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Operation Harvest Moon
40 years before Golden Spike - the first commercial lunar mission !
"...a return trip to the moon's Hadley Rile using surplus Apollo spacecraft and by public subscription is the ambitious aim of a wealthy group of private citizens calling itself the Committee for the Future
The cost would be recovered by selling moon rocks and television film photographic and literary rights and by charging for scientific experiments conducted.
The committee says that the United States government would provide it free of charge with rockets and spacecraft made redundant by cancellation of three proposed Apollo flights. Operational costs based on NASA are estimated at approximately $150 million, the committee said in announcing its aims this week.
Citizens who bought shares in the project called Harvest Moon would be repaid of the approximately 100 million that the committee hopes to gather by commercializing the mission
It envisages support from citizens all over the world prepared to pay a small returnable sum to finance continued exploration of the moon and possibly beyond. The Harvest Moon expedition would be scheduled following the final Apollo flight late next year and would be under the complete operational control of NASA the committee said in a statement. All mission safety standards would apply and operational procedures would conform with established NASA policy. It said its reasons for selecting Hadley Rile site of the Apollo 15 expedition last weekend were that it meets mission provides a data base line and some equipment left by the Apollo 15 mission which might be used.
This equipment includes the first lunar rover vehicle. But the committee for the future is planning to take plenty of its own equipment.
One experimental package is called acronym for First Integrated Experiment for Lunar Development. FIELD is described as an ecology experiment to be placed under a 20-foot inflated Selected plant insects perhaps some small animals would be subjected to plant I insects and perhaps some small animals would be subjected to the effects of the lunar would be provided by the residual consumables in the LEM.
A second called Remotely Geophysical would explore the area around Hadley prospecting for water tabulating mineral content of the soil and detecting other elements critical to developing a massive electronic fledged community on the moon's surface.
Roger, a remotely operated geophysical explorer, would explore the area around Hadley Rile prospecting for water, tabulating mineral content of the soil, and detecting other critical elements.
Another experiment is called the First Lunar Observatory . From the lunar surface the telescope would provide an unprecedented look at the universe It would allow 14 day time exposure photographs
Lastly, a command and control station using laser-based communications would be capable of handling all data transmission to and from the Hadley Rile site, excluding Roger, and serve Earth as a communications satellite capable of carrying up to 200 simultaneous color-TV broadcasts. The system would allow development of ground stations using small telescopes and relatively inexpensive electronic equipment.
The committee said it proposed Harvest Moon because it seemed incredible to invest billion and 10 years to reach the moon and then stop without purpose fully looking at the moon's value to man and his future. Even before Harvest Moon was announced NASA officials said privately the plan stood little chance of approval as it stands. They said there would be objections to turning a major public program like Apollo into a commercial operation.
The committee was organized by Barbara Marx daughter of Louis Marx, a toy manufacturer.
The Harvest Moon proposal was developed by the New Worlds Co incorporated last January by the committee and financed by Louis Marx Toy Co. Mrs Hubbard husband, Earl Hubbard, 47, tours the U.S crusading for a new approach to space development leading to eventual colonizations of the planets.
Another leading member of committee is Gen Joseph S. Bleymaier, a retired U.S Air Force officer who director of a military space project for a manned orbiting laboratory..."