Pre Launch Status (Mar 2010)

COM = Cross on the Moon;

I am a few days behind on posting this status for March. Back in February the outlook for US Federal tax exempt status was poor. The IRS agent was denying our application filed in July 2009. I am pleased to say the future looks brighter in March. The agent has reopened our case, partly based on the activities we have performed and also because of a minor change to our by-laws. In essence we were stating an implementation and not a purpose. Additionally I believe your thoughts and prayers intervened in a positive way.

The hard numbers for COM to date are 500 in its e-mail database and $1400 in its checking account. No donations were received this month. COM’s monthly expenses are extremely low since we are an all volunteer organization. After initial start up costs, the primary recurring costs are maintaining COM’s web site service, replying to the IRS, and connecting our supporters with e-news. COM’s Board of Directors feel strongly about channeling the maximum amount of donation dollars to the mission.

This is probably a good time to summarize why we are asking for donations. First we believe in having a personal relationship with God. Placing a cross on the moon will encourage theological dialogs. Already discussions have begun, mostly on confused atheist web sites. That’s ok. Our God is the creator of the Universe. The more we study the person and the works of Jesus, the stronger our faith becomes. The donations are needed to send the cross to the moon. Several companies are testing components so they can be the first to claim the Google Lunar X Prize, a 501 C-3 philanthropic organization. We need donations in preparation for sending these companies an RFQ (request for quote). If our resources are enough, we will place a physical cross on the moon. Obviously the size of the cross would have significant restrictions. A lower cost option might be to place a cross decal on the rover. For dscussion on this approach, read COM April Post .

Mahatma Gandhi was a great believer in Christ but gave these sobering words: “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today”.

On this eve of Resurrection Day (Easter) allow me a moment to reflect. No one should judge others in their commitment to God. Every one of us has sinned. Instead we should be looking inward to see if we pass the tests of faith as revealed in scripture. We need reminders of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice and love for us. We need fellowship to help grow our faith. The symbol of the cross has performed well for thousands of years as our reminder. It will persist. But we are not absolved of our sins because we simply wear the cross on a chain or raise it high on our walls, buildings, and yes, even the moon. We are absolved because Jesus took our sins and died for us. He came back from the dead to show us our Heavenly Father is master even over death. Placing a cross on the moon will not prepare a place for us in heaven. It will however remind us of God’s sacrifice and everlasting love. It will encourage us to look inward in preparation for eternity.

Your Servant,

M.N. Clark,

President, Cross on the Moon

Should We Advertise for Christ?

Florida Space Coast- Apr 1, 2010: 

Every day we are slammed with requests to buy this or subscribe to that. Billboards appeal to our sexual desires, our food choices, changing our hair color, loosing weight, or appealing to our compassion. While driving to work, radio commercials share the ride with true content only a small percentage of our travel time. Television is no better. Commercials have higher volume than the programs we tuned in to watch. We are shouted at, emailed to, seduced and frightened into giving up our attention and often our values to get the “deal”.

This constant barrage of requests is directed at all age groups. Peer pressure to own THAT car or be seen wearing THOSE shoes is real. The requests are overt. They are on cereal boxes, sides of buses, on park benches and in Internet searches. Children are manipulated to ask for the popular toy or movie relics. Sport teams hawk shirts, hats, and even underwear. It takes significant effort to avoid advertisements on a minute to minute basis.

How can we put God first in this cacophony of worldly requests?  With so many asking for our attention, reflecting on the importance of God in our lives seems reserved to the time we spend in houses of worship. One answer of putting God more into our lives is to reserve time each morning and evening to thank Him for what He does for us each day. The moment we first wake and the seconds before we sleep are wonderful commercial free times to have conversations with God.

So what has this posting have to do with Cross on the Moon? The answer is in the belief that corporate advertisements will not stop. Sponsorships for big projects will always be needed. Building private spaceships to reach the moon and perform work there will require investors. Advertising helps pay for the mission when tax-funded programs fade away.

