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Richard Hoagland of Enterprise Mission will join the discussion during the first hour.
Editor's Note: This should be an interesting program!
Capt. Held is a Colorado National Guard soldier assigned to the 193rd Space Support Battalion. He has deployed numerous times during recent combat operations in support of space missions. A computer engineer as a civilian, Held worked hardware-software integration on the Wide Field Camera 3 portion of the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as biomedical engineering projects. He was a lead instructor at the Interservice Space Fundamentals Course teaching satellite design theory, propulsion theory, and orbital dynamics. As a member of the Mars Society, an organization composed largely of scientists devoted to the goal of reaching Mars, Held recently participated in an experiment, funded partly by NASA, in which those involved lived and worked in a simulated Mars environment.
Brad Bronov could not be any lonelier if he stood by himself on Mars and planted a Delaware flag. Bronov, of near Magnolia, heads the Delaware chapter of the Mars Society, an international group dedicated to landing a man on the Red Planet. He also is the chapter's only member. Membership in the society has rocketed to more than 6,000 people in about 50 countries since it was founded in 1998 at a convention of hundreds of Mars devotees gathered at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Mars Society Canada in conjunction with Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit, Nunavut, have launched an intense space program for the students of Inuksuk. The program involves the integration of a space unit into the curriculum, a Mars human habitat design project, and to conclude, a videoconference with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette on February 17, 2004 at Inuksuk High School.
Mice put in orbit to help scientists learn how time on Mars will affect humans will return to Earth in an Australian-designed landing system. University of Queensland scientists will develop the system and hope the mice will touch down at Woomera. They will be part of an international team to send mouse astronauts to space to study the effects of Martian conditions on mammals.
A mars expert says space exploration opportunities for Australians abound. University of Adelaide geologist Victor Gostin addressed several hundred delegates at the Geological Society of Australia convention yesterday. Professor Gostin said the almost daily information fed back from Mars was a boon to scientists and students. He said the broad expanses of Australian deserts provided superb opportunities to create new instruments for Mars.
On February 5-6, Mars Society president Robert Zubrin visited Washington DC, meeting with numerous influential people and participating in two public events. Among those meeting with Dr. Zubrin were Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), the Chairman of the Senate Space Subcommittee, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), the leading Democratic Party space advocate, aides to Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Representative Mark Udall (D-CO), and several other staffers. In addition, Dr. Zubrin met with Presidential Science Advisor Dr. John Marburger and members of his staff, as well as with a representative of the White House Office of the President.
Fifteen mice are to be sent into space to help preparations for possible human missions to Mars, scientists say. The US and Australian university space researchers say they hope to launch the "mouse-onauts" sometime in 2006.
Space scientists are planning one small step for mice that could mark a giant leap for mankind's ambition to create colonies on Mars. In the wake of plans by President George W Bush to put a man on Mars, and a rival European effort, a £13 million project to launch 15 "mouse-tronauts" has been announced that will provide a stepping stone for the ambitious manned missions.
If people ever set foot on Mars, they may say it looks like the Utah desert. Members of Brigham Young University's Mars Research Group already know that. The group has spent the past year working with the Mars Desert Research Station, a simulated Mars base seven miles outside of Hanksville, or 180 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.
The biggest constraints to working in Sim were decreased visibility and communication, both of which made teamwork more difficult. In Sim we communicated rarely and mainly used gestures. It was also difficult to see our work, especially when the Sun was low, or to be aware of what others were doing. The weight of the backpack and the bulk of the suit had a smaller effect than the decrease in visibility and communication.
If man ever steps foot on Mars, they may say it looks like the Utah desert. Members of the Brigham Young University's Mars Research Group already knows that. The group has spent the last year working with the Mars Desert Research Station, a simulated Mars base seven miles outside of Hanksville, or 180 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Owned by the Mars Society, an international organization devoted to the exploration and settlement of Mars, the station includes a habitat module measuring about 15 to 20 feet in diameter with a laboratory on the first floor and crew quarters on the second level.
Voice communication is essential to any manned exploration of Mars, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has already completed a successful test involving IP telephony. A distributed IP PBX from Shoreline Communications, the specialist in enterprise IP voice systems(TM), provided the infrastructure linking the Utah desert test site with NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. and NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The test site was one of the desert and arctic habitat facilities maintained by the Mars Society -- a private international organization dedicated to the exploration of the Red Planet -- to simulate harsh conditions on such remote planetary surfaces. Any voice system used by NASA in the Mars Mobile Agents pilot faced a number of challenges, including:
Erika Wagner is a PhD student in the Harvard/MIT Health Sciences and Technology program. Her research interests span the field of space physiology, with experience in human centrifuge studies and a current focus on the skeletal effects of reduced weight-bearing. Erika holds a Bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University as well a Master's in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, and is an alumna of the International Space University summer program. As Science Director for The Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program, she leads a team in developing and carrying out supporting ground experiments, coordinating the science flight manifest, optimizing the payload design to better support research outcomes, and seeking support for the overall mission. As early as mid-2006, the program plans to launch a small unmanned research satellite to low Earth orbit, carrying a payload of adult mice for study and all the systems to support them. This spinning spacecraft will create artificial gravity at 0.38 times Earth gravity, simulating the surface gravity of Mars.
NPR's Bob Edwards talks with Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society, about simulating Mars on Earth. Zubrin traveled from the Arctic to the American Southwest with a team of scientists to find the best Mars-like conditions. Zubrin is author of the book, Mars on Earth.
President Bush's goal to put a human being on Mars by 2020 will likely take cooperation from groups around the globe, and the BYU Mars Research Group hopes to contribute to the effort. "We've been working on several projects for about two years," said Nicole Farnsworth, a physics major and a member of the BYU Mars Research Group. "And we are the closest major university to the Mars Desert Research Station."
Crew 21 was fortunate to be at MDRS for two historic events sure to shape our future on Mars. We arrived here on the same day that Spirit arrived at Gusev Crater. The following week, just as Spirit rolled onto the regolith of Mars for the first time, President Bush announced a major new space initiative that promises, if fulfilled, a human presence on Mars within our lifetimes. We came to MDRS with an ambitious set of projects, a small step perhaps, toward the goal of getting humans to Mars. We accomplished most of what we set out to do, while achieving a relatively rigorous sim, albeit for a shorter time than we had anticipated. The following is a brief summary of the results obtained during our rotation.
Some people look at Mars and see boulders and dust. Others see stuff that isn't there. Not yet, anyway. Colonies. Raccoons and maple trees. Astronauts chatting to robot assistants in sign language. Vegetable gardens, rabbit herds and fish farming made possible by, of all things, global warming. Can a Wal-Mart outside the Gusav Crater Gated Community be far behind? "The possibilities are endless," said Kevin Sloan, 22, president of the Mars Society chapter on the Pennsylvania State University campus.
The Australian analogue rover project, the Starchaser Marsupial Rover was formulated with a longer term vision to develop a family of such rovers and provide Australians which could contribute to the design database for future real Mars rover vehicles. Now based in Fremantle, Western Australia, the vehicle is based on the chassis of a Forward Control Landrover. The FC Landrover is a Series IIA and has a distinguished history as a rugged 4WD military truck, emergency ambulance, expedition and safari transport. We intend the Marsupial rover to be driveable on public roads, since this will greatly enhance its useability.
The people who are already on Mars with a plucky robotic rover see an important role for themselves in the future of U.S. space exploration, as outlined by President Bush on Wednesday. The director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA's prime developer of robotic missions beyond our world, said future robots would complement human journeys to the moon and Mars.
On Saturday, Seattle's Museum of Flight hosted Mars Fest '04, a daylong session of panels with academics and aerospace experts. The founder of the Mars Society, Dr. Robert Zubrin, talked about the prospects of putting people on Mars within the decade — including what sort of rocket or spacecraft could transport them. During a midday panel, children asked questions ranging from whether plants could grow on Mars to whether Earth and Mars are similar.
It's been three decades since the idea of a mobile robotic Mars rover was seriously proposed, and now, finally, we have one. As a longtime advocate of human Mars exploration, I can only watch this mission with delight. And nothing pleases me more than the news that this week President Bush is expected to announce plans for the human exploration of Mars. Sending humans there is essential because, as wonderful as they are, neither Spirit nor Opportunity nor any other machine will ever tell us what we need to learn about Mars.
