THE DESERT WEST OF HANKSVILLE, Utah – Chemist Tony Muscatello of Westminster got lost recently on his way to Mars. It’s not hard to do in the eerie humps of red rock and concrete-colored swells of curdled dirt plopped willy-nilly like huge fallen cakes in this middle of nowhere. But like any intrepid scientist bent on visiting another planet, Muscatello backtracked until he found what he was looking for – an even stranger area that “had Martian written all over it.” Tucked in some of the weirdest landscape on Earth, he found the Mars Desert Research Station, a white cylinder that looks surprisingly like a Midwestern corn silo or – if a giant scorpion were to suddenly scuttle over a ridge – like the set of a low-budget sci-fi movie.
New Leadership of Mars Society Canada Plans Iniatives
Mars Society Canada (MSC) will seek to fund, plan, manage and lead its own expedition to the Mars Desert Research Station in 2003. Other groups, such as the Canadian and Michigan Rover teams, and members of European, American and Australian chapters, will be invited to participate in these exercises. This project will advance exploration research, and be the next plank in an overall strategy to raise public awareness within Canada of Mars Society goals and activities. In preparation for this expedition, MSC members will be participating in Mission Support activities for FMARS this year, and integrating a number of electronic devices as one system, such as GPS, digital cameras, video and audio with transcription software, for use in the field by geologist-astronauts conducting EVA exercises to make their observations.
Mars Desert Research Station Completes First Crew Rotation
The first operational crew rotation of the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) has been successfully completed. The MDRS went operational on Feb 7 with a crew of 6. For the past two weeks, the station’s crew has been conducting a systematic program of exploration of the surrounding desert, while operating under many of the same constraints as an actual Mars crew.
Mars Desert Research Station Completes First Crew Rotation
The first operational crew rotation of the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) has been successfully completed. The MDRS went operational on Feb 7 with a crew of 6. For the past two weeks, the station’s crew has been conducting a systematic program of exploration of the surrounding desert, while operating under many of the same constraints as an actual Mars crew. For example, as on Mars, anyone leaving the station to do field research needs to wear a simulated spacesuit, that limits the mobility, agility, dexterity, and sensory abilities of the wearer much as a real spacesuit would, and communication between EVA team members separated by more than a few feet has to be done by suit radio. While in the station, crew members also do laboratory analysis of samples brought in from the field, repair equipment, write reports (which are exchanged with Mars Society’s Mission Support group via a satellite link that imposes a Mars-like delay on communications), and engage in the chores of daily life living together as a team. The purpose of conducting such simulated operations is to gain essential knowledge of Mars exploration tactics, human factors issues, and engineering requirements – in short, to start learning how to explore Mars.
Mars Simulation Base Goes Operational In Utah Desert
The Mars Desert Research Station went operational February 7, 2002 with the first operational crew being led by Mars Society President Robert Zubrin from Feb 7 to Feb 14, after which the hab will be commanded by Mars Society Mission Support Director Tony Muscatello from Feb 14 to Feb 21. The Mars Desert Research Station is located in the desert northwest of Hanksville, Utah. Together with the Mars society’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station located on Canada’s Devon Island, it will now provide the means to conduct a year-round program in Mars exploration operations research.
A Bridge to Mars Filmakers Library
A Bridge to Mars closes the gap between science fiction and the reality that one day we will land humans on Mars. On their first mission to Mars, astronauts will travel to dangerous and uncharted territory some 100 million miles away and will live and work there for two years. In preparation for this groundbreaking journey, leading scientists from many disciplines come together in the Canadian High Arctic to study and plan.
2002 European Mars Society Convention
The Second European Convention of the Mars Society will be held 27-29 September in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. During this event internationally renowned scientists will meet interested laymen in a three day long festival of lectures, expositions, panel discussions, demonstrations and more informal activities. Topics covered will range from mission design to Mars survival skills and from outreach strategies to arts and literature.
Mars Society UK Symposium Great Success
The 1st Mars Society UK 1-day Symposium proved a great success. Held on the 19th January 2002, the event was attended by over 100 people of all ages and backgrounds. Featuring a total of 5 keynote speakers, the event promised to bring a huge amount of expertise and knowledge on Mars and exploring Mars together in one place. The morning got off to a flying start with Dr. Robert Zubrin appearing on the BBC News 24 morning bulletin, which not only gave him a chance to talk about the Society and Mars Direct, but which also lead directly to a number of additional attendees coming along to the event afterwards. After the opening address from the Mars Society UK President, Bo Maxwell, the event got underway with a 75-minutes presentation and Question and Answer session with Professor Colin Pillinger of the Beagle 2 project. During his talk, Professor Pillinger reviewed the history and progress of the Beagle 2 mission, before looking towards next year and the lander’s launch aboard the Mars Express mission in June 2003. He also looked at the science Beagle 2 will be taking to Mars and related it back to studies of Martian meteorites here on Earth, bringing the audience right up to date with the latest thoughts on ALH84001 and other meteorites.
Mars Society Covered in USA Weekend Magazine
The January 18-20 issue of USA Weekend magazine carried a full- collumn article about the Mars Society’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station project. Written by Elizabeth Kaye McCall, the highly favorable article focussed on the experience of Katy Quinn, the Australian/American MIT geophysicist who served in the second crew rotation in the Flashline Station on Devon Island last summer. The article, which prominently included the URL of the Mars Society website, began; “Desperate for adventure and glory? The Mars Society is looking for volunteers to test what life may be like on the red planet. “For geophysicist Katy Quinn, 30, that meant spending eight days last summer on a subzero arctic island surveying seismic activity in a spacesuit as part of the global group’s Mars research project… “Many scientists believe our closest planetary neighbor may someday be inhabitable…”
Fifth International Mars Society Conference Announced
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that the Fifth Internationl Mars Society Conference will return to Boulder, Colorado at the University of Colorado campus, August 8th through August 11th, 2002. The Boulder campus is a beautiful, open campus with newly renovated facilities. It is the original home of the Mars Underground and site of the founding convention of The Mars Society, so we are thrilled to be returning this year. The date of the conference has been moved up this year to make it easier for our student membership to attend.