MINUTES

The Next Meeting of the Mars Society of Houston will be announced in February. See our Meetings page for details.

Meeting minutes up to three months old will be posted on this page.  To read archived minutes from earlier meetings, click here.
 

Officers’ Meeting
April 26, 2003

The officers of the Mars Society of Houston met at The Outpost in Clear Lake, TX.

The meeting was convened at 1:30 pm.

Attendance:

Carl Carlsson
Stacy Clifford
Marianne Dyson
Bebe Kelly-Serrato
Tom James (Louisiana Chapter)

Old Business:

• Rep. Lampson’s Space Exploration Legislation – Carl Carlsson reviewed an email update on recent Mars Society and NSS visits to Congress. The update is included as an attachment to these minutes.
• Web Hosting – Stacy confirmed that the domain www.marshouston.org is up and running. Check it out. Stacy will contact the MS Webmaster to have this new url linked form the MS web site. For now we will maintain content on both servers, but may decide to just maintain one after a few months have passed. MSOH officers can provide Stacy with a request to have MSOH email forwarded to their personal inbox; if you want this, provide him with your preferred username, password, and forwarding address.
• Public Service Announcement – The CD provided by Steve Jordan had some good examples. Some suggested approaches might include: “serious” (patriotic or logical; condense one-minute Congressional speech by Congressman Cooksey, or “Do you wonder why we achieved so much in the 1960’s but have been going around in circles ever since…?”), or funny (“The future is a big rip!”; “If you want to communicate with little green men and wear tinfoil hats, we are not the group for you”; or playing off a conversation between kids). Before we put a lot of effort into this, it was agreed that we need confirmation that, as a non-profit organization, our ad will qualify as a PSA and that we can expect radio stations to actually play it.
• Fall Banquet – Tabled for now. This may end up being a general membership meeting; we have a date reserved for the Gilruth Center in September. It was suggested that a great topic may be a presentation by local MS members who have spent time at the MDRS. Those individuals include Jonathan Dory, Jennifer Knowles, Steve Jordan, Don Baker, and at least one other individual whose name I don’t have.
• MSOH Officer MS Dues – We continue to encourage our officers to maintain their membership in the Mars Society as well.

New Business:

• Format for email distributions to general membership - Carl will ask Steve to set up an email address book listing for local Mars Society members. This is necessary to efficiently forward items which the Mars Society is forwarding for distribution. There also needs to be a standard template indicating why the individual is receiving this email, and who to contact to be removed from the list. The distribution list should not be visible to those receiving it, for privacy purposes.
• May general membership meeting details – We settled on Thursday, May 29 at 7 pm as our target. BeBe will try to get a suitable room at Rice University. Marsaff’s is another option.
• Establishing a checking account – Depending upon the response at the May General Membership Meeting, BeBe will look into establishing a checking account and securing grant money.
• Begin listing potential projects/meeting topics to initiate discussion at general membership meeting – Here is a list of those that have been suggested to date (we should keep a running list in the minutes):
  • Develop an inexpensive, portable display for events, trade shows, etc.
  • Collaborate with another chapter (Austin?) on a robotics project, perhaps a prototype for exploration of lava tubes on Mars
  • Sponsor an MDRS experiment, perhaps an astronomical observation/image processing project involving a local astronomy club
  • Sponsor a Mars-related “Space Week” event
  • Actively support the annual Mars Settlement Design Competition

Upcoming Events:

• There will be an upcoming Rotary dinner that will include a “Space Communications Award”. Marianne will attend, and BeBe might also. It will be an opportunity to meet a few individuals with experience in “getting the message out”.

Propose date/time/location for next meeting:

• TBD after May general membership meeting

Action Items:

• BeBe will schedule a meeting room for the May General Membership Meeting and communicate location back to me as soon as possible.
• BeBe will check with Maggie Zubrin for updates to political action efforts.
• BeBe will prepare a thank you letter to Stacy’s boss (Philip O’Hara, President/Owner of Directory One) for hosting our website.
• BeBe (with help from Marianne) will look into establishing a checking account and getting some grant money to work with (wait to see how the May meeting goes first).
• Stacy will contact the MS Webmaster to update the link to the new website.
• Stacy will post meeting details on the website as soon as they are confirmed.
• Carl will develop meeting program, including assisting John Connolly as necessary with presentation "How a good science fiction movie becomes a bad mars movie".
• Carl will forward address list for local MS members to Steve with request to set up email address book listing and template for efficient email distributions.
• Steve will verify that our organization meets the requirements and we can expect to get a PSA played on the radio.
• Steve will develop a list of publications, TV channels, etc. where we can advertise the meeting in their "community events" calendar. Other suggestions for getting the word out are welcomed. (Please plan to have this ready at least 2 weeks before the meeting so we have time to get the word out.)
• Marianne will get BeBe a contact email for an NSS speaker (Elliot Pullman?) who may be able to provide guidance for us on how to successfully get our message out.
• MOSH officers who want a “marshouston.org” address can forward a preferred username, password, and forwarding address to Stacy. He can set it up so that messages are forwarded to your personal address automatically.

