From: "Richard Wagner" <campr2@javanet.com>
To: "Ruth Folchman Richard Wagner" <campr2@javanet.com>
Subject: Red Planet Satellite Report v1/n2 -- September 30, 1999
Date: Saturday, October 02, 1999 1:40 AM
Greetings all:-
Herewith the second edition of the already dare-I-say venerable Red
Planet Satellite Report. Participation seems about the same as last,
but, once again, there's lots of interesting bits of news herein.
I'm going to change the publication schedule a wee bit, and schedule the
next RPSR for Thursday, October 21, a three-week hiatus. This will give
everyone a bit of a breather, and me a week or so to try and chase down
folks who have not checked in for either of these first two issues.
Ergo, next call for news items will sail out Thursday, October 14 for
reply Monday, October 18. I'll remind all when the time comes.
I'll repeat a paragraph here from the last issue:
For those chapters with the "No report" slug: If I have erred in the
correct contact person, please let me know so that I can fix my mailing
list. Apologies if you have sent a report and I did not receive it. If
you are down as a chapter contact and have no "chapter," please still
let us know what you're up to. The least the rest of us could do is
offer some moral support.
Some happy news items for all:
* Kim Stanley Robinson, RGB Mars triology author, has joined the Mars
Society Board of Directors.
* Marc Boucher, Society webmaster, founder and president of aTerra
Technologies Corp., has joined the Society's Board of Directors.
* Peter Smith, leader of the Mars Polar Lander Surface Stereo Imager and
Robotic Arm Camera Team, has joined the Mars Society Steering Committee.
A personal plug: I'd like to include some MS member profiles with
complementary content developed for the Mars Polar Lander mirror site.
See below, way below.
That's it. Til later -- Richard Wagner
{mars rocks}
=====================================================
Red Planet Satellite Report -- v1, n2 -- September 30, 1999
** U. S. Chapters
+ Alabama
No report.
+ Alaska
Marilyn Dudley-Rowley, mailto:MD-R@msn.com
On travel
+ Arizona
Bill Gjestvang, mailto:DataWolf@IBM.net
No report.
+ Arkansas
Wayne Bowen, mailto:bowenw@alpha.obu.edu
The Arkansas Chapter of the Mars Society continues to focus on outreach
and education. In October, Dr. Timothy Kral, of the University of
Arkansas, will speak in Fayetteville at a community forum on the space
program. Dr. Wayne Bowen, of Ouachita Baptist University, is teaching
this semester an honors seminar about Mars, which will include a trip in
November to the Johnson Space Center. Also in October, Bowen will meet
with Rod Martin, an expected Republican candidate for Congress in
Arkansas' 2nd District, who is a strong advocate of both manned and
robotic exploration of space, to discuss Mars Direct.
+ California, CALTECH-JPL
Chris Hirata, mailto:chirata@alice.caltech.edu
No report.
+ California, Central Valley
Domenique van der Goore, mailto:traveler@cyberlynk.com
Not much new to report. Keeping busy with the provisional members
council project. I still have no other active members, so my range of
activities is very limited.
If anyone has any input to give to the provisional council please get in
touch with us. We really need everyone's input if we are going to put
together a body that will help chapters and members communicate and work
with the Board of Directors and the Steering Committee.
That's all from Central California.
On to MARS!!!
+ 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)
Brad Jarvis, mailto:bjarvis@ezlink.com
Having become a non-profit corporation shortly before this year's
Convention, the Rocky Mountain Mars Society (RMMS) elected its first
slate of officers at the Convention, then had its first official meeting
on the September 12. The Convention was discussed along with other
recent events in the Society and how we might contribute.
MARS Task Force head Kurt Micheels met with the RMMS-based TerraHab
group at Pioneer Astronautics to discuss how RMMS can be involved in the
effort. Pending funding, we may help build a simulator or mockup of the
Hab.
+ Florida
Anthony DeTora, mailto:DeToraA@db.erau.edu
No report.
+ Red Dirt (the Georgia chapter of the Mars Society)
Mike Kretsch, mkretsch@compassusa.com
We have projects chosen, and we intend to move forward with them.
