The national pride of many Canadians received a confidence boost earlier last week when it was announced that Dr. Judith Lapierre would be the first Canadian and first female to command the Mars Desert Research Station. Lapierre is a space scientist of the human and health sciences domain. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Mars Society Canada, a space advocacy group that cooperates with Mars Society organizations all over the world to conduct research in a Mars-analog program dedicated to advancing knowledge in geology, biology, exploration technology, habitability and human factors necessary to conduct human missions on Mars. She will command the station for a two-week period beginning March 24, 2002. This will be the fourth international crew to perform research at the desert facility.
Mars Madness CBS News
People in make-believe space suits are exploring the Utah desert as if they really were 240 million miles away. “We needed a place on earth where we could practice for Mars. There’s no point going to Mars unless you can do something useful when you get there,” explained Robert Zubrin of the Mars Society. In a corner of some of this planet’s more forbidding landscape, the privately funded Mars Desert Research Station is a kind of outer-space camp for members of the Mars Society. At the camp, self-described space junkies spend two weeks simulating life on Mars, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob McNamara. Among them are vacationing geologists and NASA computer scientists. Most of them are grounded in serious research and all want to go to Mars.
Starchaser Industries Makes Major Donation To Begin Fabrication Of The European Mars Analogue Research Station
The Mars Society / Mars Society UK are pleased to announce that Starchaser Industries Ltd., have made a major donation of some $90,000 (
‘Mars on Earth’ site offers chance to explore ways to explore Orlando Sentinel
William J. Clancey tags along when NASA researchers visit a crater 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle to explore its Marslike environment. “The scientists are studying the crater, the geology and biology of this land, and I’m studying the scientists,” Clancey said. He wants to see how they go about their business to develop ways that computers and other devices can be used to help astronauts explore Mars. Clancey, of the University of West Florida’s Institute of Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, is on loan to the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California.
Mars Society Members Survive Plane Crash Denver Post
Frank Schubert doesn’t remember the act of aeronautical heroism that saved his life and that of his friend when their plane crashed in Utah’s rugged Wasatch Mountains. A concussion suffered in the crash has erased the memory, but what he does remember is his friend Matt Smola keeping him warm and keeping him awake, calling for help and then signaling rescuers the next morning. In a dramatic and astounding 13 hours Friday night and Saturday morning, Schubert and Smola, both from Denver, survived two near-fatal events: crashing their Cessna 172 miles from help and spending the night outside in temperatures that dropped to minus 6 degrees. Schubert piloted them through the first crisis; Smola was determined to get them through the second.
Mars Desert Research Station Rotation 3 Begins
The third crew rotation of the Mars Desert Research Station has begun. The rotation, which started March 10, will run through March 24. During this time, the crew will continue the MDRS’s program of sustained field exploration of the Utah desert while operating under many of the same constraints that a human crew would in an expedition to Mars. The purpose of this work is to learn how to explore better on the Red Planet. The commander of the third rotation is Dr. Bjoern Grieger, of the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy, Katlenburg-Lindau. Dr. Grieger has a background in physics, astronomy, and paleoclimatology and has had cosmonaut training in Star City. Nell Beadle, a professional field geologist with Fugro Seafloor Surveys, Seattle, Washington, will serve as chief geologist for the crew.
MDRS Rotation 4 and 5 Crews Selected
The crews for the 4th and 5th rotations of the Mars Desert Research Station have been selected. Rotation 4, which will run March 24-April 7, will be commanded by Dr. Judith LaPierre. Dr. LaPierre is a professor of psychology at the University of Quebec in Hull. She has participated in space human factors simulation work in Russia in conjunction with the Russian and Canadian Space Agencies. She is both the first woman to command the MDRS and the first French Canadian. The fifth MDRS crew rotation will run from April 7 to 21 and be commanded by Dr. Bill Clancey of the NASA Ames Research Center. Dr. Clancey is a professional space exploration human factors researcher who has taken part in Mars Society and NASA Haughton Mars Project joint expeditions to the Arctic in 1999 and 2000, and who was a member of the crew of the Mars Society’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station during the summer of 2001.
Finding Mars on Earth Science
Someday, maybe early in the next decade, human astronauts will emerge from a Mars lander to explore the Red Planet and find answers to life’s mysteries. Until then, Devon Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavit may be the closest thing to Mars that we’ll find on Earth. At 450 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the eastern portion of Devon Island is covered in ice year-round; the western part is mostly polar desert–cold, arid plains and valleys carved out by ancient glaciers. In the center of the island lies its unique feature–the 20-kilometer-wide, partially eroded crater of a major meteoroid impact that occurred some 23 million years ago: Haughton Crater. The site is password protected, but a demo login has been provided, if you’re not an AAAS member. Use name: nwdemo and Passwd: 19green3 to log in…
Translife Mission Teams Hold Design Review
Four university-based teams competing for the honor of building the Mars Society’s Translife mission met for a design review Feb 28 at NASA Ames Research Center. The Translife mission will test the effect of Mars gravity by flying a group of mice for 50 days in a rotating spacecraft in low Earth orbit. The mice will be allowed to reproduce and the young to grow up in 3/8 g. the experiment will thus provide the first data on both the effect of Martian gravity on mammals born and raised on Earth and those born and raised on Mars. This information is key for planning future human Mars exploration missions and for determining the prospects for the settlement of Mars with higher life from Earth. The four teams competing were MIT, the University of Colorado, the University of Washington, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. A downselect to a team or set of teams to do the mission is expected within 2 weeks.
Mars Simulation Base Completes Second Crew Rotation
The tour of duty for the second crew of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is coming to a close, formally ending on March 7th, 2002. The past two weeks of activities has marked an exciting, stimulating, and at times challenging environment for everyone here. Overall I would call our time here a great success, as we maintained a mindset of living on “analog Mars” while engaging in various scientific and technical investigations geared toward the future exploration of the red planet.