** U. S. Chapters **

** Alabama
Daniel Slosberg, mailto: salinay@teleport.com
We are doing a lot in conjunction with the local SEDS chapter, which is
very active, including speakers, rocket launches, and discussions of the
Martian calendar. We have submitted an idea to SEDS to work with them on
a GAS can. The proposal is to build a small satellite which can raise
and lower its orbit using magnatorquers, solar panels, (and if we can
get it high enough, test the solar wind). Our goal is to be able to use
magnets to point a Martian orbiter's antenna towards the Earth so we
won't keep running out of fuel. The vote on if we get space or not is
being held today...wish us luck!

** Alaska
Marilyn Dudley-Rowley, mailto:MD-R@msn.com
No report.

** Arizona
Bill Gjestvang, mailto:DataWolf@IBM.net
No report.

** Arkansas
Wayne Bowen, mailto:bowenw@alpha.obu.eduNov. 18-20, Professors Wayne
Bowen and Jay Curlin of Ouachita Baptist University will take Mars
honors seminar students to the Johnson Space Center and Space Center
Houston to study NASA's plans to explore the Red Planet, and also to
meet with the folks of the Mars Society in Houston.

** California, CALTECH-JPL
Derek Shannon, mailto: mars@its.caltech.edu
After a quiet early fall, the Mars Society of Caltech/JPL will be pretty
busy as we approach the new millennium - 1. Of four big events, two have
already been big successes, and 2 more look to even better.

November 13th: John Glenn appearance
November 16th: American Astronautical Society Conference
December 3rd: PLANETFEST, and of course the landing of the Mars Polar
Lander
December 10th: Outreach to the REAL general public in Old Pas

Read on!

(1) Saturday, November 13, JOHN GLENN AT VROMAN'S BOOKSTORE. Last
Saturday's book signing was GREAT! We added *128* new names to our
chapter's mailing list, and these will all be passed on to the national
MS. To summarize: We didn't have much luck with just the table, since
people (There were around 1000 people there in a multi-block line) were
preoccupied with keeping their places, so we took our toy Mars rover and
our individual sign-up slips (and very important: LOTS OF GOLF PENCILS
or other expendable writing tools) and went all the way down the line,
giving a little talk every few people, handing out slips and pencils to
interested folks, and the slips were usually handed back filled out
after we'd moved just slightly farther down the line.

Our individual sign-up slips are on our web page,
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~mars, under "FAQs, Fliers, Sign-ups..."

As to attempts to recruit John Glenn himself: After going through the
line and tending to our table, we were the last to get our books signed,
and the TIGHT security still shuffled us quickly through. But we gave
him a copy of "Case for Mars" with fliers/contact info inside, and he
was pretty surprised at this reversal--he said he'd take a look at the
stuff that evening.

I recommend visiting Random House, www.randomhouse.com, and calling
their New York office to ask about appearances in your area. Then
contact the bookstore where he'll be appearing and offer to set up a
space info table to keep the crowd entertained while they wait. We found
out about the Vroman's appearance because Vroman's had met our chapter
when Dr. Z gave a talk there a few months ago, and they contacted us,
but calling other bookstores and convincing them should be hard.

Final tip: I found that people were more skeptical when I started off
"Hello, I'm with the Mars Society and..." but when I said "Hello, I'm
Derek Shannon and I'm a student at..." there was almost always an
enthusiastic response. So give them some background info to prove you're
not JUST a Mars nut.

(2) AMERICAN ASTRONAUTICAL ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE right here in Pasadena
next Tuesday, the 16th. Our student poster on the Caltech Mars Society
Mission 2.0 was very well received, we had a few (but high-quality)
e-mail list sign ups, AND we got a lot of info that will further our
technical projects, including the first details on the NASA Design
Reference Mission4.0. It adopts at least one change that we have been
advocating: Instead of sending the crew to the Martian surface with just
an approx. 24hr power supply (they'll die if they land far away from
their pre-landed cargo), there is now a 30 day grace period for the crew
upon landing. The other big change: A solar electric propulsion tug to
get from LEO to trans-Mars injection, where a small chemical stage adds
the final push. Details on the plan are on our web page, as always,
under "CMSM2." Look forward to more updates, as we are still preparing
CMSM3 to continue to lower cost/risk.

(3) PLANETFEST, December 3rd-5th. Our efforts to get volunteers to staff
the booth are coming along nicely--it should be a great event!