Students and researchers at MIT are designing a space mission to learn about the effects of Mars-level gravity using pint-sized astronauts. The 15 mouse-trounauts will orbit Earth for five weeks to help researchers learn how Martian gravity—about one-third that of Earth—will affect the mammalian body. The goal of the Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program is to send the mice into near-Earth orbit inside a one-meter space ship simulating Mars’ gravity, then bring them back to Earth. It won’t be the first time mice have flown in space, but it will be the first time mammals of any kind have lived in partial gravity for an extended period. The spin of the spacecraft will create an effect on the mice equivalent to Mars’ gravity.
The Mars Society is proud to announce the release of "To Touch the Stars", a joint project of the Mars Society, Prometheus Music, and the National Space Society. The album's 17 tracks span a stylistic range encompassing folk, rock, majestic ballads, and ska. Among the songs featured is Karen Linsley and the late Lloyd Landa's winning "Pioneers of Mars" entry to the Mars Society's Rouget de Lisle songwriting contest, which debuted at our Toronto Conference.
Merry Christmas to MDRS Crew 20 from MDRS Mission Support (San Diego) and all the Elves!
Scheduled Event for Saturday, January 10th, 2004, 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Founder and current president of the Mars Society, Dr. Zubrin is a tireless promoter of human exploration of Mars, as well as a respected engineer and scientist and a best-selling author. Following the discussion, he will sign copies of his most recent book, Mars on Earth: The Adventures of Space Pioneers in the High Arctic (J. P. Tarcher, 2003), which details the dramatic story of the Mars Society's scientific expeditions to build and test simulated habitats for Martian exploration in the terrestrial Arctic and the U.S. desert Southwest.
The purpose of the U.S. Political Task Force is to support the endeavor of The Mars Society to establish a human mission to Mars as the primary goal of the U.S. Space Program. This will be accomplished by means of an aggressive campaign of contact with our elected officials asking them to actively support the required technologies and legislation in support of this vision. The Political Task Force will mobilize and assist our membership and other space advocates with up-to-date information and the necessary tools for effective communication to accomplish this goal. Further, we will seek to act in ways that garner sufficient media and public support for the goal of sending humans to Mars.
The word is out that President George Bush is preparing to set a major goal for NASA, with an announcement possibly coming as soon as the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brother's flight December 17th. The Mars Society urges everyone to contact President Bush immediately urging that NASA adopt humans to Mars as its goal. Do it any way you like, but act today. A letter will have more impact than a fax, a fax will have more impact than an email. But do what you can, and do it soon. The critical decisions that could allow a breakout to Mars or doom our space program to three more decades of wasteful stagnation are being made now. Your letter sent today could make the difference. So write, AND fax, AND call, AND email, and get all your friends to do the same. Don't wait, do it today. Humanity's future in space could depend on it.
After decades of watching astronauts circle Earth, space visionaries finally have reason for optimism: NASA and other agencies are working with the White House on a bold, new course of exploration. Whether the destination is the moon or Mars -- or whether any plan actually makes liftoff -- remains to be seen. For space buffs, just to get a defined mission would be cause for hope.
After decades of watching astronauts circle Earth, space visionaries finally have reason for optimism: NASA and other agencies are working with the White House on a bold, new course of exploration. Whether the destination is the moon or Mars — or whether any plan actually makes liftoff — remains to be seen. For space buffs, just to get a defined mission would be cause for hope.
The deadline for your entries in the Why Mars contest is November 15th, 2003. To ensure that your thoughts will be heard on this important issue, and for a chance at some great prizes, email your entry to MSWhyMars@aol.com before the end of this week.
On the invitation of Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Mars Society president Robert Zubrin presented testimony to the full Senate Commerce Committee of Oct. 29 on the subject of the future of the US space program. The hearing began Oct. 29 at 9:30 AM in Russell Senate Office Bldg room 253. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and former Associate Administrator for Space Science.
Members of the BYU Mars Research Group are privileged to have special research opportunities because of the school's proximity to the Mars Desert Research Station in Southern Utah. "The geological formations near Hanksville, Utah, look very Mars-like and so that area was picked by the International Mars Society as a base for the research station about two years ago," said David Allred, faculty advisor for the BYU chapter of the Mars Society. "About a year ago, we decided that we could probably help at the base because BYU is the closest major university to Hanksville, it's only about a three and a half hour drive."
Scientist Rob Stewart has donned a spacesuit and walked across the dusty, windy and rocky Mars landscape in search of new life. Granted, in this case, Mars is a 20-kilometre-wide crater on an island in Canada's far North that researchers from around the world are using as a stand-in for the Red Planet.
On the invitation of Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Mars Society president Robert Zubrin will present testimony to the full Senate Commerce Committee of Oct. 29 on the subject of the future of the US space program. The hearing will begin Oct. 29 at 9:30 AM in Russell Senate Office Bldg room 253. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and former Associate Administrator for Space Science Wes Huntress will also be testifying.
The place is Arkaroola in the northern Flinders Ranges of South Australia, an explosion of red rocky outcrops and whirling red dust that drops away to the endless horizons of Lake Frome. It has often been likened to a Martian landscape. Now the link is even more real. Arkaroola will become ground zero for one of the most ambitious projects in Australia's contribution to space travel – the colonisation of Mars. In less than two years this is where the Mars Analogue Research Station, called MARS-OZ, will sit. Looking like a huge witchetty grub, it will be one of four research stations across the world that will lay the groundwork for a mission to Mars.
Want to go to Mars? How about experiencing zero-gravity? Here are the next best things: The Mars Society is looking for volunteers for their simulated Mars missions in Utah and the Arctic, while NASA is soliciting student proposals for experiments to be conducted during simulated zero-G flights on the airplane affectionately know as the “Vomit Comet.”
The Mars Society conducted its 3rd European Mars Conference, the Volker-Mang-Conference, from September 26th to 28th in Bremen, Germany. The Conference was a big success with more than 100 enthusiasts, students, and professionals from Space Agencies, Industry, and Academia. The European chapters from France, Italy, The Netherlands, Austria, Romania, Sweden, and Germany were well represented. The press was also present, and early news reports are already on the web...
A Tasmanian is the lead designer for an Australian project simulating life in a colony on Mars. The Australian Mars Analogue Research Station will be established at Arkaroola in the northern Flinders Ranges of South Australia. David Willson, 44, who is a mechanical project engineer with SEMF Holdings in Hobart, is doing the Mars project in his spare time for nothing. Mr Willson said he expected the space station to be built in Tasmania or Victoria.
Mars Society members consist of engineers, microbiologists, rocket scientists and other key players who are helping to shape the technologies that will enable us to get to Mars, explore the planet and possibly one day settle there. But the Mars Society is more than a technical society. Our members also include writers, anthropologists, philosophers and activists who believe that setting a positive course for the future of humanity begins now, with us.
It is now apparent that the Shuttle Orbiter cannot be used much longer as a system for transporting crews to Earth orbit. The Columbia disaster has made it clear that the antiquated Orbiters are becoming increasingly unsafe. Moreover, even if the Orbiter could be flown safely, it is clear that using a launch vehicle with a takeoff thrust matching that of a Saturn V to transport half a dozen people to the Space Station makes about as much sense as using an aircraft carrier to tow water skiers. The Shuttle was designed as a self-launching space station. Absent a permanent space station on-orbit, such a vehicle had some justification. But with the establishment of the ISS, the rationale for using a flying Winnebago as a space taxi is no longer sustainable.
Have you ever wanted to be a part of a space mission design team? Here's your chance! The Mars Society unveiled its Kepler Prize Contest at the 2003 convention in Eugene, OR. The challenge for students and private individuals is to design an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) for a humans-to-Mars mission. All skill levels are welcome, and will be judged against their peers. Winning teams will receive a trophy, while members receive individual tokens. The team will also receive a slot (one person, though this may be negotiable) on a desert research station mission, and an invitation to present their winning design at the 2004 convention.
Since humans first looked to the stars for an answer to the great cosmic riddle, various celestial bodies have inspired a wide range of interpretations. In the past 100 years or so, the planet Mars has made a particularly strong mark on popular culture and holds a special attraction for many in the era of manned space exploration. In 2001, filmmaker Gerry Williams helped found the San Diego chapter of The Mars Society. Its goal: "to send humans to Mars to explore, colonize and create a second home for human civilization."
