
