Adjourned at 2:30 pm

Carl Carlsson

________________________________________________________________

Here is a report on the NSS Congressional Outreach events last week.
....
-Bruce Mackenzie


Mars Society Members Conduct Joint Congressional Outreach with NSS
During the week of April 6, a group of Mars society members led by Mike Turner traveled to Washington DC to take part in a joint capitol hill outreach activity with the National Space Society (NSS). The event, which commenced with a forum on space policy organized by the NSS, continued with joint walking tours through the halls of congress by teams of NSS and Mars Society members. The citizen lobbyists from both groups carried a strong message to America's political representatives that the nation needs a space program that is going somewhere, and that the human exploration and development of space beyond low Earth orbit needs to be the goal.

Following the event, Mars Society delegation leader followed the following report:

"Our Trip to DC was VERY fruitful. We learned pretty much everything we need to know to move forward in our mission here. We have identified most of the key reps, and all of the key issues (many of which are very much Mars related). We sat in on the NASA appropriations hearing, and listened to all of the congressman who are in charge of appropriating funds for space exploration give their views on space. Across the board we heard some good support for future space exploration, including what seemed to be very strong support for PROJECT PROMETHEUS. There were even some congressman that were interested in hosting the project in their districts. And another high point we noted, Congressman Simpson gave his view that NASA lacked a clear goal, and that Mars just might be that goal."

"We came across this, and MUCH MUCH more excellent information to our cause. So now the next immediate step falls to the conference delegation. We need assess our information and set out a report that
outlines all of the key issues and reps, and gives a forward strategy for our plan of action in the future. Once we have that, we can set this endeavor into motion, most of the reports should be finished by the end of next week. Soon thereafter we plan to craft a hard policy which will include new approaches, specific funding and congressional items we support, updates to the briefing book. We then plan to sit down with Rob Zubrin (and hopefully some SC members) and discuss it with them, then finalize the agreed items. Soon thereafter we'll be
going into full swing and start going after the key men and women of congress."

"And let me say personally, that I think we truly can make ground towards our cause. Through our meetings with our elected representatives in Washington, we did get the true feeling that there are those that will be willing to support what we have to say."

Following the event, NSS Executive Director Brian Chase sent the following note of thanks to the Mars Society contingent:

"Glad you and the other Mars Society members could attend the NSS conference last week. I think it was a great opportunity to continue building a routine presence of space advocates on the Hill. I think it's critical we establish coalitions where possible, and develop a sophisticated political strategy and message that builds our
credibility yet still moves us towards our common objectives. Robert and I had a good discussion last week while I was in CO Springs and we're going to continue chatting about areas of cooperation between Mars Society and NSS. I look forward to hearing from you as your plans progress."

The Mars Society strongly believes in working jointly with other organizations interested furthering in the common goal of the exploration and settlement of Mars. We look forward to further work with the NSS urging congressional action to enable human exploration beyond low Earth orbit, and invite all other organizations who
support this objective to join the campaign.

A complete report on Mars Society political work will be presented at the 6th International Mars Society convention, to be held in Eugene Oregon, August 14-17, 2003. Conference registration is now open at www.marssociety.org.
For further information about the Mars Society, visit our website at
www.marssociety.org

Information about the NSS can be found at www.nss.org.

Officers' Meeting
January 18, 2003

The meeting was convened at 1 pm.