Private corporations will place a mobile machine on the moon before the end of 2014. One task the small rover has will be to travel the length of 5 football fields or more. The rover has to broadcast to the earth in high definition television. It will be a global event, complete with advertising campaigns before, during, and after the machine crawls or hops its way across the lunar surface. Advertising will help offset the mission costs. The unmanned event on the moon will be hard for the public to ignore. Many will say it will be historic because it will be a moon landing accomplished by private enterprise, not by a government. As always, financial support of risky projects is difficult but even more so when done privately. Still, sponsors of the successful moon mission have an incredible opportunity for a global audience.

The total cost for the mission will be over $100 million. We know this from past lunar missions. There are a lot of technical risks but over 30 teams have entered the competition. Google along with the X Prize Foundation, a non-profit charity has offered a $30 million incentive to the first privately funded team to accomplish their mission. They are offering a prize as a catalyst, in the same spirit as sponsoring the crossing of the Atlantic by powered flight that Charles Lindberg won. When he landed in Paris, few people imagined the business that air travel is today. Many entrepreneurs believe the moon can sustain future industries. For the companies that take a risk, one reward is advertising their logos while the rover has power to broadcast.

In the Google X Prize requirements, the lunar rover must look at itself at one point in the mission and broadcast by television the Google Lunar X logo applied to its chassis. Other sponsor logos can surround Google’s logo but center attention belongs to Google.

Cross on the Moon believes a simple cross decal should be on the chassis too. It will unfortunately be nestled with logos of industry giants and brands that want your patronage along with a host of others trying to get your attention. But the Christian cross will be a statement to the billions watching from earth that although mankind applies science and technologies to reach for the stars, we take our passion for Christ with us.

Your Christian decal will not be the largest or the flashiest design on the lunar rover. It won’t have the best placement in the sponsor area. But the symbol of the cross represents eternal life to billions on earth. Without the symbol of faith, we again become overwhelmed by worldly messages and forget who made all things possible.  

Let’s not be awed by graphics of corporate sponsors the days when the rover broadcasts from the moon. Instead, we can quietly seek out the plain cross symbol and recognize it for what it means on earth and in your hearts. Understand that it is through faith that all great works of man are done. The men and women who design the rockets, assemble the rover, and guide it on its mission have relationships with God. They attend church, pray regularly, and make moral decisions and raise families based on the person and works of Jesus Christ. The machine that goes to the moon and the rover that travels on its surface will be a brief extension of us. Faith is an integral part of our being human.

Any machine man places on the moon will eventually loose power and stop broadcasting. It will be forgotten in time. No one will see the machine from earth, even with a powerful telescope. However, the rover that goes to the moon will far outlast any man-made artifact on earth, even the Egyptian pyramids. Therefore, we think it is fitting that such a persistent object, destined to be viewed by billions, be graced with our connection to Jesus.

Pre Launch Status (Feb 2010)

COM = Cross on the Moon; Dear friends and supporters of COM, the IRS verbally stated 2 days ago they would not grant Federal Tax exemption to COM. We have discussed for hours and given them many pounds of documentation to answer questions since November 2009. Each time they came back with a different set, seeming to be looking for ways to deny our application and not saying why COM does not meet the religious, educational , or scientific conditions for a 501 (c)-3 organization.  At the end of last week, the agent in charge of our case called to tell me that she would be denying our request. The reasons are not clear to me but must be very specific in their formal letter of denial. A hint at what the reason might be is that COM is using a private contractor to bring the cross to the moon. If true, then it is unreasonable since many non-profit organizations hire private companies to meet their goals. Another reason mentioned was that there was no actual date for placing a cross on the moon. The IRS agent said that there could be a perception of collecting donations for an event that might never occur. Since our first conversations with the IRS, the agent in charge did not believe it was possible for a private organization to launch a rocket to the moon. I was asked for government launch certifications and safety documents when we first started. Much of our early documentation was also to support the viability of the project. We used the efforts of the Lunar X Prize Foundation to demonstrate credibility. It is ironic since the IRS has granted this foundation with a 501(c) non-profit status.

