This was a very busy month for TMS-SD, starting out with our booth and Mars Rover at the monthly Family Day at the San Diego Aerospace Museum.

We participated in the Technology Day for Black Family Technology Awareness Week, where we met some co-exhibitors from Hewlett-Packard (who mentioned some corporate sponsorship opportunities for us).

The CalSpace Weekly Seminars introduced us to Saina Ghandchi and Nagin Cox of the JPL Mars Rover team -- Nagin is very interested in being sponsored by us on the local lecture circuit.

Our Mars Movie Night was the Disney film, "Rocketman", which wasn't too bad as a Mars film in spite of all the bathroom humor.

We were an auxiliary (display table and Mars Rover) event at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center forthe "Voyage to Mars" mission at the Challenger Learning Center.

We operated our display table and Mars Rover for the three days of ConDor XI - San Diego's Longest-Running Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention, as well as held a Mars Society panel (Jeff Berkwits, Dave Rankin and Gerry Williams also participated on several other program panels).

We were a featured exhibit at the Community INscience Event at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center where grade school kids were able to drive our Mars Rover.

We set up our usual display at the SDAA's "Stars in the Park" telescope night.

Gerry took our Mars Rover out for a spin during a webcast at SDSU's "Ask a Mars Question" event.

And we participated in the two-day San Diego Science Educators' 19th Annual Conference with our display table and Mars Rover.

Not quite as busy as last month, this month includes "Attack from Mars" (aka "Midnight Movie Massacre") for our monthly Mars Movie Night on Friday, March 19th.

On Saturday, March 20th TMS-SD sponsors Dr. Michael Caplinger from Malin Space Science Systems in "What's Up On Mars", a Weekend Talks lecture at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center -- this is the first of three lectures we're sponsoring here. We will be videotaping this event, and we're planning on taking Dr. Caplinger out to lunch at the Casa Del Prado to thank him for his talk (as well as his participation with last year's Comic-Con panel). We'll have our display table and Mars Rover available from noon to 3:00pm.

March 27th (a Saturday) is planned for a Mars Rover Run out at the Model and High-Powered Rocket Launch at Fiesta Island in Mission Bay from 9am to Noon. Come see our Rover leave tracks in the regolith!

TMS-SD will participate with our display table and Mars Rover in the San Diego Aerospace Museum's "Engineering Day: Women in Engineering - Building a Future" from 10am to 4pm, where young women (ages 11-17 years old) and their families will explore an exposition type environment that will connect a future San Diego work force to local science and technology resources, as well as career and educational opportunities. Admission to the event is free.

The Rancho Santa Fe Elementary School will host their Science Discovery Day for its students (Grades K-8), where the entire day is devoted to hands-on science exhibits and interesting science speakers from 8:00am to 2:00pm. TMS-SD members will be there along with the San Diego Mars Rover and our display table.

TMS-SD members will be at the San Diego Astronomy Association's "STARS IN THE PARK" public telescope viewing event outside the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. The setup is at 6:30pm, and the event runs from 7:00pm past 9:00pm (weather permitting). It coincides with "THE SKY TONIGHT" Planetarium show in the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center at 7:00pm.

The next REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING of TMS-SD will be Friday, April 9th from 7:00pm to 10:00pm at Gerry's Studio 106.

TMS-SD members will be at the San Diego Aerospace Museum's Family Day on Saturday April 10th from Noon to 3:00pm with the Mars Rover.

Yuri's Night - World Space Party is officially Monday April 12th, however we'll be celebrating it at Killer Pizza from Mars in Oceanside (as opposed to Escondido like last year) on Sunday night, April 11th.

On Thursday, April 15th, TMS-SD has been invited to speak at the IEEE-Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. section meeting at Qualcomm Auditorium at 6455 Lusk Blvd., San Diego, CA 92121 from 5:30pm to 8:00pm. Dave Rankin and Gerry Williams will discuss the "Invasion from Earth" launched against the Red Planet last year by five robotic spacecraft, as well as future plans of sending humans to Mars, and what the Mars Society is doing in this regard.