If you're wondering why you're spending another Labor Day holiday roasting weenies in the backyard instead of enjoying the scenery on a jaunt to the Red Planet, join the club. Robert Zubrin can't understand it either. And he's president of the club. Zubrin, a former Lockheed Martin engineer and founder of Pioneer Astronautics in Lakewood, is president of the Mars Society, which was founded in 1998 to encourage exploration of the planet. The society began with 600 international members. In five years, it has expanded to 6,000.
As Mars readies for its close-up on Aug. 27, , the Red Planet has already garnered a growing fan base of casual sky watchers eager to see new details during the planet's closest swing-by in 60,000 years. But as Mars beams steadily brighter in the southeastern sky, it is more than a curiosity for members of the Mars Society. For this eclectic band of scientists and wishful thinkers, it also shines as a beacon of a dream: One day men and women will walk on Mars. And at the nexus of this group, which convened last weekend in Eugene, is an unlikely Pied Piper: University of Washington-trained nuclear engineer Robert Zubrin. He is the spiritual father of the dream of sending humans to Mars the way the late astronomer Carl Sagan was the Mr. Rogers of the cosmic neighborhood.
Over 300 people gathered in Eugene Oregon August 14-17 2003 at the 6th International Mars society Convention to map out plans to make the human exploration of the Red Planet a reality. Over 100 talks were given, including plenaries by many mars society leaders as well as Mars Exploration Rover Deputy Project Scientist Albert Haldeman, NASA Astronaut John Grunsfeld, planetary scientist William Hartman, and leading science fiction author Greg Bear.
Like some sort of celestial prank, just as Earth and Mars draw ever closer this month, those charting where next for Americas human exploration program are worlds apart. Later this month, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board will release its findings. They are likely to be an indictment of a NASA culture gone sour; government-contractor relationships that are frayed and a serious scrutiny of the rationale and risk of placing humans in harms way. In terms of its human spaceflight program, NASA itself is seemingly in free-fall, an agency whose wing has been crippled by a devastating blow. But for those gathered here at the Sixth International Mars Society Conference, that reddish dot so vivid in the nighttime sky represents a clarion call to action.
Duckweed and inflatable houses could help turn the caves of Mars into a home for any future human visitors to the red planet. That's one of the topics on the agenda of a conference on Mars being held in Eugene this weekend. The Martian caves would protect humans from radiation and the severe weather and may hold minerals, water and ice the colonists could use for life support.
Putting a human on Mars. It is a long-range goal of the U.S. space program and an immediate desire of a couple hundred visitors to Eugene. They are members of the International Mars Society, a group pushing for the exploration and settlement of Earth's nearest planet. They are convinced science fiction can and should be science fact. "Going to Mars has always been my dream and I figured this is the best way to get things, to get the ball rolling," says Erik Carlstrom of Eugene.
Several hundred scientists, academics and space-travel wanna-bes will converge in Eugene this week at the Mars Society's sixth annual convention. The group is dedicated to human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet.
I sat alone in the back of the Twin Otter, two empty fuel barrels, two all-terrain vehicles and piles of luggage separating me from the pilot and co-pilot. Although my husband Jody Tinsley and I had intended to fly together when we left the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, a series of quick events had me traveling alone. Not cushy, sitting in the back of an island-hopping Twin Otter in the Arctic, but pretty cool.
“Hey, Chilly, what’s going on?” Jody Tinsley asked, looking over my shoulder into the pot of simmering soup. “What did you say?” Peter Lee asked. “Chilly — that’s one of my names for April,” said Jody, understanding Peter’s confusion. “AC, Chilly Bean — those are the main ones. She doesn’t have many for me, but when she’s put out, she calls me Mister.” Unlike Peter, I hadn’t even noticed the familiar expression of affection. It’s as right to me as breathing. But later it got me thinking. It’s no coincidence that Jody and I are here together at Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station.
The clatter of keys behind me, the occasional chuckle, and the inevitable groans confirm that my crewmates are as dedicated to today’s mission as I am. A former NASA employee once told me that astronauts spend much less than 5 percent of a space mission in EVA suits. I can imagine that it’s true. There’s much to be done here that doesn’t require a suit.
I lay there staring up at the narrow sliver of sky. The clouds I could see were lazily making their way north. After a while, two heads appeared, looking down at me through plastic shields. “How does it feel?” one of them asked through my radio headset. I nodded, unable to answer. I tried to move my arm, but it was snugly secured to my chest. I couldn’t feel the push-to-talk button, even if I could have moved my arm over to reach it. Then the heads disappeared, and the clouds began to move again.
“Let’s head for Marine Rock and take the Autobahn home,” suggested Peter Lee, the navigator on today’s extravehicular activity, the 19th of our rotation. Jody Tinsley commanded this one, with Steve McDaniel our Ghost Rider. Peter made his suggestion about a half-hour from the Hab; we’d been gone since 14:18, or 2:18 p.m. to you folks back home, and it was now around 21:00, or 9 p.m. I turned Festus, my all-terrain vehicle for the day, for Marine Rock, relieved to be that close to the Hab. It was an exhilarating day, but I was ready for the spaghetti supper that was waiting for us back home.
Here I am on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic (our Mars), and my college girlfriends are convening in my hometown this weekend for their annual get-together. This is a 22-year tradition, and I’d be there, if I weren’t here. It’s fun, and I’m sorry I’ll miss it. They will eat and drink too much, talk about the things that have happened to us all over the last year, brag on their kids’ latest accomplishments, report on their love lives, and sit on the dock at the lake and soak up rays and have a good old time. They will be wearing swimsuits; I will be wearing down booties and a sweater. It’s probably 92 degrees in South Carolina — but it is 35 degrees here.
“Wait!” Peter Lee hollered. “Ella lost the trailer!” Uh-oh. I wasn’t surprised, really. The road up to the Hab is rough — that’s one reason we were working on it. I have a particular vendetta against one bulbous rock that reminds me of a basketball. It is too big to drive around, and too round and tall to drive over easily, especially when towing a trailer. No matter what I do to avoid it, it always seems to heave itself in my way. So as I turned my all-terrain vehicle around to join the others, I wasn’t surprised that it had caused trouble. But this time, Ella Carlsson hadn’t tried to drive over it — no, the rock was in the trailer, thanks to Peter’s good work with the pry bar.
It’s a situation for a TV reality show, really. Seven strangers marooned on an Arctic isle, left to their own devices, having little contact with the outside world — having different cultural backgrounds, different musical tastes. What could happen?
Well, I don’t know. I’ve never established a personal relationship with a fish.” This was the answer that cracked my interviewer up this morning, but what else could I say? Jan Osburg and I were discussing on camera whether it would be worthwhile to have a pet on an extended space mission, like a manned mission to Mars, which could last two and a half years or so.
Quietly the snow floats by the main Hab window. It’s been fickle, has this snow. Sometimes it comes down in a whirling frenzy, in big fluffy flakes. Sometimes it wisps down in little dots. Yesterday, it whipped sideways across the window. When I got up early this morning, the rocks were all coated with snow — but only on one side.
The wet, exhausted analog astronauts weaved about as they walked, clearly fumbling with straps and buckles as they loosened the gear from their all-terrain vehicles. Ella Carlsson and I peered out the kitchen window, reporting to Peter Lee what we were seeing. We had established radio contact with the away team about 30 minutes earlier, after eight hours with no word from them. Those eight hours had been excruciating for those of us who were left behind, wondering what was happening, whether the team was safe, whether they had achieved our goal of reaching the coast.
“But what about the Campaign to the Coast?” This question has been on everyone’s minds and lips over the last few days. Before we all arrived here on Devon Island, we had agreed that a primary mission objective would be to mount an expedition to the coast of Devon Island. This effort has been tried before in sim, but the earlier attempt was not successful, and we were determined very early on to make a go for it ourselves.
The helmet came off with no trouble, thanks to Jan’s help, but when I pulled at the duct tape on my ear, I yelped. It was stuck firmly to my hair, and it soon became obvious that some of my locks would have to be sacrificed to free me from the adhesive. You might ask, “Why would April put duct tape on her ear?” That’s a good question. Duct tape is the most reliable way to affix a radio headset to one’s ear, and when one is leading an EVA team, one needs good radio communications.