Project 1 is a hands on project, RadioLuminescantPhotoVoltaics
investigation. This is a Build One and Test It project. Actual people
needed. Project 2 is a research project concerning the use of a created
magnetic field, the solarwind, and power generating tethers. This is
primarily a web/library/discussion group research project, and volunteer
researchers are required. Details: The Question. 1)If we create a
magnetic field, will its interaction with the solar wind be the sort of
thing that would lend itself to power generation via tethers, and 2) is
it feasible for crewed missions.
+ Hawaii
Matt Rohrer, mailto:matt@prognostikos.com
No report.
+ Idaho
Chris Struble, mailto: clstruble@earthlink.net
I still haven't gotten any additional information on members in my
state. I would like to get a list with address and phone numbers so I
can know what cities they are in, and contact them if there are enough
in a local area to start meetings. How do the other chapters get this
information?
+ Ilinois Chapter, Chicago
Matthew Lowry, mplowry@ibm.net
Thanks to the Red Planet Satellite Report (9-13-99), Dr. Lucy Fortson of
the Adler Planetarium in Chicago has contacted our chapter about
learning more about the Mars Society. As of the date of this report,
Fortson planned on sending an assistant astronomer from Adler -- Diana
Challis -- to attend our September 24th meeting. Fortson & Challis work
with the Mars Millennium Project -- see
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/99/pro_show/in_csp99.htm for more
information. It is hoped that contact with the Adler Planetarium can
lead to a mutually beneficial relationship between the Adler and the
Mars Society. In addition, Mike Bresolin -- our chapter chairperson --
is in contact with others at the Adler in hopes that the Chicago chapter
can play a role in Bob Zubrin's October 22nd public lecture at the
Planetarium by setting up a Mars Society booth.
In addition, chapter members continue to make contact with both local
and federal politicians about the fight over NASA's budget and the
continuation of an aggressive program of human space exploration, namely
a human mission to Mars in the near future. There has been some positive
feedback from both Representative Susan Garrett (59th district IL) and
Congressman John Porter in this regard.
To Mars!
+ 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.
+ Kansas City
George Howard, mailto:Ghoward683@aol.com
No report.
+ Louisiana
Shelly Hynes, mailto:cshynes@cp-tel.net
Currently, we haven't been able to meet due to the distance between most
of the members. Hopefully we can resolve this issue sometime in the near
future. Plans are being made to meet with Sen John Breaux who is on the
Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee. Again, this is
difficult since none of us lives in Baton Rouge (the capital) and I live
3.5 hours away!. I have coordinated a talk which will be given by John
Connolly from JSC. The talk will be at the Univ of Louisiana at
Lafayette sometime around the middle of October. The final date has not
been set. John, as most of you know, is a heavy hitter in Mars
exploration, especially the robotic missions. Anyone living remotely
close to Lafayette, please feel free to come to the talk. I will send an
update once the date is finalized.
+ Maine
Mary Ellen Symanski, mailto:mesphd@aol.com
No report.
+ Massachusetts
Troy Hudson, mailto:thudson@MIT.EDU
No report.
+ MD, DC, VA
Theresa Klein, mailto: tjk2@ix.netcom.com
New contact, no report.
+ Michigan
Aaron Oesterle, mailto:CharlesO@voyager.net
No report.
+ Minnesota
Ben Huset, mailto:BenHuset@skypoint.com
No report.
+ Minnesota Youth Chapter
Kevin Kelly, mailto:pkelly@pop.isd.net
No report.
+ Mississippi
Garry Speer, mailto:VMSmith1@aol.com
We are still in organizational turmoil, and thus far have no plans or
activities. Please be assured that this will change in the future, but
all takes time.
+ Nebraska
Harry Jordan, mailto:hajordan@esu3.esu3.k12.ne.us
No report.
+ Nevada
Shawn Plunket, mailto:SPlunket@aol.com
No report.
+ New Jersey
Paul Rockman, mailto:prockman@turbo.kean.edu
No report.
