The Mars Society - San Diego Chapter.
The Mars Society - Join Us!


SAN DIEGO CHAPTER LINKS

TMS-SD NEWS & MESSAGE BOARD


Click to subscribe to
MARS SOCIETY
SAN DIEGO

News & Messages

MARS
SAN DIEGO
WEB STORE

TMS-SD in the Media

2002 San Diego
Red Planet Report

2001 San Diego
Red Planet Report

TMS-SD HISTORY & NEWS: 2002

TMS-SD HISTORY & NEWS: 2001



MARS SOCIETY LINKS

THE MARS SOCIETY
Main Home Page

MARSpectacular
Mars Desert Research Station Mars Party
August 29-31, 2003

FMARS
4th Season Complete
July 2003!

MDRS
2nd Season Active
November 9 2002-
May 24 2003

EURO-MARS
Readies for Iceland
in 2004

MARS-OZ
2004 Proposed in the
Australian Outback

Chapter Council

Other Chapters

Mars Society
Operation Congress



to find blue hope
just scratch
the red surface

-- Bettina Davis
May 2002


OTHER LINKS

SUGGESTED READING

MARS MOVIES

Astrocamp

Calfornia Space Authority (CSA)

CalSpace-California Space Institute

Comic-Con International 2004 Convention

ConDor XI SciFi Convention

ConJecture 2003 SciFi Convention

Destination: Mars - The Red Planet

ESA - Mars Express

Explore Mars Now

Geology of Mars

Korolev RSC Energia -
Martian Mission

Malin Space Science Systems

MammanaGrams
by astronomer
Dennis Mammana

Mars General Store

Mars Daily

Mars Direct-Manned Mars Mission

MarsNews.com

MarsToday.com

Martian Soil - Blog

NASA Human Exploration of Mars

NASA/JPL Mars Exploration

National Space Society

National Space Society Music CD

Nozomi - Planet B

Organization for the Advancement of Space Industrialization and Settlement - OASIS

Palomar Observatory

The Planetary Society

Project ASTRO
San Diego

Radio Free Mars

Ray Bradbury Online

Red Colony.com

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center

Sally Ride
Science Club

San Diego Astronomy Association

SETI@HOME - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Space.Com

Space Daily

SpaceDev

Spaceflight Now

Space Frontier Foundation

SpaceRef

Students For The Exploration and Development of Space - SEDS

The-Planet-Mars.com

Univelt Inc.
AAA Publishers

X Prize Foundation


THE MARS SOCIETY - SAN DIEGO
(TMS-SD) CHAPTER

"The Earth is the Cradle of Mankind,
but one does not live in the cradle forever."

-- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, 1895


TMS-SD MEETING NOTES FOR August 14, 2003


Two newer members attended today's meeting along with four old timers. John Stone, Patrick Purcell, Dave Rankin, and Gerry Williams were joined by Larry Imperiale and Denis Cheng. Denis is a brand new member who joined as a result of seeing our MDRS panel at the Comic-Con. Larry learned of our chapter at one of our Stars in the Parks outreach events. Larry is already a Mars Society member. Denis joined tonight at the half-price discount.


OUTREACH IN THE PAST MONTH

We discussed the Comic-Con and agreed that the event was very successful. We concluded that science fiction conventions are good recruitment venues as we have gotten three regular chapter members out of them. We agreed that we'd be better off next month with times that don't compete with the big corporate talks. Look for the Comic-Con report on the chapter website soon.

We discussed last month's Mars movie, "Abbott and Costello Go To Mars." What can one say about this movie, except it was infinitely better than Olivier Gruner's movie, "Mars." It was funny, entertaining, completely unrealistic, and it prophetically anticipated the modern American cultural meme that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Truly a profound insight for its time.

In other old business, last week's Stars in the Park was one of the best we've had in months. Summer is definitely the best season for this outreach. The sky was clear, the weather was warm, the telescopes were everywhere, and the crowds were, well, crowded. We remained at the park until 10:30 pm when the last diehards decided they'd heard enough about Mars.


UPCOMING BUSINESS

Gerry is giving a 45 minute presentation this Saturday, August 16th during his Project Astro training session. He'll be speaking to a crowd of science teachers and amateur astronomers.

Next Wednesday, August 20th from 12 noon to 3 pm, we will have our display table set up inside the Reuben Fleet Science Center. Famed astronomer, Bill Hartmann, will be at the Center promoting his new book, "A Traveler's Guide to Mars." So far, Gerry, Dave, and Denis will be staffing the booth. Any other volunteers should notify Gerry soon so he can provide names to the Center for free admission.

Next Friday, August 22d, is Mars Movie Night. This month's movie is "Cowboy Bebop," a Japanese anime movie derived from the popular and critically acclaimed TV series of the same name. This movie follows the adventures of three bounty hunters, one hacker kid, and a Welsh Corgi, and takes place in the next century on a Mars still in its original state, except for one terraformed crater. Come see it and decide for yourself whether the five stars I give it is too generous or just about right. Look for Gerry's email announcing the movie and the location.

The following Wednesday, August 27th is Mars Opposition Day. The day when Mars is the closest it's been to our home in 60,000 years. Besides Shannon's viewing party at her Borrego home, the SDAA is hosting a viewing event at their Tierra Del Sol location.

The Mars Society is hosting their own Mars viewing party at MDRS in Utah over the Labor Day weekend from August 29th through the 31st. So far Dave is the only chaper member thinking of going.

On Thursday, September 18th, we will be giving a talk at the Donald Bianchi Planetarium at Cal State Northridge. So far, Dave, Gerry, John, Denis and Larry have signed up to attend. The planetarium has budgeted 90 minutes for our talk and panel discussion. We will be taking our display table along.

After Bianchi, our next major outreach is October 3d-5th at the science fiction convention, ConJecture. We will be giving a talk using chapter members. We also will be farming our members out to other panels and will try and get some Mars-related panels on the program with panelists from outside our chapter.


PUBLICITY

A writer, David Boyne, wants to profile us for an article in the San Diego Reader. This is still in the initial planning stages.


ONGOING PROJECTS

The Mars Suit Task Force has been on vacation but will return soon. The suit is built but it has not yet been assembled. The sleeves and legs remain detached from the torso. The parts for the backpack and helment also have not been completely assembled.

The Rover Task Force has likewise been on a break. Patrick has purchased a second chassis.


OTHER TOPICS

Gerry is scouting another location for Mars Movie Nights. The Mission Valley Library has a room available to non-profit groups at no charge. Gerry will announce the change if it happens.

Rather than giving Victor Lundin's autographed photos to new members who sign up at a chapter event, we are looking into selling the photos on eBay in order to raise money for the chapter.

What would a San Diego Mars Society meeting be without a geek moment. That moment was provided courtesy of John, who showed off his new X-10 wireless video spy camera. Nice camera. Must have.


-Dave Rankin



HISTORY & NEWS ARCHIVES: 2002
HISTORY & NEWS ARCHIVES: 2001








































































































Mars rotating
Sign the Mars Petition

Please e-mail us at MarsSocietySanDiego@yahoo.com

THE MARS SOCIETY - SAN DIEGO
Post Office Box 12226
La Jolla, CA 92039-2226

Media inquiries, please contact:
Jeff Berkwits or
Gerry Williams at 619.723.3456
Requests concerning this Web site should be directed to the Webmaster.