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield,” said Tennyson in “Ulysses.” The poet’s words speak better than we can the mind-set of this crew. Yes, we are on a simulated mission to Mars, stationed on Earth, not the Red Planet, wearing analog spacesuits instead of the real thing, breathing good old Earth’s air, tied by our familiar gravity to the terrain we explore. Our sim is not the equipment we wear. It’s an attitude.
One thing that a space crew, even a simulated one, can’t help discussing, is “Star Trek,” in all its versions and generations.
The hot chocolate goes down well right now. The weather’s turning cooler, and I just returned from my first extravehicular activity on an all-terrain vehicle, our longest foray yet into the wilds of Devon Island. We left the Hab and headed out down to the Lowell Canal, a route I’ve taken daily with Digby Tarvin to fetch the water, but this time, we crossed the stream and climbed the steep hill on the other side. Soon we were beyond sight of the Hab and entering northern territory none of us had seen before.
One can’t rise at dawn if the sun never sets. Daylight is constant here in the Arctic. We are so far north that the sun essentially circles us, never rising much more than thirty degrees above the horizon. There is no dusk, much less dark, which presents us with both opportunities and problems. Our workdays can be longer — there is no dusk to remind us that it’s time for supper. We never turn on the common room lights, and we don’t have to worry about flashlight batteries, nightlights or getting lost outside at night.
Space mission today! EVA! Extravehicular Activity! To prepare for an EVA requires all of us. The ones going out in suits have to gather their scientific equipment, the GPS units and maps for navigation purposes, cameras, writing materials, personal items and the like; the guard has to get the shotguns ready and attach them to different all-terrain vehicles.
“Hey,” my husband Jody whispered to me, “you’re about to lose power!” I woke in a start. Yep. The generator was gulping and spitting in a most unnatural way. I held my breath, listening. He was right!
All crew members for the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) for the summer of 2003 have arrived on Devon Island! The crew, chosen from volunteers from around the world, will serve a 4-week rotation in the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island beginning in early July. During this time they will employ the Mars-like polar desert of Canada's Devon Island to experiment with techniques for the human exploration of Mars.
What do basketball player John Stockton, a sheepdog, Colonel Schultz from “Hogan’s Heroes,” the Secret Service and I have in common? We are all guards. This is something I’m sure my mother never thought she’d hear me say, but this morning, I carried a shotgun on a space mission just in case we ran into a polar bear.
Today the creak of the flagpole overhead accompanied our activities. The Mars Society’s flag now watches approvingly as we go about our daily chores. Yesterday we set as our goal to start our actual sim tonight, so this morning we bustled about, seeing that all essential systems were up and running. We don’t want to “break sim” to fix a leaky pipe or to hook up an antenna wire.
This summer marks not only the closest approach of Mars to the Earth in thousands of years, but it is also the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition, as well as the Centennial of Flight. With this in mind, the Mars Society Education Task Force has cooked up an exciting day of educational activities just for educators. Add to this the fact that the latest a flotilla of probes is already enroute to the Red Planet, and we have the making of a true "Summer of Mars."
I looked anxiously out of the window of our Twin Otter, scanning the landscape for the Hab, our home for the next month. All I could see was dirt and rock, dirt and rock. I finally got a glimpse of it, ahead and under the wing, but Rod, our pilot, banked the plane sharply, making a practice pass over the dirt landing strip, and the tilt of the aircraft gave me two new views — the ground out of the left-hand windows and the sky out of the right. We leveled out, and Digby Tarvin, my crewmate and traveling companion, cried, “There it is!” He leaned over me to snap a picture as we dropped onto the dirt airstrip.
Where on earth could you go to practice living on Mars? This month, you could go to Devon Island, a few hundred miles from the North Pole. Devon happens to be one of eight sites chosen to practice Martian living skills. A volunteer group of four men and three women will enter a habitat module in Devon where they will live through Aug. 1. They will have limited contact with the outside world and all activities will be conducted as if they were living on another world... namely, Mars.
Mars Desert Research Station Mars Party, August 29 through 31, 2003. Imagine observing Mars this summer from a place that looks like the Red Planet - complete with a fully functional Mars Habitat and Observatory. You are cordially invited to attend a Mars Party held at the Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah. The site was chosen for it's Martian landscape and is a research facility used by the Mars Society to make studies for the human exploration of Mars. With its 6.7 magnitude skies it is an ideal location for observing the wonders of the universe. This is a free event sponsored by the Mars Society and Celestron.
If funding comes through, Canada could play a major role in NASA's next mission to Mars. NASA is leading an international space race to find signs of water on the red planet. Two rovers are equipped to prowl the Martian surface searching for evidence of past life. Robotic landers offer a chance to scour the surface, and the space agency's landing plans for 2009 are bigger and bolder.
The Mars Society announced today that SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk will present a plenary talk at the 6th International Mars Society Convention, which will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Eugene Oregon, August 14-17, 2003. The founder of the PayPal payment system, Elon Musk is widely regarded as one of the most successful of the internet entrepreneurs to emerge from the 1990s. A long time supporter of space exploration and development, in 2001 Musk started investigating how he could make a difference in this area. The result was the June 2002 founding of SpaceX, a company devoted to reducing the cost and increase the reliability of access to space by approximately an order of magnitude.
The 2003 crew for the Flashline Mars Arctic Station has been chosen. The Mars Society announces that the upcoming four-week rotation at FMARS is the longest to date. At the site on Devon Island, the members of Crew 8 will simulate a long-term research mission to the planet Mars, studying the region around the Houghton Crater and living at the analog space station there. complete report on the 2003 operation of the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station will be presented at the 6th International Mars Society convention, to be held at the Hilton Hotel in Eugene Oregon, August 14-17 2003.
“With three landers and an orbiter scheduled to arrive at Mars by January next year, we are entering an exciting new phase of exploration. If we find evidence of life on Mars, past or present, however slim, there will be a great deal of pressure to send people to Mars to further investigate. So these missions could go down in the history books as important precursors to a human presence on Mars, as significant as Cook’s eighteenth century voyages to the Pacific,” said Guy Murphy, President of Mars Society Australia. “Mars Society Australia, along with its international affiliates, is very excited about these missions, and we plan to cover them during presentations at our annual conference in Perth this year.”
The Mars Society of Canada is holding its Annual General Meeting in Montreal on Sunday, May 18th. This event will be held at the headquarters of the Canadian Space Agency in St. Hubert, Quebec. Attendance costs $20 (CAD), which may be paid online or at the door.
Elon Musk made a fortune from the Internet. Now he wants to deliver payloads into space--and save mankind by colonizing Mars. Lets get this straight: Elon Musk is not a lunatic. "I'm one of the least flaky guys you'll ever meet," he insists. Flaky guys generally haven't pocketed $200 million by age 31 as Musk has, thanks to two Internet successes--Zip2, sold to Compaq in 1999 for $307 million in cash, and PayPal, bought last October by Ebay for $1.5 billion in stock.
Scientists estimated that in five billion years the sun will become a red giant, swallowing up Earth and everything else in its path. Darlene Lim, a PhD student in geology and an expert on Mars exploration, is planning ahead. “Eventually we will lose our biosphere; we will actually have to get humans off this planet,” she says. “We have to get beyond the Earth and then potentially move outside our own solar system.”
Geologists, computer scientists, robotics engineers, and communications experts trekked into the desert near Hanksville, Utah, the first two weeks in April. Their goal is to develop a futuristic computer system for supporting the human exploration of Mars. Using the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) as a technology development retreat, the team of over 20 people came from three NASA centers and two universities. MDRS is one of a series of human Mars mission simulation platforms currently operated by The Mars Society (U.S.) in Mars-like environments around the globe.
UB doctoral student Brent Garry has always wanted to go to Mars, but for now he'll settle for Utah. Since April 3, he and Abby Semple, another UB doctoral student, have been part of a small team that is simulating the living and working conditions on Mars by donning space suits, exploring the geology of the very "Mars-like" canyons of Utah and essentially living in and working out of a two-story tin can similar to a spaceship.
The Mars Desert Research Station in Utah (MDRS) attracts rocket scientists, Nasa workers, teachers, engineers, aspiring astronauts and space enthusiasts from all over the world. BBC News Online's Hilary Bowden recently spent a fortnight living alongside a crew of volunteers.