All this background information is to say COM will not give up. We will remain persistent. We will continue to negotiate and if denied in writing, we will appeal the official ruling within 30 days of receiving their letter. What this means is that your donation is not tax deductible on your 2009 federal tax statement at this time. When we receive the letter of acceptance, and we will, then your donation becomes retroactively deductible from our date of filing. In other words, 2009 would be accepted but not without reversing the IRS verbal decision we were given a few days ago. We are however registered as a charitable non-profit in the State of Pennsylvania. This is small consolation for those filing in that state. 

I leave you this month with a definition of persistence that Dr. Bruce Bickel gave before 80 men at our regular Friday 6:30 am Bible study.

“Persistence is remaining in a situation without demanding to be rescued”

I remain your servant,

M.N. Clark

President, Cross on the Moon

Clarkmn@crossontheMoon.org

NASA’s Project M

The engineers at Johnson Space Flight Center have boldly proposed “Project M”. The “M” has two meanings: one is the first letter in the word moon and the other is the roman numeral for 1,000. They claim the ability to land a robot on the moon within 1,000 days once given the green light. The video implies this is no ordinary ground robot. We will keep you posted on developments.

Pre Launch Status (Jan 2010)

COM = Cross on the Moon; On January 12th, an earthquake struck Haiti and hundreds of thousands of people died. The relief effort continues. Cross on the Moon can not divert funds to help but as individuals we can and have along with our prayers for the Haitian people.

On January 28, President Obama’s proposed NASA budget for the next 5 years became public. There is much controversy, angst, and even optimism for what the future of space travel becomes. Please read our post: Are We Closer to a Commercial Space Plane? for more details.

The US Internal Revenue Service has been evaluating our application for federal tax exempt status since late October. Several iterations of corrospondance and telephone calls have betranspired between their agent and myself, your COM’s president. We have had to explain that private companies can indeed launch rockets to the moon. I explained that placing a symbol of faith on the moon is a religious act, one of three reasons to grant tax exemption. I also explained our plans to provide information to the public on every aspect of the mission. I hope next month that our application will be granted. If true, then our application filing of July 2009 becomes the effective date.

Lastly I hope most of you enjoyed the full moon this week. In eastern North America the moon sets in the mornings have been spectacular.

God Bless Everyone!

M.N.Clark, President

Cross on the Moon

Moon-Ballon Rocket Simulation

ARCA’s European Lunar Explorer (ELE) is a simple design. The super-huge balloon carrying a system of three rockets will soar to about 11 miles (18 km) up. Then the first two rocket stages will fire and boost the system into low Earth orbit, and use the final stage to boost it to the Moon. The ELE will then travel to the moon and deploy its Lunar Lander, which resembles a knobby rubber ball that uses its own rocket engine to ensure a soft landing. Watch their video of how it all will work below: (If nothing else, watch it for the great music.

Pre Launch Status (Dec 09)

COM = Cross on the Moon; We finished the year with a “Joy to the World” newsletter. COM is 5 months old and we have so much to be thankful for.

We knew that praising God in the heavens would meet resistence. A few comments sent directly to the presidet show palpable hatred for religion in general. I will not approve comments that use profanity or disrespects the opinions of others in a hostile way. However most comments are encouraging, especially from our email newsletter replies. From these we see a 40% open rate.

Our focus in 2010 must be to increase COM awareness. There will be private moon missions in the next 2 to 3 years with or without our support. Each month the moon makes the news. December 2009 was no exception. One item was the discovery of a large, deep lava hole as a possible habitat for a moon colony.

I contacted the Moon Society president this month and with other thoughts, suggested they form a council of theologians. I contend it will be impossible to keep individuals from practicing their faith away from earth. Not recognizing God’s role in the Universe as we explore is a mistake. How boastful and full of self we prove ourselves when we think to control and know all. Let us not have a separation of church and space. Instead let us recognize we need God in our hearts wherever we are, not just when standing on this planet. That’s what COM is about: advancing the freedom to worship from the moon and beyond. It begins by advocating the placement of the cross there.

Finally a word about our web site: we mix science and faith in articles and videos. We believe the two coexist but understand confusion it creates in those who want clear separation. A case in point is COM’s request for Federal Tax exemption made back in July 2009. Our acceptance letter has been under review since late October. They have asked many questions, both in writting and in telephone conversations wanting us to explain our religious, educational, and scientific reasons for government tax exemption. At times it is discouraging but we are stronger for submitting to the process. I expect a ruling within the next few weeks and will keep you informed.