Friday, April 16, 2004 is TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- Like it or not, the fate of the world rests on the courage of Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe in "THE THREE STOOGES IN ORBIT" (1962) -- "The Three Stooges have a show to do, but since the rehearsals require cooking, they manage to get themselves thrown out of every hotel they can find. They finally find room and board at the home of the goofy inventor, Professor Danforth, but that home has it's own problems. Namely, the Professor is working on a new all-terrain, flying, space worthy submersible. With some persuading, the Stooges agree to help him finish his invention and demonstrate it to the military. However, the Martians are interested in the vehicle as well and when they learn of its perfection, they plan to steal it and destroy the Earth." Showtime is at 7:00pm at Studio 106 -- please RSVP.

On Saturday, April 17, 2004, TMS-SD sponsors "EXPLORING FOR EVIDENCE OF LIFE ON MARS", our second Weekend Talks lectures at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center at 1:00pm. Finding extraterrestrial life would change everything - no human endeavor or thought would be unchanged by that discovery. Studying Mars as the second place after the Earth most likely to have hosted life is an obvious step in understanding the development of life in the whole Universe. Dr. Jeffrey Bada's Mars Organic Detector lab at UCSD tests extraterrestrial materials, searching for the signatures of life. They plan to continue this search on the surface of Mars, including returning samples to Earth. Learn the latest news about this ongoing search from Dr. Bada himself in his talk. The RHFSC is also planning an Astronomy Day around this event, so we'll have our display table and Mars Rover available from noon to 3:00pm.

While at the at the San Diego Science Educators' 19th Annual Conference, TMS-SD was asked to participate in the Science Rocks! Science Educators Conference in Oxnard, CA on April 24th. We decided to refer this one on to the Los Angeles Mars Society Chapter.

DART - San Diego's Model Rocketry Club will be holding a Model and High-Powered Rocket launch at Fiesta Island in Mission Bay. TMS-SD members will be there for public outreach activities on Sunday, April 25th from 9:00am to Noon, along with the San Diego Mars Rover.

Nagin Cox is currently the Deputy Team Chief of the Spacecraft/Rover Engineering Flight Team on the JPL Mars 2003 Exploration Rover Mission. She will discuss the latest developments in robotic exploration of Mars at the San Diego Aerospace Museum on Thursday, April 29th at 7:30pm. We'll have the TMS-SD miniature remote controlled San Diego Mars Rover there.

Gary Fisher, the chief scientist and designer behind the MDRS GreenHab facility, will be in San Diego from April 29th through May 5th. He has indicated that he'd like to get together with TMS-SD at some point for dinner. This would be a great time to show him some Martian Hospitality - San Diego style!

On Wednesday, May 5, 2004, The San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) will host their "STARS IN THE PARK" public telescope viewing event outside the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. The setup is at 6:30pm, and the event runs from 7:00pm past 9:00pm (weather permitting). It coincides with "THE SKY TONIGHT" Planetarium show in the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center at 7:00pm. TMS-SD members will be there for public outreach activities from 6:30pm to 9:30pm.

CalSpace (the California Space Institute) presents the James R. Arnold Lectureship series, featuring "Exploring Mars With Spaceships And Paintbrush -- What We've Learned About The Red Planet And Why", with artist, author and scientist William K. Hartmann on Friday, May 7th at 4:00pm on the UCSD campus. TMS-SD will be there for public outreach activities. This is a free public lecture (however, a $3.00 Parking Permit is required to park).

Saturday, May 8th has TMS-SD participating in FAMILY DAYS / SPACE DAY at the San Diego Aerospace Museum from 10:00am to 4:00pm. Events include Hands on Activities, Guest Lecturers, Representatives From Space Organizations, Industry, and Universities. We'll also be running the San Diego Mars Rover there. Free to the public.

On Saturday, May 8, 2004, The Mars Society's Mars Analog Research Station project, the MDRS - Mars Desert Research Station closes out its 3rd operational season in the Utah desert, and will reopen in November or December 2004.

