Platinum Moon Bill White 9780984405800 Books
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Platinum Moon Bill White 9780984405800 Books
Congratulations to Bill White for researching and writing this story about an alternate future for entrepreneurial space development. The underlying theme of the book is the hypothesis that valuable minerals may have impacted upon the Moon in the past. The recent behavior of China to limit access to its rich store of rare Earth elements makes Bill's story especially interesting.Product details
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Platinum Moon Bill White 9780984405800 Books Reviews
Fun book. Likely to be more entertaining for avid followers of the commercial space wave (New Space) because the author assumes knowledge of a lot of trends, concepts and players in that field.
Extremely improbable events happen a number of times in order to make the narrative flow.
I found Bill White's book Platinum Moon a thoroughly enjoyable read. Before providing any critique, a few words on how I know Bill. We met in February 2009 as volunteer citizens lobbyists petitioning Congress on behalf of NASA, in a coordinated effort by multiple space advocacy societies, orchestrated by the National Space Society. My vocation includes lunar engineering, as well as hydrogen storage for fuel cells, both of which are part of Bill's vision for bootstrapping a cislunar economy. With my hands already in the technology, politics, and business of New Space, I found it delightful to read Platinum Moon - in my opinion, the best near-future book to describe how we can bootstrap space entrepreneurship. I encourage readers to snap up this lively tome, read it quickly, then hand it off to decision makers and enablers.
Fighter pilots and astronauts, scientists and engineers, politicians and deal makers vie in a bold marketing-funded gold rush to the moon. Hot-button issues like ITAR, space pre-eminence, and extraterrestrial property rights are explored by memorable characters grappling with personal dreams, political ambitions, greed, foresight, and altruism. A multi-cultural cast of main characters explore the issues which we all face as a spacefaring species. White introduces the "narrative engineer" as the prime mover for the burgeoning definition of Business 3.0, giving an answer to the question of how truly big ideas can shape the world. Abundant historical references and insight from classical thinkers enrich White's plausible pathway on how we can exploit lunar resources for the benefit of all mankind.
The first novel about our future on the Moon written after the sea change in NASA's mission instructions directed by the Obama Administration. Rather than dwell on the doors being closed, the writer accepts this change of direction as not only irreversible but as an opportunity, and take an enthusiastic view of the possibilities it creates.
The first word in the first sentence in the novel, PGM-1, the name of a spaceship, zeroes in on the crux of the novel. PGM stands for Platinum Group Metals (six metallic elements clustered together in the periodic table. Ru, Rh, Pd; Os, Ir, Pt - ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum. They have similar physical and chemical properties, and tend to occur together in the same mineral deposits. (Wikipedia) "The platinum metals have outstanding catalytic properties. " Platinum, at first considered a jewelry metal, is now involved in a quarter of all industrial processes, which makes it a linchpin of our modern economy. Most crucial, is Platinum's sine qua non role in fuel cells, without which the ultra-clean "Hydrogen Economy" would remain a dream.
The hitch is that no PGMs have yet been detected on the Moon. That does not mean they are not there. To be detected from orbit at relatively low resolution, they would have to be present in abundance. Nor have PGMs been detected in Apollo moon dust and rock samples except in parts per billion.
But the thinking is that while PGMs may not be native to the Moon, there could be PGM-rich meteorite chunks on the lunar surface that could be detected by on-location prospecting. The payoff could be immense, not just for export to Earth, but to fully enable modern industrial and manufacturing operations on the Moon itself. The author quickly states that an inspiration for this novel comes from Dennis Wingo's nonfiction book, Moonrush (# 2004 ISBN-10 1894959108)
The point is that discovery of PGMs in economically useful quantities on the Moon, would do much to brighten the prospects of a thriving industrial human frontier on the Moon. Without PGMs, or with PGMs imported at great cost, lunar industrialization will proceed, but remain on a relatively crude mid-20th century level.
This novel is powered by hope and faith that we will find such resources. That we have not done so to date, is understandable. We have not been using the right prospecting tools, in the right places.
Back to the novel. PGM-1 is owned not by NASA but by Lunar Materials LLC, LuMat for short. The company has determined that our first manned lunar landing should be not a a water-hole, but at a place where the prospecting for PGMs should be good. The infamous US State Department ITAR rules play a role, as they will, until enough common sense prevails to modify them or get rid of them altogether. By forbidding export of key technologies, the State Department has only encouraged the rest of the world to learn how to do without us.
PGM-1's crew is international, from the US, India, and France. There is already a corporate-built space station serving as the gateway to the Moon, at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point 1, 40,000 miles this side of the Moon. At this position, Earth's and the Moon's gravity cancels out, and keeping the station at it post requires relatively little and infrequent adjustments. Another station at L2 above the Moon's farside, is in the planning stages.
Nationals from Russia, China, Brazil and other spacefaring nations also figure in the plot. Our experience with the International Space Station suggests that the International route to the Moon is less vulnerable to national budgeting mischief, as commitments are involved.
Not only are free enterprise commercial firms involved, media publicity rights provided some support income. People paid, not grudgingly as taxpayers, but as willing consumers. That's a big difference! Supporting nations earned the rights to have representatives on the crews that followed PGM-1.
The scene shifts back and forth in fast-paced action from PGM-1 to Washington to New Delhi to Chicago and elsewhere on Earth and elsewhere on the Moon.
We don't want to give away the plot. Suffice it to say that the science, the political situations, the "given" situation as it infers the future of space development is all on target. That this is the first novel written in the post-G.W. Bush/Constellation era, makes it a must, not just for those who like reality-based science fiction, but for those who want a plausible peak into the decades ahead.
Bill White has done a great job, not just on the premises of the novel, but on his characters, the flow of events, the shifting of the scenes. In short, read the book!
Weather you are a Space Enthusiast or Not...this timely story and it's interesting characters will stay with you a long time! I have read at least 15 more books since reading "Platinum Moon" and yet, I think I would recognize any one of it's characters and welcome the chance to converse with them! A Great Read that leaves you hoping for a sequel! "Platinum Moon" makes an Excellent Gift for any Reader!
Congratulations to Bill White for researching and writing this story about an alternate future for entrepreneurial space development. The underlying theme of the book is the hypothesis that valuable minerals may have impacted upon the Moon in the past. The recent behavior of China to limit access to its rich store of rare Earth elements makes Bill's story especially interesting.
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