(4) OUTREACH IN OLD PAS: It looks like we have an Old Pas (a trendy,
crowded shopping/dining district in Pasadena) vendor who wouldn't mind
us using some of his sidewalk to have a Mars Society booth. The
tentative date for this event is December 10th, so stay tuned.

** California, Central Valley
Domenique van der Goore, mailto:traveler@cyberlynk.com
Not much new to report. The Provisional Members Council is in the
process of finalizing our draft bylaws for the members council. I have
volunteered to stay on until the permanent council takes over in
2000(well assuming the bylaws we have been working so hard on are
accepted).That's about it from here.

** California, North
Kelly Snook, mailto:ksnook@mail.arc.nasa.gov
No report.

** California, South
Dave Jedynak, mailto:jedynak@sileas.com
No report.

** Colorado
Rocky Mountain Mars Society (RMMS)
Brad Jarvis, bjarvis@ezlink.com
No report.

** Florida
Richard Brodeur, mailto: rbrodeur@yahoo.com
The Florida Chapter met on November 6th at Kennedy Space Center and
combined its business meeting with the annual Open House at KSC. The
next scheduled meeting will be on February 5th in Palm Beach County,
followed by a May meeting at Cape Canaveral in conjunction with the 37th
Space Congress (seespacecongress.org ).

The November 6th meeting had an attendance of about 30, including
spouses and children. A presentation on generating public awareness was
given by Robert Gass (see RGass10039@aol.com), a presentation on
regenerative life support systems was given by Matt Reyes (see
defiance@mindspring.com), a presentation on the Devon Island project was
given by Dick Brodeur, a presentation on the 37th Space Congress was
given by Dian Hardison (seeDian.Hardison-1@kmial.ksc.nasa.gov) and a
presentation on Mars habitat design and Mars community infrastructure
was given by Tom Wray (seetomw@aquaticeco.com).

As a result of that meeting, certain organizational improvements were
made. A three-person "Steering Committee" was formed to promote the Mars
Society in Florida in 2000. The three members are Dian Hardison, Robert
Gass and Dick Brodeur.

Also, an increased role for university students is being sought. Two
"Mars Coordinators" were nominated by the Steering Committee. For the
University of Florida in Gainesville, Matt Reyes. For Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Jim Bruce (see
JBruce9494@aol.com ).

** Red Dirt (the Georgia chapter of the Mars Society)
Mike Kretsch, mkretsch@compassusa.com
Next Meeting: Nov 20
Thinking of making our several projects one, called "power options"
expect to generate papers for the next convention

** Hawaii
Matt Rohrer, mailto:matt@prognostikos.com
No report.

** Idaho
Chris Struble, mailto: clstruble@earthlink.net
No report.

** Illinois Chapter, Chicago
Matthew Lowry, mailto: mplowry@ibm.net
The Chicago chapter is considering getting involved in the Mars Polar
Lander festivities at the Adler Planetarium on December 3rd. Members are
currently planning to attend the event in order to speak and give
presentations about the Mars Society.

In addition, Jim Plaxco attended the Windycon science fiction convention
and made contact with Kandis Elliot of the Institute of Implied Science
located in Madison, WI. Kandis is the co-creator of the "Millennium
Mars" calendar. He discussed with her the possibility of the Mars
Society selling the calendars as a fundraising item. For more
information on this topic and selling merchandise in general to
subsidize Mars Society funding, contact Jim at jplaxco@planets.org

Finally, there is a new (sub)chapter of the Mars Society forming in the
North Shore communities of Chicago! Many people in the area have
expressed interest in such a chapter, as transportation to downtown
Chicago for those in the area is difficult at best. The new daughter
chapter will be called the North Shore chapter, as soon as it's official
of course, and it will work to maintain ties with its parent Chicago
chapter as well as spread the word at home. The first meeting of the
North Shore chapter has been tentatively set for the evening of
Thursday, December 2nd at Lake Forest High School. For more information
about the newly forming (sub) chapter, contact Matt Lowry at
lowryclan@geocities.com or Richard Price atpricerj@earthlink.net