"WHAT'S UP ON MARS" will be the topic of a lecture by TMS-SD members at The San Diego OASIS Institute (Enriching the Lives of Mature Adults) at the Robinsons-May in Mission Valley on Friday, May 13th starting at 1:15pm. The San Diego Mars Rover will be there.

TMS-SD will participate in a Mars Outreach Event at the Hillsdale Middle School in El Cajon, CA, along with the San Diego Mars Rover on Friday, May 14th. This was just set up at the San Diego Science Educators' 19th Annual Conference.

Friday, May 14th is the next REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING of TMS-SD will be 7:00pm to 10:00pm at Studio 106.

TMS-SD sponsors "MEET A MARS CREW COMMANDER" at one of the Weekend Talks lectures at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center on Saturday, May 15th at 1:00pm. Of course, no human has been to the surface of Mars... yet - but we can bring you the next best thing: Shannon Rupert-Robles has been to the Mars Society's MDRS - Mars Desert Research Station in Utah as a crew member three times (twice as Crew Commander) where she conducted scientific experiments in simulated Mars-like conditions to learn the techniques to explore the red planet. She is also working with a team on a NASA project discovering how astronauts, robots and computers can work together with scientists here on Earth to explore other planets most efficiently. TMS-SD members will be there for public outreach activities from Noon to 3:00pm.

The Mars Society's Mars Analog Research Station project, the MDRS - Mars Desert Research Station will host an off-season Work Party team from The Mars Society - San Diego, who will assist in cleaning and maintaining the Habitat and facilities. Shannon will be heading up this work party that will take place the weekend of Friday-Sunday, May 21st-23rd. Gerry, Jeff, John and Tim are expected to crew -- others are welcome, too. We'll be staying at the Hab (sleeps 6).

On Saturday, May 22nd, the DART - San Diego's Model Rocketry Club will be holding a Model and High-Powered Rocket launch at Fiesta Island in Mission Bay. TMS-SD members will be there for public outreach activities from 9:00am to Noon, along with the San Diego Mars Rover.

Friday, May 28, 2004 is TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- What is reality when you can't trust your memory? Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in "TOTAL RECALL" (Special Edition). Showtime is at 7:00pm at Studio 106 -- please RSVP.

Gerry is currently setting up a two-day outreach at the Joe Rindone Regional Tech Center in Linda Vista that will be hosting a field trip of kids from Poway schools. Dates are tentatively set as May 28th and June 1st.

Another elementary school outreach was set up at the San Diego Science Educators' 19th Annual Conference, this time at Olive Elementary in Vista on June 4th.

Jeff Berkwits has offered to put together a special TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT on June 18th, featuring a series of short 1950's TV episodes and other programs with a Mars theme.

In addition to managing the Remote Science Team at MDRS this season, and arranging the MDRS Work Party on May 21st-23rd, Shannon will be joining the F/MARS crew for a four-week rotation on Devon Island this year (this was one of her long-term goals) in late July and early August; then heads immediately to Australia to participate in Expedition Two (Expedition One was a month- long event at MDRS last year) in preparation to opening their own Mars Analog Research Station the following year. She'll also be attending the Association of Mars Explorers Dinner on March 30th in San Jose, CA.

TMS-SD has been invited to participate in ConKopelli/ Westercon-57 in Phoenix on July 2nd-5th (over Independence Day Weekend) while we were at ConDor. We'll be discussing this over the next couple of meetings, and we may discuss participating in this with the Arizona Mars Society Chapters.

Comic-Con 2004 is coming over the weekend of July 21st through 25th, We're starting to think of who we can invite to be on our panel. Some names bandied about were James Cameron (who will be at the Con anyway), Geoffrey Landis (who we met at ConDor), JPL Rover voice Wayne Lee (a native San Diegan), and we'll try for Nichelle Nichols and Jim Meechum again. Mike Caplinger from Malin Space Science Systems has already been asked again this year (his 4th year for us). Keep thinking of people we can or should ask. As usual, we'll do two panels, a composite panel with Mars-related people we can get as well as a TMS-SD panel. We've definitely decided NOT to do a panel on Saturday (the Con's busiest day), but rather a Friday and a Sunday time would be best.

