"The Next First Step"

New Space Venture Launched, New Web Site, New Interplanetary Spaceship Design

In the last few hours the second stage of a new private space venture has been completed that, its owner Michael Bond hopes, will eventually lead mankind back to a permanent and profitable presence in space, taking Man to Mars and beyond to the stars.

The venture is a private initiative to raise public sponsorship and venture capital backing to launch an ambitious commercial space business and technology enterprise, developing a new range of profitable businesses and technologies to master and exploit all aspects of the new opportunities that are opening up in space.

The dream is something Michael has had for a long time and is now becoming more realistic as other initiatives are announced around the world. Most notable amongst these are the impending announcement from the President of the U.S.A. to commit that country to a major American effort to put a man on Mars in the next twenty years. However, Michael believes that this ambition could be achieved quicker, simpler and cheaper than anything planned by a government bureaucracy if carried out by a private-led organization.

The basis of Michael's plans follows on many years experience in the fields of finance, media and technology, leading him to conclude that an effective organization can be established to launch a successful and profitable business that would not only take man to Mars quicker but lead to enormous and beneficial transformations in the modern world.

The first element of this programme has been the launch of his first web site to raise public interest at: www.sponsor-a-starship.com. Although designed with a very large tongue-in-cheek humour there is a serious message underlying the web site and Michael's proposal - that only a private group of visionary people could achieve such ambitions in a few short years, whereas a government bureaucracy would spend most of its time and money unproductively, would take far long, cost far more and produce little long-term sustainable result for taxpayers around the world.

This does not mean to say that Michael proposes to launch a totally private venture, unless there is sufficient funding, but that a new form of leadership, a new vitality is required if the world is to reap the benefits more quickly than has been the history of space exploration to-date.

A "Next First Step" to this is the document that can be found on his web site exploring the issues of a new, safe, efficient and economic interplanetary spacecraft design. Entitled "Spring Ships" the document can be found at http://www.sponsor-a-starship.com/pdf/SpringShip%201A.pdf Complete with detailed illustrations and descriptions of innovative solutions to long range spaceflight, the document forms the next stage to Michael's plans. Further detailed discussions of his plans will follow as and when he can raise the necessary support.

Anyone wanting to pursue these ideas with Michael can reach him through the web site: http://www.sponsor-a-starship.com