+ New York
Paul Contursi, mailto: pcon@pipeline.com
This summer, George Smith, Andrew Hoppin and Paul Contursi were
interviewed on Cosmic Visions, an internet based TV webcast at
Spacwatch.com. Spacewatch is the only web site that webcasts three
different programs devoted to astronomy and space subject matter to an
internet audience. All three members made the most of an excellent
opportunity to plug the Mars Society and its goals. Paul Contursi, the
new New York Chapter president, was invited back to Spacewatch.com two
weeks later to appear in a one-on-one interview on Deep Sky. During that
30 minute webcast, he plugged the Society, the arctic research station
and campaigned for new members. On September 15, the chapter set up
(chiefly due to the tireless work of George Smith) two speaking
engagements for Dr. Robert Zubrin in connection with the tour for his
new book, Entering Space. Dr. Zubrin lectured at Polytechnic University
in Brooklyn and at New York University. The chapter collected scores of
new mailing list contacts and passed out nearly 200 brochures containing
an open invitation to our next meeting on 10/16. Efforts are now
underway to advertise the meeting on the internet and local radio.
+ New Mexico
Eric Orrill, mailto:eorrill@jntsw.com
For now, nothing to report outside the activities of our Los Alamos
group. I hope to have that fixed by the next report.
+ Northern New Mexico Chapter (or Los Alamos Chapter)
Lisa Ice, ice@cs.unm.edu
We shared a display with the New Mexico Space Society following a
lecture by Ray Bradbury. We had eight new people sign up as interested
and handed out a large number of brochures. We also gave a copy of "The
Case for Mars" to Mr. Bradbury, along with a brochure. Mr. Bradbury
provided a great deal of support for our cause by talking about how
important it is that we go to Mars, although he had apparently never
hear of the Mars Society. I highly recommend similar outreach efforts to
any other chapters located where Mr. Bradbury is lecturing.
+ North Dakota, Central
North Dakota Chapter
John Cable, jrjohn@martin.ndak.net
I will be visiting the University of North Dakota on October 10 to see
their Space Studies Department and Engineering department. I already
have contacts there, so after I graduate from high school this year, I
should have a much easier time getting more people involved in a
University setting.
+ North Dakota, Eastern
Jonathan Hovland, mailto:fenix@thequest.net
No report.
+ Ohio
Tam Czarnik, mailto:patttam@erinet.com
PRESENTATIONS: On 27 Sept 99 Ohio Chapter's Public Outreach Coordinator
Monica Simmons and I make a 'Mars Direct' and Mars Society presentation
to the assembled Science Staff of Oakwood High School near Dayton,
hopefully leading to a series of presentations to groups of students.
Basic introductory packets have been mailed/faxed to over 2 dozen
schools, professors, museums etc. Tom Lucero and Monica have been
trained to make the 'Mars Direct' presentations; he will present at
CONTEXT (SF Con) in Columbus and Monica will present at Oakwood, both
with backup from me if needed. Tom has his Slide set (purchased for each
Branch Head); Monica prefers to use the transparencies I made and used
last year.
MEDIA: Columbus Branch Head Tom Lucero was interviewed on radio & TV
last week. Local TV station asking for Haughton Crater footage, but I'm
told Nat'l Geographic has the rights: we're looking for alternate
materials. Half a dozen TV/Radio stations contacted; local paper sending
a reporter to interview me.
EDUCATION: Latest 'Aerospace Medicine 101' paper, 'Medical Emergencies
in Spaceflight', should be available from the Ohio website at
http://www.drfast.net/mars/ within a week; all papers researched,
written and Net-published for the Mars Society - Ohio Chapter.
POLITICS: We wrote/faxed over a dozen letters (how MANY more, I don't
know: that's only how many I personally faxed on for various members) to
Senators and other Representatives re: NASA funding. Political Activism
Head Jeff Roche is busily contacting Reps to make more appointments.
OTHER: Columbus Branch meeting on 2 Oct. 99. Getting a 'register to
receive' icon for the biweekly Newsletter we publish (for Ohio members)
on our website. Branch Heads collecting volunteers for CONTEXT and MSDC
in October.
+ Oklahoma
John Ohlheiser, mailto:JPO10708@aol.com
No report.
+ Oregon, Eugene-Salem
Erik Carlstrom, mailto:esms@nw.net
No report.
+ Oregon, Northern (Portland)
Robert Lilly, mailto:Breakout@compuserve.com
No report.
+ Oregon, Southern
Harold Miller, mailto:peabody@wayback.com
No report.
