The PERMANENT Book by Mark Prado
Ken Murphy / 5:22 pm January 12th, 2006
This is one of the works that I consider to be a key reference in the Lunar Library (which has expanded to encompass the High Frontier). It’s drawn from the www.permanent.com website, which has evolved a bit since the publication date though not in any way to draw from the utility of having a hard-copy at hand.
The acronymm PERMANENT stands for Projects to Employ the Resources of the Moon and Asteroids Near Earth in the Near Term. The copy in the Lunar Library (signed by Mark) was published in 1998 by Fong Tong Enterprises. It runs 274 pages and largely duplicates the information found in the website.
It’s an interesting exercise to actually sit down and read a website from front to back. The short paragraph style of the internet makes it a fairly quick read, and it covers a lot of stuff.
The first two sections, covering some 70 pages is on asteroid and Lunar resources, and give an overview of asteroids and note many of the mineral resources of the Moon. The next section, about 25 pages, covers transportation in space near earth, and is smart enough to include the libration points. The next 20 pages are on industrial processes, from glass-ceramics to welding in vacuum.
Mark then goes on to note many of the products and services that would be required or could be provided in space, and we get about 60 pages of that. Good stuff too. Space colonies are looked at, as well as some economic, legal & political issues, and some mission plans & concepts. The sections are pithy and dense with information, but as I said it reads quickly.
I should note that I incorporated the graphic on page 74 (web) of the text on a display board that graphically displays what is in Near-Earth space from a transport and asset standpoint. The graphic, which shows the relative gravity wells of the Earth and the Moon, helps to show the importance of the libration points as places where it’s cheap to travel to a lot of places. I’ve used this in public displays with NSS of North Texas and it is generally well-received (in its context), and even General Worden had a few kind words to say about the display at the LEAG conference last October. It’s that useful a reference!
It is overall a well-rounded reference that I highly recommend. It’s one of the few works in the Lunar Library that gets a Full Moon rating.