LAUNCH OUT, a science-based novel about space industrialization, has just been published. The futuristic volume centers on the leadership of private enterprise in developing an industrial park and base on the Moon. The plot focuses upon the synergistic planning and efforts of two high tech companies in this regard - one based in La Jolla, California, and the other in Kyoto, Japan. The 304 page book has sixteen chapters and ten relevant illustrations. The story covers the actions of sixteen "technauts" on the lunar surface in 2010. Through "flashbacks," the reader learns the 20-year saga of multinational corporations within a "Global Space Trust" to get the spacefarers and their robots on the lunar surface. The premise is that if taxpayers are to get ROI on the Apollo mission expenditures over thirty years ago, then settlement and commercialization of the Moon will require strategic alliances between both the private and public sectors, as well as among world corporations and universities. The economic rationale for such a macroproject, entitled "Lunar World," is that humanity's survival and progress on Earth requires utilization of its sister planet's resources, especially lunar solar energy. For this to happen in real time, the work even envisions a "Lunar Economic Development Authority" coordinating the international investment in the venture.

The author, Philip R. Harris, Ph.D., spent twenty years researching and writing LAUNCH OUT, in the hope of convincing people why human evolution offworld is both a necessity and eventuality. Although this is his first fictional endeavor, Dr. Harris, is author/editor of forty professional books and noted particularly for the MANAGING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES SERIES (www.bhusa). A management/space psychologist, he is an associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. A former NASA consultant and Faculty Fellow, Phil received eight awards for excellence from the Aviation/Space Writers Association. The founding editor of the journal, SPACE GOVERNANCE, he also contributed chapters to a NASA publication entitled, SPACE RESOURCES (available from Univelt), and authored LIVING AND WORKING IN SPACE (available from Univelt).

Perhaps the book's cover quotation by America's rocket pioneer, Prof. Robert Goddard, best describes its vision: "it is difficult to say what is possible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."
 

This second edition discusses scientific accomplishments and behavioral space science research concerning near-term exploration, settlement and industrialization of the space environment. The chapters focus on the human and cultural dimensions for creating a spacefaring civilization, consider practical issues such as the deployment and performance of spacefarers management of large scale enterprises, and discuss the key industrial and technical challenges. Thoroughly updated and revised, Living and Working in Space, Second Edition includes new chapters on Macrothinking in Global Space Planning and Strategies for Lunar Industrialization and Port Planning.

Contents: Toward a Global Space Ethos • Human Development and Synergy in Space • Behavioral Science Space Contributions • Cultural Implications of Space Habitation • High Performance Among Spacefarers Personnel Deployment Systems for Space • Macrothinking in Global Space Planning • Macromanagement of Space Enterprises • Challenges in Space Industrialization and Settlement: Commercial, Legal, and Political • Strategies for Lunar Economic Development

Space Engineers, technologists, and scientists wanting to gain greater understanding of broad human factors and policy for long-duration missions and habitation will find this book to be a major source of stimulating ideas and information.

The author, Philip R. Harris, Ph.D., is author/editor of forty professional books and noted particularly for the MANAGING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES SERIES (www.bhusa). A management/space psychologist, he is an associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. A former NASA consultant and Faculty Fellow, Phil received eight awards for excellence from the Aviation/Space Writers Association. The founding editor of the journal, SPACE GOVERNANCE, he also contributed chapters to a NASA publication entitled, SPACE RESOURCES (available from Univelt).