Blessings to you,

M.N. Clark, President
Cross on the Moon

Who Owns the Moon?

Legal experts say the moon can not be claimed by countries and citizens of those countries under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty which has been ratified by 100 UN countries, including the United States. “The moon is just another continent across a different kind of sea”said Peter Kokh, president of the nonprofit Moon Society. In a National Geographic quote from National Geographic on-line:

The process of colonizing the moon’s challenging landscape will change the needs and wants of the society that settles there-just as desires of English colonists changed when they got to the new world.

So if we take these two thoughts: 1) the moon is just another continent across a different kind of sea, and 2) when humankind settles an uninhabited continent, it will adapt based on the desires of its colonists, then having faith-based missions to the moon today are a means to lay ethics for the future.

On July 20, 1969, astronauts stepped onto the moon and planted an American flag—not to claim the moon but simply to commemorate the U.S. role in the first moon landing. Planting a symbol of sovereignty on the moon does not entitle a country to lunar ground. In this spirit Christians intend to place a cross on the moon; to lift up their belief in God, the creator of the universe. The act is not a form of manifest destiny.

Separation of Church and Space?

It is naive to believe governments and industry can separate church from space. Freedom to worship should be fundamental and granted to all. Colonizing the moon and beyond will take extreme effort and sacrifices from individuals. Respect, not ignorance of faith should prevail. Faith is important as we celebrate, rejoice, sing, and yes, grieve. Instead of seeking exclusivity of one faith on the moon, the future of colonizing it and beyond requires recognizing that the moon is open to all. Perhaps a council of theologians to represent people of all faiths should be formed.

Acts of Worship in Space

Cross on the Moon understands the controversy to worship on the moon. They may be the first to place a symbol of faith there but there is no expectation to be exclusive in this regard. For traveling through space, humankind requires different types of ships than ones that float on water or lift themselves with air. Then as now people will carry their faith  to distant shores for future travelers and residents. These are the times to prepare.

Joy to the World… to the moon and beyond!

God Bless Everyone.

Pre Launch Status (Nov 09)

COM = Cross on the Moon; Google Lunar X Competition added another team this month to compete for sending a rover to the moon. NASA quantified water ejected from its planned impact with the moon at 25 gallons. This spurred several small business contract announcements for lunar exploration. In very late October we saw a test flight of the first stage Ares I, one replacement component for the Space Shuttle system. On Nov 16, NASA launched Atlantis to the Space Station with 27,250 pounds (12,360 Kg) of cargo. In the cargo was a replacement for the station’s massive main gyroscopes. The Shuttle returned to Florida on 27 November. There are only 5 more scheduled flights.

In COM news we analyzed results from our Octoer newsletter. We distributed to 500 addresses obtained from our board members. Our service reported 140 bounces and 157 opens. We learned much from the experience and will tune our message. Also in November the Federal Tax Exempt office in Chicago began reviewing our application. We answered a dozen questions with a 140 page indexed reference. Some questions were clearly from a misunderstanding of COM’s role in placing a cross on the moon. Once we explained we are sponsors of a yet undisclosed team or teams, we didn’t have to file for safety permits or give details on spacecraft design. COM also dropped the word “Foundation” from our web banner because the context implies deep pocket, sustainable funding. In reality, we represent Christians wanting to praise God in the Heavens. Micro donations can do it and COM volunteers keep exploring ways to get the word out.

I hope this status finds you and family in the joys and wonders of Christmas.

Stay connected to our website and tell your friends to check us out.

I look forward to updating you in December here and with our newsletters.

M.N. Clark, President
Cross on the Moon

That’s My King

No matter how your day was or what tomorrow may bring or what anxiety may be lurking around the corner, click on this to get clarity about Christ. This comes from Dr. S.M. — Shadrach Meshach — Lockridge of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego, who once preached on what he knew about God. This three-minute excerpt is nothing like you’ve heard before. Get ready to be reintroduced.

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