Mars Rules

** Indiana
Steve Resler, mailto:sresler@eyeworld.net
No report.

** Iowa
Katharine Osborne, mailto:kosborne@eai.com
No report.

** Kansas
Holly Kellogg, mailto:HKellogg@feist.com
No report.

** Louisiana
Shelly Hynes, mailto:cshynes@cp-tel.net
Nothing new.

** Maine
Mary Ellen Symanski, mailto:mesphd@aol.com
No report.

** MD, DC, VA
Theresa Klein, mailto: tjk2@ix.netcom.com
New contact, no report.

** Michigan
Julie Edwards, mailto:jedwards@umich.edu
No report.

** Minnesota
Ben Huset, mailto:BenHuset@skypoint.com
No report.

** Mississippi
Garry Speer, mailto:VMSmith1@aol.com
No report.

** Missouri -- Kansas City
George Howard, mailto:Ghoward683@aol.com
No report.

** Nebraska
Harry Jordan, mailto:hajordan@esu3.esu3.k12.ne.us
No report.

** Nevada
Shawn Plunket, mailto:SPlunket@aol.com
No report.

** New England Chapter
Troy Lee Hudson, mailto: thudson@MIT.EDU
A number of events for the Dec. 3 landing are being organized (check
http://marsfest.org for more details). As well we are looking into
starting a number of chapter activities; some ideas include: creating a
lecture series, designing a Mars base, and being more involved in
outreach at the elementary and high school level.

** New Jersey
Paul Rockman, mailto:prockman@turbo.kean.edu
No report.

** New York
Paul Contursi, mailto: pcon@pipeline.com
Nothing new -- trying to arrange MPL event.

** New Mexico
Eric Orrill, mailto:eorrill@jntsw.com
No report.

** Northern New Mexico Chapter (or Los Alamos Chapter)
Lisa Ice, ice@cs.unm.edu
Participated in New Mexico Mars Society gathering on the 13th and will
help with outreach at the Planetarium in Santa Fe this week, where Chris
McKay is lecturing. We're also tentatively planning a MarsFest event for
Dec. 3rd or 4th in conjunction with the Los Alamos National Laboratory's
Center for Space Science and Exploration.

** North Dakota Chapter
John Cable, jrjohn@martin.ndak.net
No report.

** North Dakota, Eastern
Jonathan Hovland, mailto:fenix@thequest.net
No report.

** Ohio
Tam Czarnik, mailto:patttam@erinet.com
Public Outreach Coordinator Monica Simmons and Ohio Chair Tam Czarnik
gave the 'Mars Direct' presentation to Curriculum Coordinators at
Trotwood HS. 'Mars Direct' presentations were also given to the Miami
Valley Astronomical Society on 12 Nov 99, and to Stillwater Stargazers
on 16 Nov 99. Also, Cincinnati Head Gavin Whittle learned how to give
the 'Mars Direct' presentation, and received his slide set.
Presentations are scheduled at Branch Libraries in the Dayton area for
27 Nov 99, 08 Jan 2000 and 22 Jan 2000.

Ohio Chapter will be collaborating with the Miami Valley Astronomical
Society on 'Apollo Rendezvous 2000' in June 2000; scheduled speakers
include Dr. Robert Zubrin, former astronaut Story Musgrave and
Biologist/Neurophysiologist Athena Andreadis.

Member Geoffrey Landis has made his paper "Characterization of Settled
Atmospheric Dust by the DART Experiment" (his experiment on
Mars-2001Lander) available at
http://powerweb.grc.nasa.gov/pvsee/publications/mars/Mars99.html.

** Oklahoma
John Ohlheiser, mailto:JPO10708@aol.com
No report.

++ Oregon
Gus Frederick, mailto: gus@norwebster.com
The big news is that MSOR will be assisting the Oregon Museum of Science
and Industry on December 3 for the Mars Polar Lander. Details on that
can be found at our web site:
http://chapters.marssociety.org/or/msoevent.html

** Central PA /Penn State University Mars Society Chapter
Wojciech Klimkiewicz, Ph.D., [mailto:wxk10@psu.edu]
1. The Penn State was selected to participate in the NASA HEDS-UP
2000Student Design Competition program. The details are available
at:[http://www.personal.psu.edu/wxk10/].The subject is: Adaptive
Robotics for Mars HEDS (ARM-HEDS) with robotics in-situ resource
utilization and robotics science experiments.
2. We are in a process to arrange a Mars Polar Lander event on December
3,1999 for students, faculty and public. The agenda, details and links
will also be posted on my personal web page
[http://www.personal.psu.edu/wxk10/].

** Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Independence Chapter
Gary Fisher, mailto:GCFisheris@aol.com
No report.

** Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Dan Hussain, mailto:DanHussain@aol.com
I am writing this to report on the wonderful success we had at our first
chapter meeting this past Sunday, November 14, 1999. We had a total of
seven people in attendance, which is great for a first meeting. We
certainly hope to increase attendance over the next few meetings. (Our
next meeting is currently scheduled for Sunday, December 12, 1999 as per
informal vote on that day.)

We had interesting introductions by interesting people who attended the
days meeting: Including two students (one from U Pitt and one from
Carnegie-Mellon) who plan on spreading the word to college associates
about our organization! The note from Dr. Zubrin as to the direction of
our chapter was greatly helpful. As a chapter, we have two very clear
and definite goals that were approved by the members present:

(1) Political action -- meeting with candidates for Senate & House for
the 2000 election
(2) Public outreach -- giving talks at local groups

As to achieve Goal #1, we have assigned two individuals (Ray & myself)
to look up contact information for various candidates for public office
(Senate & House). Also, when the Presidential Candidates are ever
passing through Pittsburgh or giving talks locally, we should have a
presence, and ask them their positions on Mars exploration. Our goal is
to show the candidates that we are interested in seeing NASA funded for
Mars manned-exploration and to get them thinking about this very
important issue. On the second meeting in December, the plan is to draft
up some outlines of letters to these candidates, and then to assign each
individual member a candidate for office to which they will write and be
the communication stub for the rest of the chapter. More details
forthcoming.

As to achieve Goal #2, we gathered a list of 4 local resources (clubs
and groups) to which we can give presentations and attract members. The
physics clubs of both U Pitt and Carnegie-Mellon will be strong
resources of young people to join our cause. Also, my own high school in
Johnstown may have some people interested in our cause. Finally, the
Science Fiction Club of Pittsburgh and the Tripoly Rocketry Club will
also be great avenues to attract support.

This first meeting, we talked a lot about politics, and in my opinion,
not enough about the science. For the second meeting, I will try to
prepare a brief (approx. 30 minute) talk on the Zubrin's Mars-Direct
Plan, and the chemistry of the In-Suitu Rocket Propellant generator.
Both of these science areas interest me very much, and I believe others
would be interested to.

To all of those who attended the first meeting, Thanks! For those who
couldn't attend, I look forward to seeing you next time!

** Puerto Rico
Jose Lopez Reyes, mailto:skyloop@caribe.net
No report.

** Rhode Island
Steve Connors, mailto:connors@ici.net
No report.

** South Carolina
Richard Allen Brown, mailto:Charlestonideas@hotmail.com
No report.

** St. Louis
Erv Baumann, mailto:erv.baumann@boeing.com
No report.

** Tennessee - Kentucky
Trae Winter, mailto:hwinter@latte.memphis.edu
No report.

** Texas, Austin
Tim Crain, mailto:crain@csr.utexas.edu
No report.

** Texas, Dallas
Scott Bell, mailto: ntms@usa.net
The North Texas Mars Society had its first organizational meeting on
The10th of November. We had ten very enthusiastic people show up. We
discussed where we would like to go as an organization, and several
ideas for getting there. Our website was up and running at
http://flash.net/~jillbell/ntms/ as of 15 Oct. We are planning our next
meeting to be a social/planning session on Dec. 3, Mars Polar Lander
day. We will go into serious public outreach Q1of next year.

** Texas, Houston
Chris Barnes, mailto:USAMarsMan@aol.com
The Mars Society of Houston is preparing for MarsFest '99 in conjunction
with the Clear Lake NSS and SGI. The festivities will be held on Dec.
3rd, at the same time as the projected landing of the Mars Polar Lander.
It will be held at Rice University. A drawing will be held for various
Mars items, and all those involved will have the opportunity to sell
Mars related items, such as 'The Case for Mars' books and recruit new
members.

Several speakers will be present at the event, such as Alan Treiman and
possibly David Kaplan. A Mars meteorite will also be present for
viewing. There will be free food and a direct link to JPL.

This event has been the core project for our chapter at this time.

We have moved our meeting place from west Houston back to the Clear Lake
area due to declining attendance. Moving the meeting place has boosted
membership.

These are the events that have been happening with the Houston chapter.

