Author: Frank White Date: 11/6/25

Abstract#

The purpose of this proposal is to lay the foundation, in November and December of 2025, for the Overview Effect Comparison Project campaign, to be launched in January of 2026. Key milestones/objectives/goals for this project include contacting launch service providers, identifying potential supporters, writing a strategic communications plan , and developing promotional materials .  The result of this project will be an executable plan to raise funds for OECP.

Problem#

In these early days of commercial spaceflight, people are flying on different carriers primarily to experience “the Overview Effect.” This motivation contrasts with that of professional astronauts, who flew to complete missions defined by their countries or by their companies. However, there is little or no information available on how the various carriers—Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX¾produce this experience.

Solution#

Frank White coined the term, wrote the book, and developed the theory of the Overview Effect. He has spent 40 years interviewing space travelers and analyzing the key components of the experience. However, until now, he has not experienced the phenomenon himself. The Overview Effect Comparison Project will provide funding for Frank to fly on all of the carriers, comparing and contrasting the experiences that he has on each of them. His own experiences will beadded to the body of knowledge that he has compiled through interviews with professional and commercial astronauts to date. In addition, Frank will take an AI on all flights, with the goal of determining whether an AI can experience the Overview Effect on a spaceflight. This is important because it will be beneficial to humanity if part of an AI’s training includes the values imbued in the Overview Effect. During the months of November and December, Frank will work with his colleagues to plan the campaign. The team will create a “fundraising pyramid” and determine how many supporters, at what amount, must be secured to achieve the Phase One campaign goal of $2 million. We will develop a communications campaign, with heavy emphasis on social media and using AI, as needed.

Benefits#

Taking the next two months to create this plan will help to ensure that the campaign itself will succeed. Experience demonstrates that the success of any fundraising campaign is proportional to the amount of planning that goes into it. Thus, this planning period will test what it will take (including costs) for the proposed campaign to succeed. It would be much better not to launch the effort if it cannot achieve its goals. This planning initiative and the campaign will generate revenue for MoonDao because the campaign will use Launchpad, which will provide a percentage of the income generated to MoonDao. In addition, a documentary about this project is being planned, which will bring positive attention to the work of MoonDao.

Risks#

The major risk for this project is that it will not lay a solid foundation for the campaign, which will therefore fail. This will not be known, however, until the campaign unfolds. To mitigate the risk, we will have objective reviewers analyze the plan to determine if it has covered all contingencies.

Objectives#

Objective #1: Develop a fundraising plan for the project*.* Key Results for Objective #1:

• The fundraising plan will be written and reviewed by key stakeholders;
• The plan will include names of potential main sponsors/donors to the project;
• The plan will include key milestones for success.

Objective #2: Secure “soft commitments” of $100,000 for the project. ·      The author of the proposal and/or colleagues will endeavor to have secured commitments of support from specific individuals or companies; ·      These commitments will have been obtained or be in the pipeline by December 31, 2025. Objective #3: Create kickoff video to launch the project in January of 2026.

1. The video will be created and approved by December 31, 2025.

Objective #4: Establish contacts at the potential launch service providers and determine their criteria for flight. ·      Identify and contact representatives at the various carriers. ·      Introduce the carriers to the projects and determine what their requirements for Frank’s flight are. ·      Based on carrier preferences, these requirements may or may not be shared with the community.  At minimum, Frank may report that the task has been completed as it is accomplished.

Team (Table A)#

Project Lead: The Project Lead and representative for the project within the MoonDAO Senate. The Project Lead is responsible for:

1. Attending weekly town hall meetings, reviewing incoming proposals and voting on them within the Senate. Missed attendance will result in a 5% penalty to the rocketeer’s retroactive rewards.
2. Creating weekly updates to the community on the progress of the project in the “progress” channel on DIscord.
3. Adding team members, removing team members, and making decisions about the use of the budget throughout the lifetime of the project.
4. Creating and managing the multi-sig Treasury for the project as well as the payments for each of the members.
5. Creating the Final Report and returning unused funds to the MoonDAO Treasury.

Initial Team: Projects may not need an initial team. It can just be an individual submitting a proposal. You may also create generic roles and hire other teammates after the project is approved. As a general rule of thumb, try to keep teams small and focused in the beginning, with clear roles, deliverables, and OKRs for each member. Team members are responsible for:

1. Posting a weekly update in the “progress” channel on Discord with their contributions that week. Not posting a weekly update will result in a 5% penalty to their retroactive rewards.

Timeline (Table B)#

Deadline for the project: End of Q4.

Transactions (Table C)#