The Earth has limited material and energy resources. Further development of the humanity will require going beyond our planet for mining and use of extraterrestrial mineral resources and search of power sources. The exploitation of the natural resources of the Moon is a first natural step on this direction. Lunar materials may contribute to the betterment of conditions of people on Earth but they also may be used to establish permanent settlements on the Moon. This will allow developing new technologies, systems and flight operation techniques to continue space exploration. In fact, a new branch of human civilization could be established permanently on Moon in the next century. But, meantime, an inventory and proper social assessment of Moon’s prospective energy and material resources is required. This book investigates the possibilities and limitations of various systems supplying manned bases on Moon with energy and other vital resources. The book collects together recent proposals and innovative options and solutions. It is a useful source of condensed information for specialists involved in current and impending Moon-related activities and a good starting point for young researchers.

Peter Leighton examines and sifts the vast, imaginative literature written on lunar travel.

First it's her mother's missing gold brooch. Then, a blue and white dish she hasn't seen in years. Followed by an entire grove of cashew trees. When objects begin appearing out of nowhere, Calamity knows that the special gift she has not felt since childhood has returned-her ability to find lost things. Calamity, a woman as contrary as the tides around her Caribbean island home, is confronting two of life's biggest dramas. First is the death of her father, who raised her alone until a pregnant Calamity rejected him when she was sixteen years old. The second drama: she's starting menopause. Now when she has a hot flash and feels a tingling in her hands, she knows it's a lost object calling to her. Then she finds something unexpected: a four-year-old boy washes up on the shore, his dreadlocked hair matted with shells. Calamity decides to take the orphaned child into her care, which brings unexpected upheaval into her life and further strains her relationship with her adult daughter. Fostering this child will force her to confront all the memories of her own childhood-and the disappearance of her mother so many years before.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “A riveting feat of science writing that recasts that most familiar of celestial objects into something eerily extraordinary, pivotal to our history, and awesome in the original sense of the word.”—Ed Yong, New York Times bestselling author of An Immense World A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Many of us know that the Moon pulls on our oceans, driving the tides, but did you know that it smells like gunpowder? Or that it was essential to the development of science and religion? Acclaimed journalist Rebecca Boyle takes readers on a dazzling tour to reveal the intimate role that our 4.51-billion-year-old companion has played in our biological and cultural evolution. Our Moon’s gravity stabilized Earth’s orbit—and its climate. It drew nutrients to the surface of the primordial ocean, where they fostered the evolution of complex life. The Moon continues to influence animal migration and reproduction, plants’ movements, and, possibly, the flow of the very blood in our veins. While the Sun helped prehistoric hunters and gatherers mark daily time, early civilizations used the phases of the Moon to count months and years, allowing them to plan farther ahead. Mesopotamian priests recorded the Moon’s position in order to make predictions, and, in the process, created the earliest known empirical, scientific observations. In Our Moon, Boyle introduces us to ancient astronomers and major figures of the scientific revolution, including Johannes Kepler and his influential lunar science fiction. Our relationship to the Moon changed when Apollo astronauts landed on it in 1969, and it’s about to change again. As governments and billionaires aim to turn a profit from its resources, Rebecca Boyle shows us that the Moon belongs to everybody, and nobody at all.

When invading boars arrive in Riversplash Mountain, a group of friends assume the identities of the Brave Tails, legendary heroes who originally rid their land of predators.

Tony Giodone made his living as an assassin--until one of his marks ripped his throat out and turned him into a werewolf. Now he's the best hired killer there is. When a curvy woman in an expensive suit tries to hire him to kill her, his wolf senses insist that she is his mate. One kidnapping, a plethora of gunfights, a psychic coma, and two faked deaths later, Tony and Sue have new identities and are hiding in a community of Sazi shapeshifters. All seems well, until Sue begins to pull away from Tony and he realizes that if he can't be more open with her, he's going to lose her. To add to his problems, Tony is getting flashes of other peoples' lives. He doesn't know if they're memories or fantasies--but he wants it to stop, because he's learning things he shouldn't about his friends and neighbors. What's more dangerous than a psychic-powered werewolf assassin? Whatever it is, it's kidnapping and killing female Sazi . . . after it sucks out their powers. Its latest captive is the girlfriend of Carmine, the Mafia don who used to be Tony's boss. To get her back, Carmine will make war on all the Sazi--and while the Sazi would win, they can't afford to be exposed to humans. Now it's up to Tony to save Carmine's girlfriend--and all of the Sazi. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

This is a portrayal of two plebeian families that lived far into the Appalachian Mountains. The fiery Jasper Burnine family, Caucasian, and The Moon clan, Cherokee, were across from the other on Clear Creek. Surprisingly, they became close. The hot-tempered Burnines became bitter over the ill treatment of The Moon clan. The Moon, the ex-Cherokee warrior, became an enraged madman. Privately, he declared war on those that came to molest his family. The intruders that couldn’t escape his wrath were left as food for the buzzards and foxes. The book has a powerful story. It is fast paced, violent, romantic, bawdy, hard bitten, comical, and haunting. Life was hard in the mountains. Half the children died young. In the new nation there was little law enforcement, so each family stayed on guard. The time, 1790 to 1840, was a period of crisis for the new nation called The United States of America. Would they remain a nation? The British were lurking, waiting for an opening. The Cherokees, beaten in war, saw their land taken as white people came to settle the new continent. The Indians worried over this for years. Would they have to move across the big river to the new country?