** Utah
Tom Allred, mailto:AllredTj@ubtanet.com
No report.

** Washington, Grays Harbor/Olympic Peninsula
Johannes Helgeson, mailto:noachis@hotmail.com
No report.

** Mars Society Puget Sound (Seattle, WA chapter)
Jim Burk, mailto:jburk@jburk.com
We are feverishly making preparations for Seattle MarsFest on December
3rd at the Boeing Museum of Flight. We are organizing the event there
with the assistance of Museum staff and some publicity from the
Planetary Society. We'll have NASA Television in the Allen Theatre, a
set of Mars displays and tables of information in the lobby, and we hope
to add some of our public outreach activities, such as informational
talks and possibly a mission control "color commentary". We are also
helping other Mars Society chapters around the country and around the
world to organize similar events where they are. We have set up a
website at http://marsfest.org to publicize all the events. I just was
talking to Bo Maxwell, the President of the Mars Society UK about their
plans for MarsFests in Britain and Scotland. Two MarsFest events are
planned for France, one in Toulouse and one in Paris. Back in America,
the New England, Oregon, Northern California, Caltech, and our Seattle
chapter are planning events.

** West Virginia
Robert Strong, mailto:strongro@WLSVAX.WVNET.EDU
No report.

** Wisconsin
Scott Davis, mailto: scud1@execpc.com
No report.

** Wyoming
Wyoming Chapter
Patrick Banks, PAT@uwyo.edu
Nothing new.

** Mars Society Youth Group http://chapters.marssociety.org/youth/
Margarita Marinova, mailto: mmm@mit.edu
Currently we are collecting ideas of activities that the Youth Group can
be involved in. Some of the ideas include:- creating a newsletter for
elementary/ high schools that will be sent out to schools and students.
This will include short articles and a lot of hands-on activities and
games/puzzles. Submissions are welcome from everyone!!!! please send
your submissions to mmm@mit.edu (about 1/2 page on any
Mars/space/exploration topic and experiments/hands-on activities)
- creating a 'mentors' program that will connect younger students with
older youth.
- compiling a "Speaker's Bureau" of people interested in giving Mars
presentations in different areas.
- creating a database of schematics for building rovers, rockets, etc.
and procedures for fun experiments.
- getting more youth involved in the Goddard Prize sponsored by the Mars
Society and Pioneer Astronautics.
If you have any ideas or would like to help out, please let me know!


** International Chapters **

** Argentina, Latin America
Jorge Mermoz, mailto:JMermoz@bds.esc.edu.ar
No report.

** Australia
Andrew Hamilton, mailto:ahamilto@nsw.bigpond.net.au
No report.

** Belgium
Antoon Van Boxstael, mailto:Antoon@hotmail.com
No report.

** Canada
Marc Boucher, mailto: webmaster@marssociety.org
Ottawa Chapter
Jean Lagarde, mailto: jlagarde@bigfoot.com
Members of the Ottawa Chapter had dinner with Pascal Lee after his talk
at the Geological Survey of Canada on 26 October. The chapter is
planning some activities (at the very least a view of the web site and
NASA TV on big screen) for the 3 December Mars Polar Lander.

** Chile
Cristian Puebla-Menne, mailto:cpuebla@cmet.net
No report.

** Cyprus, Mediterranean
George Lordos, mailto:Lordos@mit.edu
No report.

** France
Richard Heidmann, mailto:Rheidmann@aol.com
No report.

** Germany
Michael Bosch, mailto:Michael.Bosch@wiwi.uni-regensburg.de
No report.

** Iceland
Olafur Patrick Olafsson, mailto:opo@rhi.hi.is
No report.

** Israel
Alin Moss, mailto:alinm@hotmail.com
No report.

** Italy
Fabrizio Pirondini, mailto:pirro@tin.it
No report.

** Japan
Onizuka, Michitaka, mailto: onizuka@colorado.edu
Kiosuke Murakawa, mailto: murakawa@csp.co.jp
No report.

** Mexico
Rich Robins, mailto: Mars@SpaceProjects.com
The Mexico chapter's founder (Rich Robins, Esq.) has recently been in
Washington D.C. for reasons directly related to space commercialization
and exploration. Last week he attended the 3 day Space Assembly of the
U.S. Space Foundation (http://www.SpaceAssembly.com). Lots of contacts
were made from all over the world, and a great time was had by many.

This week's space activities included attending and participating in the
U.S. Senate's Space Transportation Roundtable (sponsored by
http://www.prospace.org). It seems that it will require a lengthy effort
to get tax incentive bills and guaranteed loan programs (Breaux Bill,
etc.)actually ratified though. Only 400 of 10,000 bills annually become
law, and the successful candidates usually took years to finally get
that way.