Attendance:

Carl Carlsson
Grant Davis
Stacy Clifford
Steve Jordan
Jennifer Knowles
Marianne Dyson
Bebe Serrato

Old Business:

• Accepted Minutes from November meeting.
• Rep. Lampson's space exploration legislation. Marianne: Committee memberships are in flux; need to wait for changes, then meet with Tom DeLay, then Lampson. Carl: LA chapter (Tom James) reviewed Lampson's bill, Carl would like to edit it to bring to Lampson. Marianne will forward it to NSS Policy Committee. NSS is coming up with a position and wants to work with the Mars Society. BeBe: NASA Exploration dept. is developing an operation blueprint for further Mars Exploration, including Nuclear Propulsion (Project Prometheus). Carl and Marianne will meet to work on editing a presentation, cc'ing to BeBe.
• Mars Quest - Interactive Mars display in Lafayette, LA. BeBe will talk to EX, etc. to bring exhibit to Houston.
• Trade show display. Carl proposed having a better 'standing' display for use as needed. Carl will check with a professional for a donated or purchased display. Pat Czarnik has a model in storage. Need to find standard booth dimensions for trade shows. Marianne thinks it is too much investment for the local chapter. Tabled for later.
• Public Service Announcements - Steve says radio stations will play these for free. Carl will listen to a CD of award-winning ads. Steve recommends 'He's So Hot'.

New Business:

• Membership - Carl gave membership list to Steve, will try to e-mail. Steve will tell Pat Czarnik which members are in the Houston area. Carl asked for a map for an idea of geographic distribution. BeBe knows someone who will help host a meeting in the Galleria area. BeBe asked Steve to maintain anonymity of email addresses.
• Carl suggested getting an opinion from the membership about dividing the meetings up.
• Potential Projects - tabled.
• Web Hosting - Stacy says we can buy MSOH.org for $10 and host on site for free. BeBe wants to keep hosting on Mars Society server. Alternate domain name of 'marshouston.org' was passed by vote. Stacy will look into redirecting to Mars Society server.
• Bebe moved that Carl be Vice President-elect immediately to be President in September 2003. Marianne suggested 'Vice President'. Motion passed.
• Unpaid memberships - BeBe requested a waiver for Stacy, asked for the rest to pay national dues. BeBe suggested some local dues. Carl suggested talking about dues at a general meeting.
• Fall Banquet - Semi-formal was agreed to. BeBe will get a speaker. Everybody but the speaker pays for the meal. Must decide what fraction goes to Mars Society and scholarships to Haughton Island. 3rd week in September was agreed to. Theme 'Send Houston to Mars' passed by vote.

Upcoming Events:

Washington lobbying efforts:

• Space Legislative Conference - April 5-7
• Prospace.org March Storm - March 9-15

Other:

• 'Our NASA' - March 14 - South Shore
• Jennifer's trip to Hab - March 8-16

Propose date/time/location for next meeting

• April 26, 2003 at The Outpost

Review and Commit to Action Items

• Carl will send Tom James' write-up to Marianne
• BeBe will check on sponsorship for Mars Quest
• Steve will map out membership, correlate with congressional districts
• Carl will listen to PSA CD
• Jennifer will check on Mars Society exhibit at Museum of Natural Science during Galileo exhibit.

Adjourned at 2:00 pm

Grant Davis (edited by Carl Carlsson)

Officers Meeting
November 17, 2002

The officers of the Mars Society of Houston met at Don’s Seafood Restaurant in LaFayette, LA. This was a joint meeting with the Louisiana Chapter.

The meeting was convened at Noon.

Attendance:
Steve Jordan (MSOH Membership)
Martha Jordan
Stacy Clifford (MSOH Webmaster)
Carl Carlsson (Former President, Louisiana Chapter)
Craig Dooley (President, Louisiana Chapter)

Old Business:

• None discussed

New Business:

• Louisiana Mars Blog, maintained by Tom James, was mentioned at the outset. (check it out at www.lamarssociety.org)
• The Mars Society (of Houston and elsewhere) needs a more impressive physical display. It was proposed that such a display could be kept in or near Orange, Texas (a central location to Houston and much of Louisiana). This would allow both usage of the display and construction costs to be spread over Mars Society Chapters in Houston and Louisiana. Some good early suggestions could include a large tri-fold display (easily stored, quickly deployed, low cost, easily updated) or a model of the Devon island/Mars habitat (one exists already). Perhaps we can find one that is old or for some other reason very cheap and refurbish it; the donor might be persuaded if it were tax deductible.
• Although the World Space Congress was sparsely attended (this was blamed on the economy though it is probably also due to the fact that we have made space exploration dull), the Mars Society signed up 30 new members!
• There was discussion of some very interesting Robotic exploration of lava tubes; see http://www.eisci.com/mothergoose/ms-iv/gus-msiv.html for more information on "spelunkobots" (Gus Frederick of Stanford calls them "Speleobots.) This might be a project once we increase membership, perhaps in conjunction with another chapter.
• Next, we addressed a problem: Why is it that MS chapters in smaller cities have better turnout, more interest, and seem to do more? Houston, which should be the crown jewel of the Mars Society, has very few members who actually do anything, low turnout at functions, etc. It may be Houston's sheer size that balks us. Example: Stacy drives 50 miles to come to meetings. It was proposed that we could have smaller chapters; actually sub-chapters...a Mars Society of the Woodlands, Mars Society of the Heights, Mars Society of Clear Lake, Bear Creek, Glendale, Katy, etc. People wouldn't have to go as far to participate. We might find ways to give people (especially kids) something to do, something to take home and remind them of Mars and keep it top-of-mind. (e.g., Popsicle sticks with stuff glued to them - letting kids dress up like a Mars explorer.) Also, instead of trying to do it all, and do it all at once, we should focus on just one or two things and doing them well. Like the dog chasing a car, what do you do when you catch it? We need to be ready for lots of people to respond.
• It was proposed that we write and produce a Mars Society Public Service Announcement. Radio stations are required to provide free airtime for PSAs, and Mars Society's 401(c)(3) status allows us to use this. If we were to produce a radio ad, what message would we use? We can get Paul Christy to announce it. We should produce two versions - one each for Houston & Louisiana. What things do we want to say, how do we need to say them? Stacy and someone else indicated that there is information that's already being used by Mars Society on its posters; this could be recycled and used as copy in the PSA.
• We also need a new domain for people to go to that's easy to remember.
• We could produce a mixed mode CD with audio (for playback in CD players) and Mars Society data in info section; such a CD could be handed out at the next WSC and other functions for about $0.40 each; there are business cards that cost more.
• There was a brief discussion of a NASA Alumni who's building Mars colony, but no other information was recorded on this topic.

Upcoming Events:

• None discussed.

Propose date/time/location for next meeting:

• TBD

Review and Commit to Action Items

Display

• Stacy – check website - Stacy will look for web site of a display-making company; hopefully, from this we can make sure that any display we build will work with normal Booth Requirements
• Carl – check with Tom James on status of his idea for an inexpensive tri-fold display; check internet auctions for availability of used trade show displays.

PSA

• Steve/Martha – check on PSA rules
• Carl – bring one-minute Congress speech on Mars to next meeting as starting point for PSA

Website

• Stacy to check on alternatives

Adjourned at 1:00 pm

Steve Jordan (edited by Carl Carlsson

Officers Meeting
September 14, 2002

The officers of the Mars Society of Houston met at the Outpost Tavern on Egret Bay Blvd.

Attendance:
Vice-President - Marianne Dyson
Membership: Steve Jordan
Webmaster: Stacy Clifford
Past President (Louisiana): Carl Carlsson
Secretary: Grant Davis
Tom James

Carl convened the meeting at 1:00 PM. He said that BeBe had asked him to fill the duties of President while she is recovering from an accident.

New Business:
Marianne is trying to get sponsors for the Space Exploration bill co-sponsored by Rep. Nick Lampson. She encouraged everyone to encourage everyone to write their representatives. Tom had a meeting with Rep. Cooksey of Louisiana and will try to get back in touch with him as he runs for the Senate.

Carl and Tom are arranging a meeting between members of the New Orleans and Houston chapters. An exhibit called "Mars Trek" will be in Lafayette, LA in October and November and we might get together there.

Upcoming Events:
An event commemorating the 40th anniversary of Kennedy's moon speech will be held at Rice University on Monday, September 23 at 9 AM at Rice Stadium. Marianne, BeBe and Grant will be attending.

The NASA Alumni League Dinner will be on Tuesday, September 24 at Space Center Houston. Dinner is at 7 PM. Cost is $25.

Kite Day will be on Saturday, October 26 at George Bush Park starting at 8 AM. Marianne said that NSS will be supporting it.

[Update:] Astronomy Day will also be on Saturday, October 26 at the George Observatory at Brazos Bend State Park.

Nick Lampson will be speaking at the NSS Leadership Symposium at the World Space Congress at the Hyatt Regency at 1 PM on October 15. Cost for the banquet is $200, plus admission to the Congress which is in the hundreds.

Addendum 10-7-2002: Carl proposes that the next meeting be held on November 2 in Lafayette in conjunction with the Louisiana chapter.

Meeting was adjourned at 2:15 PM.

Grant Davis
Secretary
Mars Society of Houston