The important Russian magazine Vokrug Sveta (Around the World) has published a 16 page illustrated article about Mars exploration, with central focus on the work of the Mars Society. The article covers Mars as a planet, current plans to explore Mars with robots, orbiters, and airplanes, the Mars Direct plan, terraforming, and the work of the Mars Society at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) and the MDRS. Mars Society recognition in Russia has grown rapidly since the publication of "The Case for Mars" in Russian, (under the title "V Zashchitu Marsa") translated by Russian Mars Society president Gennady Gusev. During the summer of 2002, Russian TV crews from the independant NTV network travelled to Devon Island to film the work of the FMARS crew. The documentary they produced was broadcast nationwide across Russia in the fall of 2002 to wide aclaim. Growth of the Russian Mars Society is very important as Russian technological capabilities could represent a major contribution to an international Mars exploration program.
For her trip to Mars, Jennifer Laing is taking a copy of Geoffrey Blainey's The Tyranny of Distance and a DVD of The Dish. The Melbourne PhD student is one of six Australians who will spend the next few weeks inside an eight-metre cylinder parked in a Utah desert, researching life in a Martian colony. The members of the non-profit Mars Society will eat pre-packaged military food and sleep inside the two-storey Mars Desert Research Station, going outside twice a day to collect rocks and to look for microscopic life. They will also test spacesuits and two vehicles.
An international crew is about to descend on the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the American South-west, one of a series of human Mars mission simulation platforms currently operated by The Mars Society (U.S.) in Mars-like environments around the globe. The 14th Crew on the MDRS in Utah will take part in a venture that has been jointly funded and planned by the Mars Society of Canada and Mars Society Australia. Crewmembers from the United States and France will also participate in this important research program.
Peter Detterline, a part-time astronomy professor, recently returned from a mission to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) that spanned from Dec. 21, 2002 to Jan. 4, 2003. Detterline was selected to go to the MDRS by Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society and remembers thinking, “I’m going to Mars…I’m going to Mars!” Zubrin chose Detterline to be the MDRS Observatory Coordinator because of his knowledge of robotic observatories, and he was responsible for designing, assembling and testing the observatory. Located in Wayne County, Utah, the MDRS has been used by researchers since 2001 to attain knowledge about sustaining life on Mars, including what inhabitants would eat, drink and keep a healthy habitat.
The members of the Mars Society join together in grief over the loss of the seven member crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia this morning. The crew of the Columbia, as that of Challenger and Apollo 1 before them, gave their lives for the cause of opening the solar system to humanity. In the coming months, that cause will be put to the test, as those who do not honor it seek to use this tradgedy to put it to an end. This must not be allowed to occur. In memory of Shuttle commander Rick D. Husband, Pilot William C. McCool,Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson, Mission Specialists David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon, let us therefore resolve that the cause for which they gave their last full measure of devotion shall not be allowed to fail. From death there shall come life, and no life given shall be given in vain. The Mars Society offers its condolences to the families and friends of Columbia's crew.
The official proclamation from the Mayor's office designating Feb. 2 - 8 as Mars Society Week in San Diego has been released. Here's what the proclamation says...
BYU students will soon have the opportunity to live on Mars--a simulated version, at least. Student researchers are working with the Mars Society developing and executing experiments to prepare astronauts for a future voyage to Mars. "The Mars Society's goal is to establish human presence on Mars soon. When humans get to Mars, we want BYU to be recognized for what we did in getting people there," said Doug Archer, a junior majoring in physics and a study participant.
The Steering Committee of the Mars Society today issued a resolution supporting the revival of NASA’s space nuclear power program. The resolution was approved by a vote of 20 in favor, 1 opposed, 1 abstention, and 7 not voting. The text of the resolution is given...
The Mars Society announced today that it is initiating an annual open spacecraft design contest. Named the Kepler Prize after the great renaissance thinker who first derived the laws of celestial motion based on observations of the planet Mars, the award for the winning team each year will be a trophy and two crew slots in the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station. In addition, the winning team will be invited to present its work at a plenary session of the Mars Society's international convention. The contest is open to all individuals and teams who want to contribute their ideas in Mars mission design. For its first year's contest, the Kepler Prize will be given to the team that presents the best design of an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) for use in piloted Mars missions. In the contest, participants will propose their design for the ERV and have it judged based on set criteria and mission requirements.
On January 1, 2003 the new Musk Mars Desert Observatory at the MDRS achieved First Light. The initial image taken was the Great Nebula in Orion, a nursery for the birth of young stars. Crew astronomers Pete Detterline and Debi Lee Wilkenson labeled it "New stars for a new year." The following night, the crew was able to take higher resolution photographs, including this one (right) of M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy before the clouds rolled in. The color wheel will be hooked in shortly.
The Mars Society announced today that it will build an astronomical observatory at its Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah. Funding to establish the observatory was provided by a major donation by a Mars Society member who wishes to remain anonymous. The other prime sponsor of the observatory is Celestron, which has donated a high quality computerized eleven inch Schmidt Cassegrain Nexstar11GPS telescope for initial operations. Celestron has begun production of its new fourteen inch Schmidt Cassegrain system which includes a newly designed heavy-duty computerized German equatorial mount. This system, known as the CGE 1400, will be the finest instrument ever produced for the advanced amateur and university astronomy market. The Mars Society is in discussions with Celestron to obtain one of these systems for the Mars Society Desert Observatory as soon as one becomes available.
The first Mars Desert Research Station crew rotation of the fall 2002 season is now nearing its conclusion. MDRS crew # 7 was commanded by Franco-American geologist Charles Frankel and included Hilary Bowden (United Kingdom, journalist and health & safety officer); Stacy Cusack (USA, executive officer, CapCom and geologist); Pierre-Emmanuel Paulis (Belgium, educational liaison); Derek Shannon (USA, geobiologist); and Alain Souchier (France, engineer and CRV operator). In the course of their 14-day stint, the international crew brought the Desert Station up to speed, implementing a number of new systems added in the past few months by Frank Schubert, Jeff Zerr and co-workers. Most notable is the “Living Machine” water recycling system, that routes waste water from the Hab to the H. T. Odum greenhouse, where it is purified by plants (mainly water lilies), pumped back to the Hab, filtered and sterilized by ultraviolet light for re-use in domestic chores. Fine-tuning of the system was achieved by on-board engineer Alain Souchier, with the input of Jeff Zerr through Mission Support. Biologist Derek Shannon did frequent screening for coliform bacteria in the recycled water, that came up negative, showing that the UV-filter performed flawlessly.
With their maverick, DIY appeal, they have gadded around in spacesuits in a US desert and in the Arctic and now, thanks to British help, they will have a mock spaceship in Europe. Welcome to the slightly surreal world of the privately funded Mars Society, which originated in the US in 1998 and now has some 6,000 members in 50 countries with one unifying passion: establishing a human presence on Mars. Today the organisation took another small step towards its Mars dream when its British division announced that a third research station, Euro-Mars, will open next summer in Iceland at a cost of £250,000.
The 2002 MDRS field season has started with a new addition to the station, the H. T. Odum greenhouse. After the first greenhouse succumbed to the 60-plus-mph Utah winds last season, several teams of volunteers from the society's GreenHab group installed a new beefed-up design this summer and fall. The 12' long, 14' diameter cylindrical structure is made of a sturdy steel frame with clear polycarbonate glazing panels donated by Suntuf, Inc. The Suntuf SUNLITE (R) and Suntuf (R) panels are clear, rigid, light-weight and nearly indestructible. Before the new structure was installed, 12-18" of desert soil was excavated, then backfilled into the bottom of the cylindrical structure as a foundation for the insulated floor. In addition to several tons of soil ballast, the structure is secured with steel guy cables on the sides and ends. It was designed as an analog of an inflated Martian greenhouse and houses the 'living machine' aqueous biome component of the new water recycling system.
The Mars Desert research Station will resume operations November 9, commencing a field season that will run until April 27, 2003. The crew of the Mars Desert Research Station rotates every 2 weeks. These are the scientists and engineers who live and work on site within the MDRS. They explore all of the facets of human exploration in a simulated Mars environment. As the MDRS’s initial field season during the spring of 2002 comprised 6 crews, the first crew this fall will be MDRS Crew 7. Crew 7 is notable in that it will be comprised 50/50 of people from French and English speaking countries. It will also include in its membership a professional journalist, Hilary Bowden from the BBC.
