In his memo, Young explains that new knowledge yields some troubling survival statistics for Earthlings.

"The last four major extinctions on this planet were caused by impacts. It was recently reported that the chances are 1 in 5,000 that in the next hundred years Earth will receive a civilization-killer asteroid impact," Young notes.

Another concern is the occurrence of a super volcano. This occurrence is 1 in 500 per hundred years.

Young underscores the fact that these events have a mean of 1 in 455 per 100 years. "This is one high-risk statistic. The bottom line is that single planet species do not last," he explains.

"Of course, we have no clues right now as to when the next impact will occur or when the next super volcano will erupt," Young states. Nevertheless, he urges NASA to "redo the risk statistics for civilization extinction events and get the word out on what we must do to save the human race over the short or long haul."

Purely by accident, Young suggests, "the technologies that we must develop to live and work on the Moon and Mars are the same environmental control technologies that will preserve the human race."

Those new technologies are key to living and working on the Moon, Young points out. He recommends nine specific techno-themes required to live and work on other places within the Solar System.

They are:

• Reliable Un-interruptible Power Supply
• Terraforming with 100-Percent Recycling
• Inflatable Structures
• Surface Exploration Pressure Suits
• Pressurized (Mobile) Mission Control Centers
• On-the-spot Resource Processing
• Operationally User-Friendly Systems
• Heavy Lift (Earth to Moon) Rocketry
• Fast Heavy Lift (deep space) Rocketry

"The Moon will save us," Young argues, stating such in the memos subject line. Establishing the first human bases on the Moon for living, working, and supporting the people of Earth in this century can hone these technologies, he states.

Young states that the Moons South Pole Crater is where solar arrays can be built for a proto-electric plant.

This gear would deliver via microwave 100-percent reliable un-interruptible electrical power to receiving dishes on Earth. This beamed power can pass through clouds and ash. Such a lunar-based solar power system can deliver electric power to Earths people.

Closed loop recycling of food, water, and waste is a must have technology, Young stresses. NASA engineers and scientists have been growing crops such as wheat, tomatoes and lettuce in closed loop system hardware. "Since many states in the USA are running out of water, a cheap way to recycle water to make it drinkable will be essential," he said.

Young explains that good progress is being made on inflatable structures. "Many acres of large inflatables, suitably compartmented, will be needed to support living and working on vacuum surfaces."

Self-sealing and properly shielded regions in the inflatables will be needed to protect against small impacts, solar flares, and cosmic rays.

Its time for new, lightweight space suits, Young advises. Surface exploration, shoveling, and drilling these type of functions demand advanced space suits. Mobility, reliability, and comfort a melding of these goals is of utmost priority.

A new suit developed by ILC in Dover, Delaware is a good first cut. "But, as is usual for new bearing-fitted pressure suits, more attention must be made to comfort," Young adds. The ILC suit can cut or bruise the body. That was his experience in wearing the suit last June.

Exploration on the Moon and Mars should be very mobile and very safe.

This can be done by using boxcar or larger inflatable rovers on wheels, Young observes. Astronauts within such rovers can operate 10 to 50 micro-rovers to explore the surface. When items of interest are discovered, the geologists would then suit-up in the rover airlock and explore outside.

"Inefficient time spent in a pure vacuum is not healthy over the long haul," Young suggests. This mobile Mission Control Center concept could be powered by an advanced wheeled uranium power source. If reliability is a worry and it surely will be a return ascent stage should be hauled along as part of the rover envoy.

Use of resources on the Moon, as well as Mars is vital. Many ways of producing minerals and useful products, such as solar cells for electrical production, have been widely studied.

"Trying these pilot electrical plants out on the Moon will be the best way," Young claims. "Dust of course, will be a continuing problem." Checking out hardware on the Moon just two-and-a-half days away is why going the lunar distance versus Mars is preferred.

When critical rotating machinery fails, the Moon is the best place to recover from the problem not wrestling with the issue on the 90 to 200 days-away Mars, Young counsels.

In rounding out his technology to-do list, Young advocates right combinations of analog-critical switches and software. These will be needed for a variety of operations on extraterrestrial surfaces.

The International Space Station (ISS) "has gone overboard for software," Young says. "Critical systems need fast and reliable three-pole switches just as the Shuttle has. The best user-friendly cabin/cockpit/control center designs needed to be implemented."

Initially, before on-the-spot resource processing is established on the Moon, there is requirement for a heavy-lift booster to hurl needed hardware to that airless body. Furthermore, Young concludes, more rapid point-to-point propulsion to push humans across space is imperative.