WORKING TOGETHER TO ADVANCE SPACE DEVELOPMENT

The Space Development Network is a program under the Mars Institute which is a non-profit organization located in Massachusetts. The Network is organized as a committee with a leadership tasked with different responsibilities. Currently, Doug Plata, MD, MPH is the chair of the Space Development Network committee. People wishing to join the Network for free can do so through the following link: Join.

The Space Development Network (SDN) is a new type of space advocacy organization. For starters, it is free to join. It is a group of volunteers organized into working groups to advance the Plan for Sustainable Space Development described on this website.

The Space Development Network works in connection and support of different space advocacy organizations where our approaches to space development overlap. Most all space advocacy organizations support space settlement as the ultimate goal of space development. We too strongly support this vision and, indeed, our goal is to see the establishment of humanity's first, small but permanent off-Earth settlement as soon as possible. As we look at the relevant factors (e.g. proximity and local resources) we believe that the Moon will be that location with Mars very shortly thereafter.

We don't just want to be a "talking" society. We want to use what talents we have to make real progress. So we are projects focused. And we believe that even lay space advocates can help make real progress. To this end, we organize into working groups with each member contributing at the level that they are capable of.

Do you enjoy cooking? Well, we need a Lunar Cookbook of recipees using hydroponically-grown plants. Are you able to 3D print objects? There's definitely projects that can use your skills. Do you have no skills? Actually, you can share about the work of the SDN in social media. So there's something for everyone.

As an ambitious goal, we hope to work on projects to the point of development where they could be brought together into a new type of analogue base (the MMAB). This would be a physical location to integrate, illustrate, and demonstrate the technologies of use for sustainable, off-Earth development.