However, it's worth the effort. Not a lot can be done in Mexico
regarding space unless and until the Northern neighbor picks up the
pace. Rich has pledged to do all he can to intensify his involvement in
Washington D.C., always keeping an eye out for possibilities regarding
Mexico and the rest of Latin America.

** Netherlands
Arno Wielders, mailto:arnoux@strw.leidenuniv.nl
 (10.29.99 report) Finally I made contact with someone else in the
Netherlands to start a chapter here. We met last Monday and discussed
the proper way to follow to create an active chapter. The results are: a
website will be created in two weeks which will inform Dutch people
about the Mars Society in general and specially how to become an active
member of the Dutch chapter. Very soon a couple of presentations will be
given at public observatories and companies to spark the interest of
people. More on these activities as soon as the website is finished.

** New Zealand
David Maclenna, apparently corrupt e-mail address
No report.

** Peru
Johan Veerman, mailto:jveerman@yahoo.com
No report.

** Philippines
Kin Enriquez, mailto:kin_toy@hotmail.com
No report.

** Mars Society Polska (Polish Chapter)
Piotr Moskal, mailto:piotr.moskal@lupus.pl
We are preparing to Nordcon, an annual convention of fantasy / s-f fans.
The main theme of the convention is the possibility of asteroid
Armageddon, so we decided to make a presentation of possibilities of
escape from such an event. We will make a 2h or so speech about Mars
Direct along with a presentation of TMS slide set and some NASA pictures
gathered by the latest probes.

Also, we will have a chapter meeting on 27 November in the Space
Research Center in Warsaw. We hope to sign all necessary documents
needed to register our chapter in court. That's all for now, more news
will follow after the meeting.

** Russia
Gennady Gusev, mailto:gusev@ana.spb.ru
No report.

** South Africa
Evan James Dembskey, mailto:evan@telemessage.co.za
No report.

** Spain, Canary Islands
Cayetano Santana Gil, mailto: csangi@idecnet.com
No report.

** Spain, Peninsular
Alexander Hristov, mailto:ahristov@psd.es
No report.

** Sweden/Scandinavia
Claes-Gustaf Nordquist, mailto:c_g_nordquist@yahoo.com
Nothing new to report, yet. C.-G. N.

** Switzerland
Claude-Alain Roten, mailto:claude-alain.roten@igbm.unil.ch
No report.

** Switzerland
Gabriel Borruat, mailto:gabriel.borruat@igbm.unil.ch
No report.

** Ukraine
Vladymy Shevernytskyy, mailto:charity@akcecc.kiev.ua
No report.

** United Kingdom
Bo Maxwell, mailto:sagan@dircon.co.uk
Things continue to move rapidly now in the UK. Following the highly
successful tour by Robert Zubrin (see the report at
http://www.marssociety.org.uk/zubrinuk.htm) regional branches are now up
and running across the UK.

Paperwork for incorporation has been completed, and "The Mars Society UK
Ltd." is now the working title for the Chapter. The initial Board of
Directors comprises: Bo Maxwell (President); Philip Dembo (Executive
Director); Peter Loftus (Membership Director). Nick Cross has been
appointed as the Scottish Co-ordinator, supported by Katya and Kevin
Foster. Peter Loftus is currently touring the UK meeting with local
branches to help them get up and running.

On Sunday 21st November Bo Maxwell and Philip Dembo will be giving
presentations on the Mars Society and Mars Direct at the annual UK-SEDS
conference to be held at Canterbury University in Kent. Local branches
are also planning events around the arrival of the Mars Polar Lander on
the Red Planet.

On November 11th, the Society forwarded a formal note of congratulations
to the members of the Beagle 2 team following the unreserved acceptance
of the lander and its mission by the Science Programme Committee of the
European Space Agency. Beagle 2 is now the official European lander for
Mars, scheduled to fly aboard the Mars Express mission in 2003 and touch
down on Mars in December of that year.

Further information on the Society can be obtained from Peter
Loftus(peter.loftus@lineone.net) or Philip Dembo
(philip.dembo@demon.co.uk).


** Task Forces/Special Interests **

** Executive Director
Maggie Zubrin, mailto:mzubrin@aol.com
A major current focus is the Mars Mall, which is now open for business
with scads of companies represented. With the usual holiday madness
approaching, give yourself a break from the usual mall crowds and shop
on Mars? We urge all members to pay a visit -- they'll save time and
money, and help the Society at the same time.

