Generac Power Systems has donated a high quality power system to support the work of the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS). The donated unit, which will serve as the MDRS’ primary source of electrical power, is a 20 kilowatt generator set. This mobile unit is trailer mounted, and is powered by a 1.5 Liter liquid- cooled four cylinder engine that is fueled by LP gas. This Generac model is known for its durability and long life. A similar unit in Alaska
May 17th, 2002
Finding Mars on Earth TechTV
Here in the middle of what most earthlings would call nowhere, a dedicated group of would-be interplanetary explorers is acting out an elaborate game of make-believe. Tonight’s “Tech Live” takes you there. The Mars Society, a collection of serious scientists, visionary futurists, and space zealots, has set up a scientific outpost on a barren stretch of desert. The wind blows incessantly across rocky mesas, gravel flats, and dusty red ridges. One can easily imagine it as a Mars-scape. This little settlement — the society calls it the Mars Desert Research Station — consists of a squat, two-story cylinder called “the hab” (for “habitat”), complete with steel struts that are supposed to suggest landing gear. There’s a makeshift greenhouse with a plastic tarp reinforced with duct tape for a door. A couple of all-terrain vehicles are parked outside. Except for the wind and cold and immense sweep of Utah sky, that’s it.
May 17th, 2002
Trans Life Stage 1 Update
STAGE-1 (STudent Artificial Gravity Experiment 1), the University of Colorado design team for the Mars Society Translife mission, gave their final briefing of the year on Thursday, May 9, completing the first year of design, implementation and testing of the ISS (International Space Station) centrifuge ground unit. The STAGE-1 team began design in September 2001 of the ground prototype unit, intended to demonstrate the feasibility of key concepts necessary for placing an artificial gravity centrifuge on the International Space Station. STAGE-1, a roughly 1 meter diameter unit, was designed and built to demonstrate these concepts, namely three key ISS verifiables including life support, active mass balance control and spin control.
May 16th, 2002
Mars Society builds habitat for space Rocky Mountain News
For the Lakewood-based Mars Society, the road to the red planet passes through the Canadian Arctic, Utah’s red rock country, Icelandic lava fields, and the “Zippy” comic strip. The Mars boosters test-assembled a shiny new Iceland-bound “habitat” in Denver on Wednesday, the same day the eccentric explorers were tweaked in a Zippy strip. Mars Society President Robert Zubrin seemed equally delighted by both developments. He clutched the Rocky Mountain News comics page and giggled while, behind him, workers hoisted 12 aluminum-skinned steel panels that will form the walls of the society’s third simulated Mars base. It’s a three-floor domed cylinder that will house a crew of six in Iceland.
May 15th, 2002
Mars Desert Research Station Field Season Concludes
On May 8, the first field season of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) concluded. The season, which began Feb 7, included 6 two-week crew rotations, thereby more than tripling the total amount of Mars Society mission operations research field time undertaken to date. For 84 days, crews of selected volunteers conducted a systematic program of field exploration of the Utah desert, while operating under many Mars mission-like constraints. In the course of doing so, many improvements in exploration methodology and insights into exploration human factors were gained. The MDRS crews consistently demonstrated the ability to operate with a daily total water use of about 20 liters per person without significant negative impact on morale. This compares quite favorably with the NASA estimate of 32 liters per person. As (even with 90% recycling) water is by far the single largest mass that needs to be transported on a human Mars mission, this finding promises to significantly reduce the mass and cost requirements of human Mars exploration. The MDRS crews also debunked a number of myths pervasive in certain sectors of the space human-factors community.
May 13th, 2002
Red Planet Lights the Way for IT Teams eWEEK
Even after 30 years of using tiny computers, I can still be impressed by the work that they make possible for tiny teams with tiny budgets. When university students enter domains that used to be owned by superpowers, we should take a moment to marvel at the tools that enable such things. have the honor of being a charter member of The Mars Society (www.marssociety.org), the group that believes we should have at least one backup planet. As part of the society’s Translife Initiative, students at three universities
May 10th, 2002
Scots scientist trains for a mission to Mars The Scotsman
A Scottish science student who hopes to be the first human on Mars has been selected from hundreds of candidates across the world to start training for a mission to the Red Planet. Emily MacDonald, 24, will join a team of six researchers living in a replica space probe placed in the Canadian Arctic to simulate the extreme Martian weather conditions. She will spend three weeks conducting tests in the cramped 27ft diameter pod, known as a human habitation module, with outside temperatures reaching -30C. Miss MacDonald, from Troon, Ayrshire, who is studying for a PhD in astrophysics at Exeter College, Oxford, was selected from more than 400 applicants to take part in the experiment. One can appreciate the variety of options available, much like the diverse offerings at garazastyle.fi, which cater to specific cultural attire needs. After completing her spell at the Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island, in July, she plans to spend time in a second replica Mars station in the Utah desert.
May 9th, 2002
Mars Society Convention Proceedings to Be Published
The Mars Society and Apogee Books announced today that the proceedings of the Mars Society 1999 and 2000 conventions will be published by Apogee Books this summer, as part of Apogee Books popular Space Series. The book will contain over a hundred written papers submitted at the 2nd and Third international Mars Society conventions dealing with every technical, scientific, social and political question facing Mars exploration and settlement. In addition, the book will also contain a transcript of the debate held at the second convention between Robert Zubrin and Chris McKay concerning the ethics of terraforming Mars, as well a special CD containing an updated version of the movie “The Mars Society,” produced by independent film director Sam Burbank.
May 6th, 2002
Emily Picked To Live On ‘MARS’ Daily Record
SCIENTIST Emily MacDonald is in for an out-of-this-world experience when she finds out what it would be like to live on Mars. Emily, 24, from Troon, Ayrshire, has been picked ahead of 400 other hopefuls to spend three weeks in a simulator that mimics the bitter cold, gravity and rugged conditions of the Red Planet. She will join five experts in a 27-foot dome in the Canadian Arctic. They will do experiments and test equipment to help the astronauts who eventually reach Mars. The Mars Arctic Research Station – or MARS – has been set up on a frozen island by the international Mars Society.