Expedition Alpha launches Mars Society Canada’s field research training program. ExAlpha will be the 30th Crew at the Mars Desert Research Station, and the first of the 4th Field Season at the Utah site. This two-week mission will run from November 27th to December 12th, 2004. The ExAlpha crew hopes to set a new standard for high science-return missions at MDRS.
October 27th, 2004
Deadline Approaching for MDRS Volunteer Applications
The October 31, 2004 deadline for first round selection of Mars
Desert Research Station (MDRS) crew slots for the 2004-2005 field
season is now approaching. Those wishing to make the deadline should
either mail in their applications now to Mars Society, PO Box 273,
Indian Hills, CO 80454 or send them via email to Tony Muscatello at
tony.muscatello@pioneerastro.com. Previous MDRS or FMARS crew
members who wish to serve again this field season should also send an
email to Tony stating their dates of availability.
September 29th, 2004
Call for MDRS Crew Volunteers
Call for Volunteers: The Mars Society is requesting volunteers to participate as members of the crew of the Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah during extended simulations of human Mars exploration operations. The upcoming Mars Desert Research Station field season will begin in December 2004 and run through April 2005. The Mars Society will pay travel and related expenses from Salt Lake City, Utah during training and simulation, but there will be no salary. Volunteers will need to pay their own travel expenses to Salt Lake City. Applications including resume, character references, and a brief letter explaining why you wish to participate should be sent to Mars Society, PO Box 273, Indian Hills, CO 80454. Total length of applications should not exceed 3 pages. Please include 3 copies. Submission deadline for the first round of MDRS selections is October 31, 2004. Applications submitted after that date will be considered for openings as they become available.
September 14th, 2004
French Edition of “The Case for Mars” Published
The French translation of THE CASE FOR MARS by Robert Zubrin and Richard Wagner has just been published by Henri Goursau Editions. This book was translated on the initiative of Bertrand Spitz a member of PLANETE MARS, the French Chapter of the Mars Society. Translation: Etienne Martinache. Drawings of the cover: Manchu With the help of: Plan
August 31st, 2004
Award-Winning Filmmaker Sam Burbank to Make a Theatrical Motion Picture Based on Robert Zubrin’s Novel “First Landing”
A major sensation was caused at the convention by the announcement by award-winning filmmaker Sam Burbank that he would be making a theatrical motion picture based on Robert Zubrin’s novel “First Landing.” Listing the various Hollywood horror pictures or shoot-em- ups nominally featuring Mars, Burbank drew a sharp distinction between those efforts and the kind of movie “First Landing” will be. There never has been a movie actually about the human exploration of Mars. This will be the first.” Burbank said, adding: “It will not be set in the glorious science fiction future, but in our own time, and it will show the mission done with all the grungy realism of the kind of space travel we can really do. It’s not going to show the Mars mission as being easy. It’s not going to show it as being impossible. It’s going to show it as being really tough, but doable, by a group of people who have what it takes to do it.”
August 31st, 2004
Mars Society Convention A Smashing Success
The 7th International Mars Society convention has been a smashing success. Held at the historic Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, IL from August 19-22, 2004, the convention gathered 400 leading space scientists, engineers, government officials, entrepreneurs, activists, authors, and artists from many countries, including the USA, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Britain, Ireland, Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland, Japan, China, India, and Australia to discuss ways and means of advancing the exploration and settlement. Over 120 papers were presented, and over $50,000 was raised to further the work of the Mars Society.
July 23rd, 2004
Flashline Mars Crew “Hitting It’s Stride”
Reports from the field indicate that the 2004 crew of the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) is doing very well. The FMARS is located on the rim of a 20 km diameter impact crater on Canada’s Devon Island, 900 miles from the North Pole. The crew, consisting of five Americans, one Canadian, one Hungarian, and one Pole, are attempting to conduct a sustained program of field exploration of the Mars-like polar desert while functioning under Mars mission operational constraints. By so doing, they are gaining essential knowledge that will help develop the set of field tactics that human explorers will need to use on Mars.
July 19th, 2004
Mars Society and NSS Carry the Day at Moon-Mars Blitz
The Blitz, which was the first important activity conducted by the new Space Exploration Alliance, occurred from July 11-13, 2004, and involved some 70 space activists visiting approximately 200 congressmen, senators, and congressional and Senatorial aides to convey to them a message of strong support for the new American space policy that refocuses the human spaceflight program on the goal of sending humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Of the activists present, about a third were drawn there by the Mars Society, a third by the National Space Society (NSS), while the remaining third comprised small delegations representing nearly all of the 20 space advocacy, industry, and professional organizations comprising the Space Exploration Alliance (SEA).
July 5th, 2004
Canadian Space Agency Awards $20k Contract To Mars Society Canada For Its Second Research Expedition
The Canadian Space Agency has awarded a contract valued at $20,000 to contribute its support to the Mars Expedition Analog Program conducted by the Mars Society of Canada. Expedition Two will be launched this August in the red desert of Australia. It is the second of a long term series of expeditions using scientists, engineers, and a wide variety of supporting personnel engaged in interdisciplinary studies in Mars analog environments and situations. This program is managed by the international Mars Expedition Research Council, which has selected Mars Society Canada and Mars Society Australia to host Expedition Two. As a co-host, Mars Society Canada welcomes the Canadian Space Agency’s contribution and thanks the agency for its support. This contribution brings the project funds, including cash grants and in-kind donations, to approximately $50k.
June 28th, 2004
Admiral Steidle to Address Mars Society Convention
Admiral Craig Steidle will give a plenary address to the opening session of the 7th International Mars Society Convention in Chicago, August 19. Adm. Craig E. Steidle is the Associate Administrator for the Office of Exploration Systems. He is the first to hold this position, since the office was created in January 2004.