Richard V. Rupp

April 20, 2022

Good Wednesday morning! I'm novelist Richard V. Rupp, writing from Burbank, California. Welcome to RUPP'S NOTES/FBI SPECIAL AGENT HARTMANN SERIES posts.

 

I hope you had a great Easter. I did. It was spent at my son Brian's condo, where my other son Matt and I cooked up a great dinner. We had prime rib, baked potatoes with all the fixings, corn on the cob, coleslaw, and double chocolate brownies with ice cream. Then we went on to play board games.

 

Spam continues to drive me nuts. I read an article that California is the number one spam state. I get eight to ten phone spamming calls a day on my Spectrum landline phone. The first group starts at 10 AM and the second at 5 PM. I no longer answer that phone at these times. The good thing is they don't leave voicemails. The Federal Trade Commission recently reported that social media is increasingly being used by scammers. Twenty-five percent of the people who reported losing money to fraud in 2021 said it started on social media (mainly Facebook and Instagram) with an ad, a post, or a message. I see at least twenty scams on Facebook each day. When I start checking my messages in the morning, the first thing I do is delete all those that appear to be from scammers. What a waste of precious research and writing time.

 

My last post includes at the end an outline of the Bowman Lunar Colony Plan prepared by Norman and Chris Bowman with the assistance of the rest of their clique in my novel SKYWARD. In the novel, this group spends a lot of time planning to explore space for a new Earth in their early years of life. And fortunately, in later life, they have the money and clam together the resources to accomplish their childhood dreams.

 

They envision a three-stage process – First, establishing a sizable colony on the Moon, which has zero atmosphere and just 16.6 % of Earth's gravity. The principal reason for this colony is to construct a spaceport with electromagnetic catapults that can launch spacecraft more easily to Mars, the second stage of their plan, which is 55,000,000 km away. They calculate that it will take approximately 220 days for each spacecraft from the Moon to reach the Red Planet. They establish a Space Waystation halfway between the Moon and Mars, where the spacecraft can be refueled. By refueling halfway, the spacecraft can carry a bigger payload.

 

The Bowman Mars Colony is much larger than the Moon colony. Again the principal reason for its development is to build a spaceport with electromagnetic catapults to send spacecraft searching for new Earths'. The use of Space Waystations is a significant part of this search. As a tease, I will indicate these Waystations each have a name, such as Disney's Spaceworld, Space Circus, Vineyards, and Le Cordon Bleu. They are more than just refueling or rest stops. As mentioned in previous posts, the new Earth's trips are multigenerational (they take a long time).

 

In my story, both the Moon and Mars colonies are like enhanced waystations in the effort to find new Earths. Yes, they have permanent inhabitants, but the ultimate objective is to expand humanity to new earthlike planets or moons with atmospheres similar to Earth.

 

The Bowman clique decides that the physical layout or Structure of their Moon colony comprises major units such as Administration, Utilities, Construction, and Maintenance. Within a Unit, there will be Centers or Divisions. Examples of Centers are the Computer Center, Basic Educational Center, and Curling Center. Examples of Divisions are the Atmosphere Division, Farm Division, and Robotics Division. There are two outliers. The first is the Bureau of Investigation, headed by FBI Special Agent Dick Hartmann and differs considerably from how an FBI Office on Earth would be set up and operated. The other outlier is the Spaceport. Upcoming posts will provide more background on this.

 

Both the Moon and Mars Colonies will be principally constructed underground. On this subject, I just read an article in the Techyfiction section of SCIENCE magazine titled "Elon Musk's Boring Company is the Key to His Mars Colony!" I'm a little confused about why he needs to solve Earth's traffic problems before heading to space. I'm having a hard time following his logic that building enormous underground tunnels on Earth will reduce the cost of space travel. "By connecting these tunnels with those being built underneath Los Angeles, it will be possible for rockets and other vehicles to travel at high speeds from city to city and planet to planet." Sorry, Elon, you lost me, or the article misquoted you. But, my son Brian during our Easter day of eating, playing games, and talking, did try to explain to me the "space elevator" concept with drawings (The main component is a cable or tether anchored to the surface and extending into space upon which the elevator operates), which I also could not buy into. Still, I agree that a Mars colony (as does the Moon colony) needs an underground emphasis, including transportation through tunnels.

 

The latest addition to my reading library from Barnes & Nobel are THE RELENTLESS MOON by Mary Robinette Kowal and THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPACE & SPACE EXPLORATION. Here's what intrigued me about Kowal's sci-fi novel – "While Elam York is on her way to Mars, her friends – the other Lady Astronauts – are playing their parts establishing the lunar colony. Astronaut Nicole Wargin is flying supply missions and doing her share of tours on the Moon to build the colony." Her novel wound the Hugo and Nebula awards. Oh my, I had better make SKYWARD really interesting. My Twins and their clique are in competition with Lady Astronauts.

 

I am still keeping up to date on Earthly crime-solving, just in case my venture into sci-fi doesn't take off. Just read an article in THE CRIME REPORT that a new drone technology system could supplement or replace the traditional forensic searching and crime-scene mapping done on foot by trained CSI's following a foot grid pattern. The system can identify blood traces and other human signs by an electromagnetic spectrum device that reads reflected light from the ground found on various natural surfaces. Sherlock Holmes's magnifying glass just got enhanced in a big way.

 

I have given up watching the TV show FBI: INTERNATIONAL. Who are the writers on this show? There is no way FBI Agents in France can use guns the way this show depicts. Here are some early press notes about the show. "When FBI: INTERNATIONAL was announced by CBS in May 2021, one of the key selling points was stating that, due to international laws, the "Fly Team" were not be permitted to use firearms in foreign countries.  . . . Yet while it sounded like the team would rely only on wits, it appears they'll be using some firearms after all." Some??? In every show I have watched, the agents are obnoxious, controlling, and constantly showing or using their weapons. Not realistic in any sense. I suspect there is no FBI advisor assigned to this show. 

 

Until next time.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard V. Rupp, Author

Website – www.richardvrupp.com

Email – rupprisk@gmail.com

Copyright©2022 by Richard V. Rupp