Philip Turek, a 1980 graduate of Southern Cayuga High School, has been chosen by the Mars Society to participate on a simulated exploration of Mars in the Utah desert. Turek is a graduate of Cornell University and lives in Huntington Beach, California, where he is a teacher with a keen interest in outer space. He said his goal in applying for the simulated experience is to try to involve his students directly in the exploration of Mars.
When earthlings finally do journey to Mars, the trip will be a lot longer than a drive to grandmother's house for Thanksgiving. Yes, there will be science to conduct and chores to do in transit and on the martian surface, but there will be some downtime. The space travelers will need entertainment to keep their spirits up during their historic but challenging endeavor. In the spring of 2002, a crew of six camped out in a remote Utah desert to find out what life might be like on Mars, physically isolated from the rest of society. They recognized the role music plays in our everyday lives on Earth, so the Utah-based "martians" made sure music was a part of their experience as well.
Your name is Dr. Penelope J. Boston from the Department of Earth and Environmental Science. You're on the research mission of your life, and you've just shut the external airlock hatch on the Mars Society Desert Research Station. Your EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) spacesuit feels like an air-conditioned gorilla on your back as you depart Mars Base One and board one of three all-terrain vehicles headed for Factory Butte. On the way you stop to take some surface samples; and later, while crossing an ancient, rusted red alluvial plain on the way back to Base, your ATV hits a dust hole, turns over, injures your pelvis, and cracks a number of ribs in the process. Immediately secured by your Extremophile teammates and now back in the safety and comfort of "the habitat," you somehow cope with the pain in simply knowing that your team just overcame one of the biggest emergencies a manned mission to Mars can ever face. You're feeling better after some macrobiotic sushi and refocused on the mission at hand, so what are you going do next, Dr. Boston? Well, of course, you fire up the Digi 001 all night and write lyrics for the house band.
The astronaut stepped onto the red soil of Mars, scanned the horizon for a moment, then looked up through the thin atmosphere, searching for a pale blue dot in the heavens above. “I feel as if I have traveled a very long way, though looking to the stars, I can see that I have not yet left home,” the astronaut said, knowing that the words would echo into history when they reached Earth 11 minutes later. ...
The Mars Society had a major presence at the recent World Space Congress, which ran in Houston October 13, through 19. Mars Society president, Dr. Robert Zubrin, had a plenary address at the congress’s session of October 13, in which he discussed the operations research done by the society at its Mars Arctic and Desert Research Stations. Zubrin explained how the physical demands of the type of exploration work done at the stations underscored the need for NASA and ESA to begin substantial research into artificial gravity as the preferred method of traveling to Mars. He then highlighted the Mars Society’s Translife Mars Gravity Biosatellite program, currently being implemented by a group of universities led by MIT and including the University of Washington and the University of Queenland as key pioneering work in that direction. In a technical session later in the congress, Zubrin amplified these points by presenting a paper authored by Mars Society member Dr. Vladimir Pletser and co-author by Dr. Katy Quinn analyzing the operations associated with the deployment of a geophone seismic sounding array at the Society’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station during the summer of 2001. After this talk, Zubrin was approached by representatives of both the German and Russian space agencies, who expressed interest in participating in the Mars Society’s analog station field research program.
There is now at least one good reason for even the most avid space nut NOT to covet the honor of the first footstep on the Red Planet: there's not much original left to say. Over the last ten days 1,547 people around the world (Earth) entered 3,673 possible "First Words" that might be fitting to say upon taking that next small step. The winning entries ranged from enraptured soliloquies to snappy one-liners.
They may not be needed for years, but the race is on this week to come up with the first words to be spoken on Mars. In celebration of the United Nations World Space Week, the Mars Society International is hosting a "First Words" competition to get people thinking about the future Mars landing — and perhaps get some genuinely good ideas about what to say.
Suggestions are part of a competition being staged by the Mars Society, an advocacy group, to suggest what ought to be spoken when the first people set foot on the Red Planet. No firm plans for sending humans to the Mars have been outlined by NASA, though the agency recently revealed early ideas that suggest some earnest planning may be in the wings. The contest, called First Words, is designed to raise awareness of a possible crewed mission.
The proceedings of the Mars Society conventions of 1999, 2000, and 2001 have been published. The volume, entitled “On to Mars: Colonizing a New World,” was edited by Frank Crossman and Robert Zubrin , and includes some 60 papers in hard copy, plus an additional 60 papers on an included CD. In addition, the CD also includes an updated version of the 34 minute movie “The Mars society,” produced by Sam Burbank.
Craig Dooley has spent a good part of his life looking at the stars and dreaming of the day someone would set off through deep space and explore Mars. As an adult, Dooley's personal passion has been translated into action. And for those efforts, he has been instrumental in earning a national award for an organization he leads. A Slidell resident, Dooley is the president of the Louisiana Mars Society, LAMS, a small organization of about 13 scientists and engineers. The group recently was honored by its national organization, the Mars Society, with the 2002 Outstanding Volunteer Award for Political Outreach, honoring the work done by Dooley and LAMS member Tom James of River Ridge to encourage Louisiana's congressional delegation to support human exploration and settlement of Mars.
The world’s first mammalian births in space are expected to occur during a $US15 million project to blast-off in 2005 and involving Australian and US universities. Four of the crew members on the Mars Gravity Biosatellite Project are expected to give birth on Day 10 of the 49-day mission, which is expected to yield valuable data for human exploration of Mars. The project is expected to be the longest unmanned orbital free flight biological experiment ever attempted. After The Mars Society put forward the concept in 2001, students from The University of Queensland’s Centre for Hypersonics engaged with groups at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Washington (Seattle). They are designing, building and operating a low-earth orbiting spacecraft supporting the world-first experiment.
Media are invited to attend a conference by Canadian Space Agency President Marc Garneau, who will talk about Canada's plans for the exploration of the Red Planet, and how space science and technology can benefit life on Earth. This conference is hosted by the Mars Society of Canada, the University of Toronto's Department of Geology, and the Canadian Space Agency.
The Mars Society is requesting volunteers to participate as members of the crew of the Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah and Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island during extended simulations of human Mars exploration operations during the period of October 2002 through August 2003. It is anticipated that the Desert Station field season will include a set of two-week rotations running from mid October 2002 through the end of April 2003. It is anticipated that the Flashline Station field season will run from late June through early August 2003.
An ongoing war on terrorism, a shaky economy, as well as disinterested politicians and a less-than-stellar NASA vision of the future - all these facts have conspired to make the quest for Mars seemingly more distant than ever. There is no doubt that the technical know how for dispatching humans to the red planet is available. Sure, a little touch of robotics and automation here…some interplanetary Internet and artificial gravity there would help. That being said, this long-held flight of fantasy can become a 21st century certainty. Yet despite the current environment, some 400 humans-to-Mars supporters - scientists, engineers, interested public, and a past space traveler among their number - gathered to attend the Mars Society's fifth international convention, held August 8-11 at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Call for Researchers and Volunteers by August 30th, 2002 deadline The centre-piece of the Mars Society of Canada's international collaborative science program is the first of an intended series of special expeditions to each of the international Mars Society's analog research stations. The first of these, Expedition One, will be to the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, from February 15th - March 16th, 2003.
The Mars Society is proud to announce that the 2002 Hakluyt Prize has been awarded to Yohan Ferreira of Sri Lanka. Yohan has been following the activities of the Mars Society on-line for the past year and his entry shows both comprehension and enthusiasm. His list of email recipients included not only the major space faring governments, but several third world leaders as well.
Alcoa aluminum might be going to Mars. Alcoa has donated approximately 1,500 pounds of 6061-T6 aluminum sheet and treadplate along with engineering expertise to the Mars Society, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering the exploration and settlement of Mars. The aluminum products were used to produce the skin of the Mars Habitation Station (MarsHab), a test facility designed for living on the Red Planet. The MarsHab is the centerpiece for the Mars Society's Mars Analog Research Station Project (M.A.R.S.). "The Mars Society sends teams of scientists to remote places on Earth to simulate what it would be like to live and do research on Mars. Alcoa has always supported human space endeavors, from the beginnings of NASA through today's International Space Station. Supporting this program was a natural extension of that spirit of cooperation," says Ken Forsythe, staff application engineer in Alcoa's Mill Products business, who was instrumental in donating the aluminum products to the organization. The aluminum sheet and plate came from Alcoa's plant in Davenport, Iowa.
