The Mars Society is pleased to announce that it will be convening the 15th Annual International Mars Society Convention at the Pasadena Convention Center on August 3 – 5, 2012 in Pasadena, California. The annual event convenes key experts, scientists and policymakers to discuss the latest news regarding Mars exploration and efforts to promote a humans-to-Mars mission in the coming years.
February 28th, 2012
Mars Society Announces Dates/City for 2012 International Convention The Mars Society
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that it will be convening its 15th Annual International Mars Society Convention on August 3 – 5*, 2012 in Pasadena, California. Registration is open now.
September 19th, 2011
‘The Mars Underground’ Documentary Updated and on DVD The Mars Society
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that ‘The Mars Underground’, a documentary film that became an instant classic among space enthusiasts, has been updated and revised by the director and released on DVD.
Leading aerospace engineer and Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin has a dream. He wants to get humans to the planet Mars in the next ten years. Now, with the advent of a revolutionary plan, Mars Direct, Dr. Zubrin shows how we can use present day technology and natural resources on Mars to make human settlement possible. But can he win over the skeptics at NASA and the wider world?
‘The Mars Underground’ is a landmark documentary that follows Dr. Zubrin and his team as they try to bring this incredible dream to life. Through spellbinding animation, the film takes us on a daring first journey to the Red Planet and envisions a future Mars teeming with life and terraformed into a blue world. A must-see experience for anyone concerned for our global future and the triumph of the human spirit.
September 14th, 2011
A Call on Mars Society Members to Submit Questions for GOP Debate
The Republican presidential candidates will convene in Orlando, Florida on Thursday, September 22nd at 9:00 p.m. EST to participate in the FOX News/Google Debate. The two companies have invited members of the public to submit questions for the chance to have them asked live during the political forum.
The Mars Society is calling on its members and friends to submit questions with a Mars-related theme for the GOP presidential debate. For example, “”Will your administration ensure the U.S. resumes a destination driven space program which results in sending Americans to Mars?”
Please take advantage of this opportunity to submit your questions in video or text form at www.youtube.com/foxnews and vote on others that you would like to hear asked live of the candidates. Those submitting questions must have a current YouTube account.
August 23rd, 2011
Mars Society Family Touched by Plane Crash in Canadian Arctic
The Mars Society and its membership were saddened to learn of the crash of a chartered airplane over the weekend outside Resolute Bay in the Canadian arctic territory of Nunavut. The tragic incident took the lives of 12 people and injured three.
The Mars Society has had a decade-long relationship with the small hamlet of Resolute Bay as the nearest community to the organization’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) project, a simulated Mars habitat in northern Canada.
A close friend of the Mars Society, Aziz Kheraj, owner of the South Camp Inn in Resolute Bay, was directly impacted by the tragedy, losing one grandchild in the crash, while having another injured and currently hospitalized.
“The Mars Society and its membership extend their prayers and condolences to the families and community of Resolute Bay during this difficult time,” said Dr. Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society.
August 20th, 2011
Call for Volunteers for MDRS 2011-12 Field Season The Mars Society
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that plans for the 11th field season at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) are moving ahead rapidly. The upcoming field season is now planned to run from December 3, 2011 through May 6, 2012. Volunteer slots are open for participation as a crew member at the MDRS in Utah. Crew members will be required to pay for their own transportation to and from Grand Junction, Colorado, and also pay a $1,000 participation fee (reduced to $500 for students) to cover station expenses.
May 17th, 2011
The Use of SpaceX Hardware to Accomplish Near-Term Human Mars Mission
The recent announcement by the entrepreneurial Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) that it intends to field within two years a heavy lift rocket capable of delivering more than twice the payload of any booster now flying poses a thrilling question: Can we reach Mars in this decade?
I believe the answer is yes. In this paper, I will lay out a plan to make use of the soon-to-be-available SpaceX systems to accomplish near-term human Mars exploration with minimal technology development. First, I will layout a baseline mission architecture and plan. In the next section, I will discuss various technology alternatives available within the selected mission architecture. Then, in the following section, I will discuss alternative mission architectures. I will then conclude with some overall observations bearing on the question of sustained exploration and settlement of Mars.
It may be noted that the author is not an employee of the SpaceX company, and does not have detailed knowledge of the SpaceX systems. It will take the hard work and ingenuity of the SpaceX engineers to develop configurations and systems that can make these ideas a reality. Nevertheless, it is apparent that if an approach such as that recommended here is adopted, the requirements and capabilities numbers can be made to converge. We can reach Mars in our time.
May 11th, 2011
Robert Zubrin to Speak at 2011 International Space Development Conference The Mars Society
Dr. Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society and author of “The Case for Mars,” will present a radical new plan for space development during his featured address at the 2011 International Space Development Conference in Huntsville, Alabama.
Scheduled for Sunday, May 22nd at 9:30 a.m., Dr. Zubrin will lay out a bold new proposal to establish inexpensive access to orbit, get humans to the planet Mars and begin opening up the solar system to human exploration and settlement within the present decade.
March 12th, 2011
Boeing engineer to spend 2 weeks on Mars lander — in Utah desert The Everett Herald
As a child, Kavya Manyapu would stare into the night sky above Hyderabad, India.
Her father would identify the different stars.
He would tell her about man’s first steps on the moon.
He would fuel her dream to become an astronaut.
Later this month, Manyapu will spend two weeks on Mars — or, at least, the closest thing on Earth to Mars.
The Mars Desert Research Station in Utah draws aeronautical engineers such as Manyapu, geologists, physicians and astro-biologists to its small cylindrical habitat, where research for the first human mission to Mars is taking place. The station is a prototype for the base that astronauts could use on Mars.
January 19th, 2011
Research station in Utah desert is glimpse of life on Mars
Travel twenty minutes north of this tiny town, to the craggy red desert of the San Rafael Swell, and you may discover a spaceship.
The cylindrical craft isn’t from another world, but it offers a glimpse of one. It is the centerpiece of the Mars Desert Research Station, an environment created by the Mars Society, a growing non-profit organization that supports the research, exploration, and eventual colonization of the mysterious red planet.
The swell, chosen as a simulation site for its topical resemblance to Mars, provides the volunteer researchers who come here with an opportunity to live and work in a Mars analog, an environment that’s as close to the red planet as is earthly possible.
While conducting geological and psychological experiments that could someday be useful to a real Martian expedition, this small group of Mars devotees — some space scientists, some simply eager adventurers — live and work in complete “sim.” They consume only dehydrated, shelf-stable food like Bisquick and ghee, exercise to preserve their muscles in “reduced gravity,” abide by the “if it’s yellow, let it mellow” adage in an effort to conserve water, and wear spacesuits when they venture outside.