The 2004 Mars Society 7th Annual Conference location is currently planned for The Palmer House Hilton hotel, in downtown Chicago over the weekend of August 19th through 22nd. The Conference this year will be jointly hosted by the Illnois and Michigan Chapters of the Mars Society. We need to have at least one representative at this convention from San Diego.

Chapter's Challenge - no report as Dave wasn't at this meeting.

Mars Suit Taskforce - no report as Tim wasn't at this meeting. We discussed the feasibility of having a completion deadline for at least one of the suits (but both sets of hardware) to coincide with Comic-Con again this year. Jeff says that when we get one suit together, he'll start another media campaign around it.

Mars Rover RC Model - We decided that we'll need to start charging a minimal fee for taking the Mars Rover out to events in order to keep the Rover maintained in both batteries (it takes 16-AA and two 9V batteries to operate, not including video monitors and other support gear). A fee of $20.00 per requested event was felt to be affordable to most all venues, especially classrooms. This fee could possibly be waved in extreme situations.

This brought up the subject of getting a real bank account in TMS-SD's name, as well as exploring the possibilities and necessities of acquiring a DBA and a not for profit status. Since he wasn't here to defend himself, we decided to appoint Dave Rankin to look into these items.

It also brought up the subject of acquiring a sponsor for our Mars Rover. John and Gerry ran into a fellow from Hewlett-Packard at the Technology Day for Black Family Technology Awareness Week outreach who offered to introduce us to their corporate sponsorship entity -- Gerry will be following up on that -- we discussed asking for an equipment grant of a HP Digital Video Projector to improve our PowerPoint presentations.

Another possible sponsor included Radio Shack (as the Rover is built on top of a Radio Shack RC truck chassis).

Public Relations - Jeff is currently taking a month off from most Mars Society events, but he expects to be back in the saddle shortly. In the meantime, Gerry suggested we advertise our Weekend Talks lecture series and Rover appearances in the San Diego Reader (and offered to take on that responsibility).

New Display Board & Website Update - Gerry has been working slowly on the new (second) TMS-SD display board Again Comic-Con was discussed as a firm deadline for its completion. Gerry has been fleshing out plans for a major renovation of TMS-SD's website (including adding images), but has not had much time to spend on it this past month.

Political Outreach - nothing to report.

Treasury & Finances - dues were collected, and Gerry was reimbursed $60 for the new rechargeable batteries and chargers for the Mars Rover.

MDRS Membership Directory - TMS sent San Diego an updated membership directory, which Gerry used to update our "This Week in San Diego" e-mailings. 26 new names were added, 10 new e-mail addresses bounced and we're contemplating a snail-mail contact for those individuals.

Grants & Sponsorships - other than what was discussed above, we didn't tackle this subject at this meeting, but postponed it for our next meeting in April.

Other - We decided to look for lecture venues for JPL Rover staff Wayne Lee and Nagin Cox. Libraries and college campuses were mentioned.

TMS-SD was offered an opportunity to participate in a Student Mentoring Project book, but after discussion we decided not to participate at this time. It was deemed too expensive for our meager treasury.

Other venues for TMS-SD Outreach - Miramar College, Palomar College Planetarium, SDSU Planetarium, Aerospace Museum, Speaker's Bureaus, Local Libraries. Two new venues mentioned were the Young Eagles of Santa Monica CA, and the "Kernel-Panic" Linux User Group (the Mars Rovers' software is Linux-based).

A Washington DC area group is producing a Public Access program about space exploration -- we have decided to contact them to get a look at their program to see if it would be feasible for us to attempt something similar locally. Gerry and Jeff will work on this.

The meeting wrapped up and John Crawford showed us his PhotoShop analysis of the Mars MOLA data and his discovery of a possible large (Hellas Basin-sized) impactor in Utopia Planitia.

-gmw