This summer at the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum visitors can experience a tantalizing glimpse into the future, when humans will make a home on Mars and live off the land, by exploring the Mars Habitation Station on the Adler’s south lawn. The Mars Habitation Station (MarsHab) is an actual test facility designed for living on Mars and serves as the centerpiece for the Mars Society’s Mars Analog Research Station project (M.A.R.S). The Mars Society, an international organization dedicated to furthering the exploration and settlement of Mars by public and private means, sends teams of scientists to remote places on Earth to simulate what it would be like to live and do research work on the Red Planet. The MarsHab in Chicago is identical to the one operating in the Utah desert that has served as a base for a team of six researchers for the past year. The first of the MarsHabs has been in operation on Devon Island in the Arctic since 2000.
When man finally lands on Mars, it will be survival skills developed in part by Australian scientists that will keep him there. Mars Society Australia president Guy Murphy today said research being conducted by Australian scientists into sustaining life on Mars would make a "modest contribution" to NASA's plans to put a man on Mars within 20 years. The society was building a capsule in the Australian outback to simulate life on Mars, including how to find water, transportation requirements and surface conditions.
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 — providing prime power for a remote cell phone site — has been operating around the clock since September of 1999, and has logged more than 17,000 hours.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A pensioner has offered a female astronaut £6,000 to help fulfil her ambition of becoming the first person on Mars - after reading her story in The Scotsman. Joseph Singer, 75, has pledged to fund Emily MacDonald - who has dreamed of heading into space since she was six - on a training mission. Mr Singer, a retired photographer who now runs a bed and breakfast establishment in Inverness, said: "My wife died four years ago, I have no children of my own and this is something that I could do for the exploration of space. It seems very exciting. "My father-in-law was a past president of the H G Wells Society and my late wife took it up as well, so there is a link there." 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 spend three weeks living in a replica space probe in the Canadian Arctic.
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—MIT, the University of Washington and Australia's University of Queensland—are planning the first private biological space mission, the Mars Gravity Biosatellite (www.marsgravity.org). Launching in 2005, it will yield the first data ever produced on birth and development of mammals in Mars-level gravity (which is three-eighths that of Earth).
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. 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.
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.
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.
A bold collective, including three universities and the Mars Society, recently announced its plans to launch a "crew" of mice into orbit. The project's goal is to study the long-term effects of being born and living in a low-gravity environment like that on the Red Planet. Dubbed the Mars Gravity mission, the endeavor is part of the Mars Society's Translife Initiative to develop a support structure for a martian settlement. Student researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Washington – Seattle, and the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, will team up to design various sections of the spacecraft and its payload. The mission also has an advisory board composed of representatives from the three universities, the Mars Society, and NASA's Ames Research Center.
In the red dust of the Utah desert, six scientists are dressed in home-made spacesuits and living in a large tin can. Their mission: to prove that sending man to Mars is easier than NASA thinks. Charles Laurence joins them in space The familiar landscape of planet Earth - trees, water, buildings, that sort of thing - has long since disappeared from my rear-view mirror, and so far there is not much evidence of life. The Mission Commander told me to follow the track across the stony red desert for about two-and-a-half miles, and keep looking carefully to the left for the "Hab", or human habitation module. Mars, if this landscape is anything to go by, must be quite a place. The country here almost exactly matches the photographs of the Red Planet brought back by America's Marina space probe. Narrow, flat-topped canyons known as mesas and shimmering plains stretch as far as the eye can see. Six top-drawer scientists are out here somewhere, living in a large, white tin can that looks like a stumpy grain silo with a conical roof, or a drawing of a spaceship in an old comic book, and dressing in spacesuits made from canvas and sticky tape. Whenever they venture out, they don helmets contrived from rubbish-bins and plastic light-fittings. Behind this odd behaviour lies a serious purpose (or at least an earnest one): to find out what it would be like to live on Mars, and whether humans could stand it.
The fabrication of the European Mars Analog Research Station (EuroMARS) has begun in earnest. The work, led by Project Architect Frank Schubert and funded by Starchaser Industries and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA), is being done on the premises of the Rio Grande company in Denver, Colorado. Fabrication is expected to be complete by the end of May 2002, after which the station will be put on display in a major public exhibit in the United States. It will then be shipped to Europe for deployment in the field in the Spring of 2003.
You knew it would be mice. They get tagged for doing everything first, usually even before the guinea pigs. And so it is with the first birth of mammals in space. The Translife Mars Gravity Biosatellite is being planned to explore how Mars' reduced gravity will affect humans, from birth to death. Since the satellite will be too small to actually carry humans into space, mice will take the first shot at procreation ever (known to be) attempted by a mammal outside Earth and its atmosphere. The mission is a project of the private Mars Society, which first discussed it last fall and, earlier this month, announced a team of students from various universities to help build the spacecraft and conduct the experiments. Researchers hope the orbiting mice, aloft for two months, will survive and return to Earth as a new clan.
The Mars Society has announced a landmark private space mission that willhelp researchers understand the long-term effects of living on Mars. MIT(Cambridge, MA), the University of Washington (Seattle, WA), and the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia) are leading the project. The privately funded, pioneering mission will study the effects of prolonged exposure to Martian gravity on mammals, a vital step on the road to human exploration of Mars. Student teams at three leading universities will design, construct, and launch a satellite with a payload of mice on board. The mice will experience Martian gravity--- 3/8 that of Earth. While in space, some will give birth to a second generation, who will grow and develop entirely in this new environment. After nearly two months, the craft will return to Earth, where teams of scientists will study the crew and their offspring to obtain the first clues about life and development in reduced gravity.
The Translife Mars Gravity Biosatellite, as the mission will be called, will fly the mice aboard a spinning spacecraft that generates artificial gravity identical to that on the surface of Mars. The satellite is scheduled to launch in mid-2005, orbit for about 50 days, and then return the crew safely to Earth. The team is considering a number of launch vehicle options. The mission will conduct basic scientific research necessary before humans can safely explore Mars. Astronauts living in space stations have encountered serious health problems, such as bone loss, due to the weightless environment. The first crew on Mars could experience similar effects, and scientists do not yet know whether Martian gravity is sufficient to prevent these long-term health hazards. The mission's crew of mice will provide the first answers to this important question, and the equally important question of whether higher life from Earth will ever be able to settle Mars. During the seven-week mission, their offspring will grow from birth to nearly adulthood in Martian gravity. At the end of the flight, the satellite will re-enter the atmosphere, bringing the original crew and their progeny safely back to Earth for scientific study.
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We have now established our normal sailing speed and life continues normally with lots of joy, discoveries and excitement. We have the pleasure to announce you the sprouting of 22 new little sprouts in the potting soil tray in our living room and their big brothers and sisters that we observed yesterday are doing fine as well (the longest is already longer than 10 mm). But it seems like their cousins that we installed in the greenhouse are not as fast: we observed only a few coming close to the surface.
Shannon Rupert, back in San Diego after two weeks in a simulated Mars laboratory in the Utah desert, was craving vegetables. The greenhouse outside the MARS Desert Research Station recently blew apart in 92 mph winter winds, so Rupert's crew had had little fresh produce. Now, back at the San Diego chapter of The Mars Society, Rupert was munching on celery and carrots, describing for her colleagues an eerie Utah landscape of red and pink – uncannily similar to the martian terrain they long to see for real. The 4-year-old society, with member-supported chapters around the globe, says a human mission to the Red Planet is long overdue. Its members, lay people and scientists alike, are undaunted by a new season of fiscal austerity at National Aeronautics and Space Administration and by the enormous cost and technical challenges of sending humans to Mars.
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What an extraordinary day we had today. There was a lot of excitement this morning in our Research Station in the desert of Utah. Less than 48 hours after being planted, our seeds started to sprout! The miracle of life took place again. It is extraordinary. Of course, it happens everyday all around the world: watering a seed in the ground would eventually make it sprout. But here in our lab in this close isolated research Hab environment, it looks extraordinary. In fact, all the four kinds of seeds, the Alfalfa, the tatsoe sprouts, the arugela salad and the radishes, planted in a rock wool tray installed in the lab started to come out overnight. Nothing is visible yet from the seeds installed in potting soil trays, most probably because they are deeper in the soil. I will keep you informed of their growth. We hope to be able to eat them before the end of our rotation, in about ten days.
