Jeff has been a member of THE MARS SOCIETY - SAN DIEGO and has been running our publicity for over several years now.

Congratulations, Jeff! We'll miss you!

September 11th had TMS-SD members John Stone and Jesse Clark at the San Diego Aerospace Museum's Family Day from Noon to 3:00pm for a Mars Rover Run in the Pavilion of Flight.

On September 15th, the San Diego Yacht Club guested TMS-SD at a very short Luncheon for TMS-SD members. It was rescheduled for November 12th.

Mars Movie Night on September 17th featured a series of "TV Episodes from the 60s", including episodes from "Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits" and "Tales of Tomorrow".

On September 20th, the Mission Valley Branch Library was the site of our fourth lecture, "Meet Mars Astronaut" featuring Shannon Rupert-Robles (one of the co-founders of TMS-SD) who just returned from a four-week simulated Mars adventure with the Mars Australian Research Station (MARS-OZ) and their Expedition Two. Shannon also spent the month of July at the Mars Society's Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) in the Canadian Arctic where she was the Crew 9 Biologist/Ecologist. Shannon has been on three other Mars Analog Research Station (MARS) crews at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the Utah desert (twice as Crew Commander) and now holds the world's record for the most individual person-days spent simulating Human Mars Mission Surface Operations! Jesse Clark was suited up in our Analog Mars Suit during Shannon's talk, and the audience got to see the suit-up procedure and speak (via radio) with Jesse.

Space 2004 was in town for three days (September 28th to 30th), and several members attended the free Exhibit Hall and Education Alley.

Gerry Williams crewed our TMS-SD display table at the WESTERN ALLIANCE OF PLANETARIUMS CONFERENCE held at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park on the evening of October 30th.

Wednesday,September 29, 2004 had SpaceShipOne makde the first of three possible X-PRIZE attempts in the desert north of Los Angeles. TMS-SD members (Groff Bittner, Israel Lidsky, Patrick Purcell and family, Dave Rankin and John Stone) witnessed the event live from the tarmac at the Mojave Spaceport.

October 1-3 featured CONJECTURE 3 Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention, and offered TMS-SD members Jeff berkwits, Dave Rankin, John Stone and Gerry Williams participating in several programming events and activities, with our TMS-SD display table.

On Monday, October 4th, SpaceShipOne makde a second suborbital flight to win the X-PRIZE (this was the spacecraft's third actual suborbital flight). TMS-SD members (John Stone and Gerry Williams ) witnessed the event live from the press area at the Mojave Spaceport.

The San Diego Astronomy Association's monthly "STARS IN THE PARK" telescope event was held in Balboa Park in conjunction with the "THE SKY TONIGHT" Planetarium show in the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. TMS-SD members Dave Rankin, James Roth and Gerry Williams were there spreading the Word of the Mars Society.

The San Diego Science Alliance invites everyone to attend their Fall Community Event at The Elementary Institute of Science. TMS-SD will be there with our display table.

Friday, October 22, 2004 is TMS-SD MARS MOVIE NIGHT -- Invasion: "THE WAR OF THE WORLDS" (1953) -- Producer George Pal and director Byron Haskins' landmark adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel that focuses on the invasion of the earth by Martian war machines. The Martians unchain a direct assault to our planet, with hundreds of invulnerable ships. The invasion takes place all over the world, and all the major cities are destroyed one after one; even the atomic bomb can't stop them. But, if the humans can't beat them, who can? Showtime is at 7:00pm at Studio 106 -- please RSVP.

On Monday, October 25, 2004 at 7:00pm, the San Diego Mission Valley Library will be hosting our lecture, "PRIVATIZATION OF SPACEFLIGHT": It used to be that only governments could afford to fly humans into space. But with the advent of the X-Prize Foundation, 20 flight teams from all over the world are challenging this concept. The first Space Tourists have already flown to the International Space Station, and we already have our first private citizen astronauts courtesy of SpaceShipOne. Corporations and hotels are already laying plans for Near Earth Orbit and beyond, and groups including THE MARS SOCIETY are researching living and working conditions in Mars-like environments here on Earth. Come discuss these possibilities of our near future in space. We discussed having this event format as a panel discussion, reprising one of our ConJecture 3 panels. Dave Rankin, John Stone and Gerry Williams will be there from TMS-SD, and we're going to invite Orbit 6's Cris Fitch, who shared the ConJecture panel with us.

On Wednesday, November 3, 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.

The Sage Canyon Elementary's Family Night Program on November 5th will host an evening with TMS-SD, featuring a "What's Up On Mars" lecture, our Interactive Display Table, the San Diego Mars Rover and our Analog Mars Suit from 6:30pm to 9:00pm.