Secondly, the renewal reminders have been sent out and response so far
is terrific. We need to remind members that they can renew now and
register for the conference at the reduced rate later, if they decide to
attend.

The last major news: conference registration is now open. We will be
sending registration forms shortly. There will be some low cost rooms
available at the campus, with earliest registrations dates next spring
to be announced at the website.

** E-Commerce
Tony Santana, mailto: TSMarsCo@aol.com
No report.

** Education
Tom Becker, mailto:tombecker@primary.net
No report.

** Fundraising
Kristin Boekhoff, mailto:kristin.k.boekhoff@us.pwcglobal.com
No report.

** Graphics and Production
Gary Hollingshead, mailto:garyah@imagineering-usa.com
We are meeting with Jim Burke today to go over the next CD-ROM project.
We should have a beta copy and will be working on the interface similar
to last time...

** Internet Task Force
Marc Boucher - webmaster@marssociety.org
Harold Miller - peabody@wayback.net
No report.

** Martian Civilization and Culture Group
(late Law and Governance Task Force)
Ruth Waterton, mailto:ruth@h2oton.freeserve.co.uk>
No news, though members of the group have assisted in collecting (and
penning) stories for a "fiction" issue of New Mars.

** Marketing
Maggie Zubrin, mailto:mzubrin@aol.com
See Executive Director's report

** Mars Arctic Task Force
Kurt Micheels, mailto: kmicheels@aol.com
We are working feverishly to select a suitable contractor for the
project. Bids are coming in and we plan to make a selection no later
than the end of this month.

The design of the habitat was effected some due to comments made by the
space architects independent review conducted at Lockheed Martin in
Houston, 10/22. Design changes include:

1. Addition of simulated "systems" volume in the hab. In an actual
spacecraft, as much as 40% of the volume is occupied by systems (life
support, etc.). The hab should reflect this.

2. Use of stairs versus a ladder.

3. Consideration of aesthetics - try to integrate required structure
with simulated structure to make habitat appear less "synthetic".

At this review, Kurt met Architect Richard Horden, who has been teaching
a design studio at the Technical University - Munich. Richard, his
assistant Andreas Vogler and their students are interested in
participating in the MARS design effort. This work will be conducted in
collaboration The Sun Dance Lab at the University of Colorado, lead by
Professor Ray McCall and Sonja Holmes. It is expected that their
activity will lead to creation of an interior configuration for the hab
(including furnishings), illustrated as a virtual model. Physical models
and drawings will also be created in time for the Mars Society
Conference in Toronto.

10/28 - 10/31 Kurt visited Calgary to meet with prospective contractor
Peter Jess and attend a Canadian Space Agency conference.

Also, in October, Dr. Stephen Braham, of Simon Fraser University was
appointed the chair of the Techical Task Force. Anyone in the MARSTF
interested in doing research related directly to Mars habitation, that
could support the design of the MARS and its operations, should contact
Dr. Braham.

** Political and Public Outreach
Brian Frankie, mailto:brianf5070@aol.com
Chris Carberry, mailto: ccarberry@masshist.org
Meetings with Presidential Candidates
Over the last week the political outreach division of the Outreach Task
Force has made contact with two of the Presidential candidates. On
November 11th, members spoke with John McCain in Nashua New Hampshire.
McCain was interested in our organization and seemed willing to maintain
a dialogue with the Mars Society. On November 15th Chris Carberry spoke
to Bill Bradley in Derry, New Hampshire. Although Bradley did not seem
as interested in our cause as McCain did, Bradley had heard of our group
and noted that a Mars Society member had given him copies of Robert
Zubrin's books a couple of months ago (he hasn't read them yet). In
addition, the Task Force and the New England chapter will be in
Manchester New Hampshire on December 2 for the Republican debate. We
hope to be able to talk to all of the Republican candidates at that
time.

Political Strategy Committee/Public Outreach Committee
Within the next few weeks, the Political Strategy Committee will be
meeting via the Mars Society chat. As the name would suggest, this
Committee is intended to be the body within the Outreach Task Force that
will create a coherent political strategy for the Mars Society. The
Public Outreach Committee will serve the same role in relation to Public
Outreach. That Committee will hopefully meet sometime in December.

