A guest attended the January meeting. Philip Blanco gave a presentation
to the chapter and asked for volunteers to join Project Astro. Project Astro is a program that
links astronomers or space enthusiasts with elementary school science teachers. The Project
Astro volunteer teams with one teacher and helps that teacher with science questions. The
volunteer also commits to attending four classes in the school year to teach students about
science using hands-on experiments.
Jeff Berkwits reported that the San Diego Chapter now has its own post office box. Jeff also
continues to plan our chapter's appearance at this year's Condor Science Fiction Convention at
the end of February. We will give a presentation and have an unattended table. Some chapter
members will also volunteer to appear on other panels.
Still no word from Mars Society on the patterns for the Mars Society's space suits. Gerry
Williams agreed to contact the society for help in getting the patterns.
Patrick and Bill continued their planning for Mission Support. They and Shannon also were
planning the test runs of Mission Support to occur before our tour of duty began.
The chapter also voted on the Mission Statement. We agreed to approve the short version. The
short version is as follows: "The Mission of the Mars Society San Diego Chapter: To promote and
advance human exploration of the planet Mars through research, education, local outreach, and
cooperation with fellow space exploration groups."
Tim Sommers agreed to get the ball rolling on defining our chapter's goals and objectives by
starting a list and forwarding an email to chapter members with suggestions. Our guest, Phil
Blanco, suggested that we make continuing to have fun with what we are doing our first goal.
After the meeting's business was concluded, we took photos of chapter members for Mission
Support public relations.
-Dave Rankin
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