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Another great day in the Martian desert of Utah, USA. Our third day was another busy one. But first, I want to share a special moment with you. Three of my colleagues (Bill, Nancy and Andrea) are on an EVA; as I write, I am in the Hab with Jan and David. We are working on our computers, listening to an old American song (‘A horse with no name’) and in the background we can hear the radio hissing with the conversation between our three EVA companions. The sun is shining and it is warm in the Hab. And suddenly I feel transported to another place while I am writing to ‘Earth’. It makes me feel like we are really are on Mars doing the exploratory work. It is a great feeling!
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Our second day in the Mars Desert Research Station was excellent. We had a long briefing session this morning to discuss the different EVA expeditions that are planned for this week. We also decided to go for what Nancy called the Spanish schedule, that is, delaying all our external EVA activities until after four o'clock to avoid the burning afternoon sun. Actually, the temperature differences in the desert are quite marked: the highest temperature was 32 deg. C at 12:38 pm and 4 deg. C at 5:20 am. The task for the first EVA of this rotation was to set-up the station greenhouse and to plant the various seeds that we want to observe. We have four kinds of seeds: radishes, Alfa Alfa sprouts, arugella salad and tatsoe cabbage.
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This is our first day at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS in short). It is a fantastic place in unbelievable surroundings. The rest of the crew at the base is great. But let me start from the beginning. Arriving here was much easier than last year in the Arctic. It only took 24 hours, door-to-door. Having left Amsterdam Saturday morning, I arrived in Atlanta 9 hours later. In Atlanta I had a two-hour wait for the connection to Salt Lake City. I was picked out at random by security for a strip search (even my shoes were examined). Another 4 hours and I was at Salt Lake City where I met the rest of crew. Bill Clancey, with whom I spent one week at the Mars Station in Devon last year and who will be our Commander for these two weeks. Andrea Fori, planetary geologist from California, was with Bill to greet me at the airport. The rest of the crew was doing the last bit of shopping for the next two weeks. Nancy Wood, a biologist from Chicago, David Real, a journalist from Dallas, and Jan Osburg, an aerospace engineer from Stuttgart, Germany. Jan was actually involved in the student competition to propose alternative redesign of the ISS at the Concurrent Design Facility in ESTEC in February this year.
The Mars Society was founded to further the exploration and settlement of the Red Planet. The International Mars Society convention presents a unique opportunity for those interested in Mars to come together and discuss the technology, science, social implications, philosophy and a multitude of other aspects of Mars exploration. Highlights of the convention will include the report from the third field season of the Devon Island Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station and the first season of the Mars Desert Research Station, status reports from the Translife Mission and Analog Rover teams, panels and debates concerning key issues bearing on Mars exploration and settlement, and keynote addresses from many prominent leaders of the effort to get humans to Mars. Presentations for the convention are invited dealing with all matters (science, engineering, politics, economics, public policy, etc.) associated with the exploration and settlement of Mars. Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be sent by May 31st, 2002.
On Tuesday, April 2, from 10am to 7pm MST, the MDRS crew welcomes questions from the public sent straight to the Mars Habitat via email at mdrs@nw.net. Questions are welcome for the whole crew or to individual members of the crew currently at the station. Crew #4 is involved with conceptual testing of a Pressurized Exploration Vehicle (PEV), has completed the first full simulation nocturnal EVA, and is engaged in ongoing biological, psychological and geological research. Please send your questions and expect a brief delay due to the extreme distance of the crew being located on the planet Mars. See the Crew #4 bios page for more information about the background and work of the individual members of the crew. Shannon Rupert, Andrew Hoppin, Jennifer Knowles, Joel McKinnon, Alex Kazerooni, and Judith Lapierre (Commander).
A humans to Mars mission is closer to reality, thanks to teams of dedicated volunteers - all hungry to hasten the day of the first footfalls on the red planet. But learning how best to live and work on Mars demands lots of "ground truth" here on Earth. And for the moment, the next best thing to being there is hunkering down in a habitat planted in Southern Utah. Operation of the Mars Society's Desert Research Station is in full swing. Plans are jelling to set up additional habitats elsewhere, perhaps in Iceland, as well as Australia. Each spot offers unique "Mars-like" conditions, said Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society.
It's as close as she and her five-person crew may ever make it to the red planet, but for now, it's close enough. Their Mars Society Desert Research Station, a squat two-story pod about 25 feet in diameter, is plunked down in the red craggy terrain of the Utah badlands; they're trekking around in awkward, bulky spacesuits; and they're pretending — seriously pretending — to be living 35 million miles from Planet Earth. It's all part of a privately funded project, part science, part fantasy camp, part public relations campaign, sponsored by the Mars Society, a group of about 5,000 Mars aficionados determined to light a fire under the federal government's space exploration initiatives. The society is convinced that we could send a human team to Mars for about half of the $20 billion to $22 billion currently estimated — and it's trying to prove it. In Utah.
Lord Camrose, a Peer of the English Realm, has made a donation of £19,000 (about $27,000 US) to support the work of the Mars Society. Camrose, who wrote under the name of Adrian Berry for 19 years as Science Correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, has also written several books about space travel, all of which have been published in the US. The most recent of these is "The Giant Leap: Mankind Heads for the Stars", published by Tor Books. He was one of the journalists in the press room at Houston when Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon. Commenting on his donation, Camrose said; "My main interest was always space. I have attended two annual meetings of the Mars Society, and I was enormously impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the speakers (and the audience), particularly by you, Robert." [referring to Mars Society President, Robert Zubrin]
Over the past week, huge press coverage of the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station has continued worldwide, with broadcasts on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, Der Spiegel TV in Germany, and the BBC Worldwide Radio. Major stories in the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and German Focus TV are expected shortly. Through these and other outlets, we have been able to reach hundreds of millions of people with the vision of human exploration and settlement of space, more than all other space advocacy groups have done collectively in their history.
In the red-rock desert west of this lonely little town, six seriously smart people are living in something that looks like a sawed-off corn silo and smells of unwashed socks. They go outside in white canvas space suits trimmed in duct tape. Their helmets are made from plastic light fixtures and white bullet-shaped trash-can lids. In their habitation module (the thing that looks like a silo), they sit with their laptops late into the cold desert night, typing up reports of simulated Mars disasters. The not-so-deadly pretense of living on the Red Planet while hanging out in a tall tin can in southern Utah is the latest wrinkle in a private plan to persuade the federal government to send humans to Mars sooner and for less money than envisioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Mars Society -- a group of about 5,000 dues-paying Mars enthusiasts from 29 countries, many of whom are space scientists and some of whom work in senior positions at NASA -- wants to send men and women to Mars within the next decade, at a cost of $10 billion, far below previous space agency estimates.
Fear not. They're earthlings setting up a mock base to live and learn and dream how life would be on the Red Planet. No one ever said it would be easy to set up a manned Mars base, and it hasn't been. "Everything always takes longer than it is supposed to," says an undaunted Robert Zubrin, overseeing it all from mission control. "There's a million and one details that need to be taken care of." Critical supplies have to be brought in from vast distances. High winds sometimes scour the construction site. And intense cold has been forcing the crew to drive into town and get a motel room for the night. But the red, green and blue Martian flag has been firmly planted in the unearthly soil of Wayne County, Utah. The first team of astronauts, a heartening blend of nationalities, has struggled into space suits, pushed back the heavy door on the air lock, and ventured forth into a new world. It's not quite Mars, but it sure looks like it.
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.
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.
The Mars Society / Mars Society UK are pleased to announce that Starchaser Industries Ltd., have made a major donation of some $90,000 (£63,405) towards the Society's European Mars Analogue Research Station (EuroMARS) project. "We are delighted to have been able to play a part in helping this donation to happen," Bo Maxwell, President of the Mars Society UK added. "Over the last 12 months, the Mars Society UK and Starchaser Industries have been able to forge ever closer ties in the promotion of the human exploration of space. Now, with this generous donation, Starchaser Industries is helping to propel the Mars Society into a new era of European research that will greatly contribute to our goal of sending humans to Mars."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.