Space advocacy can be described as the general position supporting, pleading or arguing for^[1]the idea or cause of space exploration and settlements. It is a form of advocacy that specifically includes support for private space initiatives and is also a political position that favors the exploration, utilization, and colonization of outer space.

There are many different individuals and organizations dedicated to space advocacy. They are usually active in educating the public^[2] on space related subjects, lobbying governments^[3][4]for increased funding in space-related activities or supporting private space activities^[5]. They also recruit members, fund projects, and provide information for their membership and interested visitors. They are sub-divided into three categories depending on their primary work: practice, advocacy, and theory.

Advocacy

Organizations that focus mainly on space advocacy, education, and lobbying activities.

• The National Space Society (formed from a merger of the National Space Institute, founded by Wernher von Braun, and the L5 Society, founded by Gerard O'Neill) is an organization with the vision of "people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth." http://www.nss.org/
• The Space Frontier Foundation promotes strong free market, capitalist views about space development. http://www.space-frontier.org/
• The British Interplanetary Society, founded in 1933 and once led by Arthur C. Clarke, is the world's longest established space society. http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/
• Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is a student organization founded in 1980 at MIT and Princeton. http://www.seds.org/
• The Canadian Space Society was founded in 1983; in addition to carrying on its own space-advocacy activities, it acts as an umbrella organization for various other Canadian pro-space groups. http://www.css.ca
• Mars Society was founded by Robert Zubrin to forward humanity in exploring and colonizing Mars. http://www.marssociety.org
• Marsdrivehttp://www.marsdrive.com is a small group dedicated toward further promotion and development of ideas relating to a Manned mission to Mars. It differs slightly in that it advocates the 'if we want to go - then we have to pay' approach.
• The Mars Foundation through its Mars Homestead? Project, is developing a unified plan for building the first habitat on Mars by exploiting local materials. http://www.marshome.org

Theory

Focus on advocating a theory for space exploration or colonization.

• The Alliance to Rescue Civilization plans to establish backups of human civilization on the Moon and other locations away from Earth. http://www.arc-space.org/
• The Artemis Project plans to set up a private lunar surface station. http://www.asi.org/
• The Living Universe Foundation has a detailed plan in which the entire galaxy is colonized. http://www.luf.org/
• Red Colony strives to collect and develop theories in Mars colonization and terraformation via contributions and debate from the general public. http://www.redcolony.com/

History

Historians agree that space flight and especially manned space flight was not inevitable, but rather that society was convinced of the need for it by a few revolutionaries. These ?revolutionaries? were primarily members of the Russian^[6][7], American^[8], British^[9], and German^[10][11] science communities and starting in the 1930s began to share their individual plans for a future in space to their respective governments and the public^[12].

Influential books and other media began to emerge which included works containing illustrations by Chesley Bonestell (based on Wernher von Braun's designs) such as The Conquest of Space (1949)and magazine articles including the "Man Will Conquer Space Soon!" series of article in Colliers magazine between 1952 and 1954. Television shows included Walt Disney's Man in Space and Man and the Moon in 1955, and Mars and Beyond in 1957.

References

1. ↑ Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
2. ↑ The Solar System Ambassadors Program
3. ↑ http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/dc/pdfSRC/MarsSociTest2003.pdf
4. ↑ Technical Societies Call for Increase to NASA Budget
5. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Tourism_Society
6. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Tsiolkovsky
7. ↑ Korolev
8. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard
9. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Interplanetary_Society
10. ↑ Biography of Wernher Von Braun
11. ↑ German Civilian Rocketry
12. ↑ HobbySpace - Space Activism - History