Outreach Task Force Webpage
An Outreach Task Force webpage is currently being designed. This webpage
will incorporate an improved political action webpage and will introduce
a brand new public outreach webpage. Outreach Task Force webpage will
serve as the central information center for the Task Force. It will be
updated daily. Visit it at http://home.marssociety.org/outreach

Regional Contacts
In order to make the Task Force's responsibilities more manageable, the
Task Force will have eight regional contacts who will maintain regular
communication with the chapters within their regions. These contacts
will help coordinate political and public outreach initiatives and will
report back to the Task Force Coordination Committee (Chris Carberry,
Shannon Russell, Alan Rubin, and Brian Frankie). We currently have six
regional contacts and hope to have the last two positions filled by the
end of the month. Although the webpage is not finished yet, the names of
Committee members and regional contacts can be found at
http://home.marssociety.org/outreach

** MarsNews.com (www.marsnews.com)
Jim Burk (jburk@jburk.com) -- Managing Editor / Webmaster
The MarsNews.com redesign is well underway. The website will be simpler,
more streamlined, and it will be easier to find the news you want.
Dustin Green has been named Assistant Editor of the site and will
continue to maintain the daily newsfeed. We will also add more
background information on Mars missions and plans to send humans. We
will provide wall-to-wall coverage of the Polar Lander events.

** Ares: The Mars Society's CDROM (home.marssociety.org/ares)
Jim Burk (jburk@jburk.com) -- Project leader / Content Director
We are very close to finishing Issue #2 of Ares, the Mars Society's
CD-ROM title, and this one should be really good for teachers students
as it contains Mars and space curriculum designed by programs around the
world. If you are interested in helping to "beta test" it, send me an
email at jburk@jburk.com The CD should be mailed out to all registered,
dues-paying Mars Society members around the world before the end of this
year.

** Provisional Members' Council
Chris Vancil, CVANCIL@aol.com
 (By RFW) The PMC has delivered a detailed set of by-laws for review to
the Board and others, representing a truly amazing amount of work. Aims
to have an elected council in place by February 1, 2000.

** New Mars
Richard Wagner, mailto:campr2@javanet.com
Still slogging away at redesign and slamming together a "fiction" issue
with the gracious help of Ruth Waterton and the Martian Civilization
folks.

** Mars Polar Lander Mirror Site
Richard Wagner, mailto:campr2@javanet.com It's up!
http://missions.marssociety.org

** Miscellaneous:
Bruce Mackenzie, mailto: BMackenzie@alum.mit.edu
Terraforming anyone? A new Terraforming discussion group is forming. (It
was a well kept secret, until now.)
To join, send an e-mail message to:
majordomo@chapters.MarsSociety.org
in the body of the message, write:
subscribe Terraform-sig
Or, contact Jonathan Michaels JMichaels0@home.com or myself

Slide sets are still available for chapters to show at public events and
to outside groups. Contact me for details.

Web pages for chapters and projects are now routine, on the sites
@Chapters.MarsSociety.org and @home.MarsSociety.org, courtesy of member
Randall Severy and CyberTeams, Inc. More than 50 members now have
accounts allowing them to update their chapter pages. There are more
than 1,400 pages and images, totaling 50 megabytes. If you would like to
help, let me know.

E-mail lists should be getting a nicer interface for both subscribers
and those administering, also courtesy of CyberTeams, Inc.

Mars Week - (although the New England regional Mars Week conference is
old news) I somehow got appointed to run a youth workshop there, as well
as a workshop on my favorite topic "One-Way to Mars" (permanent Base on
first mission. A number of members helped organize it or participated. A
partial list is: Troy Hudson, Amy Davis, Justin Talbot-Stern, Stephen
Glenfield, Margarita Marinova, Shannon Russell, Robert Zubrin, Pascal
Lee, Chris McKay , Everett Gibson, Maria Zuber, Buzz Aldrin, and many
others (apologies in advance to missing your name). For a list of press
coverage, see: http://www.thinkmars.net/thinkmars2.html

On a personal note, I am now working at a start-up company creating CAD
(Computer Aided Design) software for architectural design. Unlike other
CAD programs, ours actually knows how doors & windows relate to walls,
etc. Unfortunately, it doesn't yet handle curved ceilings, so it will be
a struggle to use it for 'tuna can' style Arctic habitats, Mars
habitats, or my vaulted masonry Mars buildings.

Webmaster: Piotr Moskal

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