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The Lunar Republic Society was founded in July 1999 as a legally-chartered international business company (IBC) dedicated to the future commercial development of a limited area on Earth's Moon and its corresponding resources. For decades, scientists, governments and businesses had debated who might "own" the Moon, with no logical solution. The founders of the Lunar Republic Society believe that those most interested in exploring, colonizing and developing the Moon should determine its future course, rather than Earth-based governments or huge multi-national corporations.
The Society determined that one of the best and fastest ways to raise funds for the organization was to provide low cost "land grants" for Lunar property. Profits from these sales are invested in the Kennedy II Lunar Exploration Project (K2LX), widely acknowledged to be the most viable proposal for privatized exploration, settlement and development of the Moon, using a safe, low-cost "medium tech" approach toward permanently inhabiting about a dozen small areas on the Lunar surface.
The K2LX Project will involve establishing permanent human-based settlements on the Moon by 2015, and the subsequent development of scientific research centers, tourism facilities, in situ resource utilization (for building materials and energy supplies) and creation of an infrastructure to support the needs of resident property owners.
In addition to raising the private funding for this project, among the other objectives of the Lunar Republic Society has undertaken is a Lunar mapping project that will create a detailed topographic atlas of the Moon's surface beyond any previously attempted. The first phase of this project, known as The Full Moon Atlas™, is also in standard use in classrooms around the world, from elementary schools to universities.
The design and testing of lunar habitats, a project which is currently underway, is another key program in which the Society is involved. We have also taken a leading role in influencing the naming of craters and other lunar geographical formations through the International Astronomical Union. To date the Society has successfully advocated the removal of a crater named for an accused Nazi war criminal (Crater Eppinger) and sponsored a plan to name a series of Lunar craters in the Moon's Columbia Basin to honor the Space Shuttle Columbia astronauts.
It is our goal to raise nearly US$3.5-billion toward the goal of returning humans to the Moon through the sale of about 150-million acres of lunar real estate -- or approximately 2% of the nine-billion acres of available land on Luna.
Much like those early adventurers who sought after the New World and who later created what is now the United States, we are an independent organization seeking self-determination for our nation. We are working with the United Nations and the governments of many nations, including the United States, China, Russia, Japan and members of the European community, to bring about the recognition of the Republic as the legitimate government of Luna. It is not an easy task, but it is one that we are committed to with every resource available to us. To date, we have registered nearly one-million people -- from nearly every earthly nation -- who have requested their citizenship in support of a Lunar Republic, in the belief that the goals we have established will be accomplished.
To answer your question, we do not hold a copyright to what we are doing; in fact, other groups are also attempting variations on the same theme, and we encourage you to give them the same scrutiny as you do us. We have chosen what we believe to be a unique and innovative approach to the future of the Moon, one that we know is not perfect, but one that has the distinct potential for developing into a powerful social and scientific concern.