The San Diego Yacht Club will host a lecture, "Invasion from Earth", by members of TM-SD at a noon luncheon.

Friday, November 12, 2004 will see the next REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING of TMS-SD to be held from 7:00pm to 10:00pm at Studio 106.

Saturday, November 20, 2004 -- TMS-SD and the San Diego Mars Rover have been invited to participate in the "SALLY RIDE SCIENCE FESTIVAL" at the University of California-Irvine campus. Dr. Sally Ride, America's first woman astronaut, invites 5th - 8th grade girls and interested adults to Reach for the Stars at the Sally Ride Science Festival at the University of California, Irvine on Saturday, November 20, from 11:30 am to 4:30 pm.

San Diego Mission Valley Library will be hosting our last of six lectures on Monday, November 22: "MARS 2004 EXPLORATION UPDATE": A year in review from the Red Planet exploration robots, plus what's in store for 2005. Lecture starts at 7:00pm in the Library's auditorium.

Mars Rover RC Model: The San Diego Mars Rover has had a rough season, and we're giving her a rest and recovery period. We lost steering capability on September 11th at the San Diego Aerospace Museum, and we've had one of the front tires become permanently flat. Patrick provided two more replacement tires, which have been painted silver. Patrick took the chassis to investigate the steering problem. If it can't be fixed, we decided that we'll ask Radio Shack to donate a new RC truck chassis as a replacement. We decided that the San Diego Mars Rover adds a great dimension to our outreach capabilities, and we should keep the Rover running.

Mars Suit Taskforce: Jesse Clark took Tim Sommer's place as our suited Marsnaut at a recent event at the Mission Valley Branch Library. We've decided that everyone interested in operating the Mars Suit during outreach events needs to obtain their own lightweight "wicking underwear" to help with the heat problem inside the suit. Gerry found a relatively inexpensive place to purchase this underwear online -- Sierra Trading Post -- for about $25.00.

Public Relations: Nothing to report this month.

New Display Board: The new display board has been built, and Gerry is printing up the new images for it.

Website Updates: Our website is being updated weekly. Gerry asked that anyone with any ideas regarding revamping out website should contact him about it. Patrick recommended obtaining an XTML News Reader capability that would list some of the most current Mars news each day. Patrick is looking into how to script this.

Treasury & Finance: We currently have $210 and change in the kitty.

MDS Domain Name Renewal: Patrick is looking into either renewing our MarsSanDiego.org domain name, or moving it over to Yahoo. Its a difference between $30.00/year and $10.00/year.

Hartmann Book Sales: We've sold two more books this month, making it only 5 more books to go before our break-even point. NOTE: These books will make great Christmas presents (hint, hint!).

Monthly Meeting Day Change: We've decided to leave our Monthly meeting on the second Friday of the month. And we'll try not to schedule them too close to a Mars Movie Night (except around the holidays).

New TMS-SD Events & Activities: Nothing to report this month.

TMS-SD Embroidered Shirts: We've tabled this topic until next month when Tim Sommer is back from his travels and can give us the benefits of his wisdom.

Sadly, Jeff Berkwits will be leaving San Diego and TMS-SD for Seattle at the end of the year. Not so sadly, Jeff has been appointed to the position of Editor-in-Chief, Amazing Stories magazine:

"After a search that brought us a wide array of qualified candidates, we are confident that Jeff Berkwits is the editor to bring the 21st century entertainment magazine into the future," says Keith Strohm, Chief Operating Officer of Paizo Publishing, LLC. "His background as a science-fiction contributor and his passion for the genre are going to establish Amazing Stories as the definitive voice in science fiction, fantasy, supernatural horror, and superheroes."

First published in 1926, Amazing Stories has been a beloved source for fans of science fiction and remains a classic magazine with an oft-imitated logo. Now reimagined for a new generation of fans, Amazing Stories launches into the 21st century with the definitive editorial voice across the entire spectrum of sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes, and supernatural horror, as well as cutting-edge fiction from today's top authors. Amazing Stories features reviews and previews of the latest movies, TV, DVDs, books comics and story-driven electronic games, as well as interviews with the creators of these stories. Each issue also contains original fiction from the world's top authors, as readers of Amazing Stories have come to expect from the magazine.

Good luck, Jeff!

SpaceShipOne X-Prize Flight videos by Dave Rankin (of the September 29th flight) and Gerry Williams (of the October 4th - last flight).

On to Mars!

-gmw