+ Central PA /Penn State University Mars Society Chapter
Wojciech Klimkiewicz, Ph.D., mailto:w wxk10@psu.edu
No report.
+ Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Independence Chapter
Gary Fisher, mailto:GCFisheris@aol.com
No report.
+ Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Dan Hussain, mailto:DanHussain@aol.com
I am a new chapter contact for Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania. I have just
began to organize a group in Pittsburgh since my move this summer from
Chicago. In Chicago last year I was involved in their chapter, and I
was their webmaster and continue to be their list-moderator.
Since my move to Johnstown, PA, I began to collect names of people who
are interested in forming a group here. (We are a year behind most
other groups, but better late than never, right?) I already have 3-4
people who have expressed very positive interest, and am still waiting
for the rest of the approx. 20 people who are part of the Mars Society
in the Pittsburgh/Johnstown area to respond.
+ Puerto Rico
Jose Lopez Reyes, mailto:skyloop@caribe.net
Nothing to 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:SBell@JPI.com
No report.
+ Texas, Houston
Chris Barnes, mailto:USAMarsMan@aol.com
I have sent a letter to TomDeLay urging him to vote against any budget
cuts to NASA. A copy was sent to all chapter members, urging the rest to
do the same. Francis Govers has sent letters to his representative Kevin
Brady. He also sent letters to Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Phil Gramm.
Brady responded with a 2 page letter expressing his support for NASA.
Rep. Brady also sent a copy of a letter he gave to Tom DeLay outlining
his support for NASA and proposed that the cuts be reconsidered.
Mr. Brady said that Tom Delay is very much in support of our cause and
would Be using his considerable influence in the debate. Mr. Brady
finished to say That the NASA budget was likely to be restored in the
Senate/House conference committee.
The next meeting of the Mars Society of Houston will convene on October
10, 1999 at 4PM.
On to Mars!!!!
+ 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
No report.
+ West Virginia
Robert Strong, mailto:strongro@WLSVAX.WVNET.EDU
No report.
+ Wisconsin
Jason Orloff, mailto:Orloff@cae.wisc.edu
No report.
+ Wyoming
Wyoming Chapter
Patrick Banks, PAT@uwyo.edu
The Wyoming Chapter is still rather disorganized. I'd like to get an
e-mail list set up so our members can stay in communication. I live in
Laramie where I attend the University of Wyoming, and I hope to recruit
more members from campus whenever I can find the time. Besides getting
more organized, I'd like our chapter to set up meetings with the members
of our congressional delegation (all three), and build our membership.
Hope to have more to report in the future.
+ Youth Chapter
Kathleen Bohne, mailto:tatenova@aol.com
No report.
** International Chapters **
+ Argentina, Latin America
Jorge Mermoz, mailto:JMermoz@bds.esc.edu.ar
No report.
+ Argentina, Latin America
Gabriel Rshaid, mailto:GRshaid@marsacademy.com
No report.
+ Australia
Andrew Hamilton, mailto:ahamilto@nsw.bigpond.net.au
The Sydney Chapter had a meeting last Thursday (9/23/99) with nine
attendees. Various projects were discussed, including the Zubrin tour
and contributions to the M.A.R.S. base.
+ Belgium
Antoon Van Boxstael, mailto:Antoon@hotmail.com
No report.
+ Canada
Marc Boucher, mailto: webmaster@marssociety.org
The Toronto chapter will next meet on Thursday, September 30th at 7pm.
For more information see the Toronto web site @
http://chapters.marssociety.org/toronto/.
The Victoria chapter will next meet on Wednesday, 20 October 1999, 7:00
pm. For more information please visit the Victoria web site at
http://members.home.net/marsvic/.
No report from Montreal or Vancouver.
+ 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
Michitaka Onizuka, mailto:onizuka@colorado.edu
No report.
+ Mexico
Rich Robins, mailto: Mars@SpaceProjects.com
The Mexico Chapter's founder and president just got back from the Space
Frontier Foundation's 8th annual convention (in Los Angeles, California,
U.S.A.) less than two hours ago. I had a blast talking with all those
NASA employees and NASA fans. Meanwhile that university conference I'd
mentioned hearing about and being willing to participate in over in the
relatively nearby city of Puebla has still not been assigned a date
although I'm keeping my cyber-ears open.
+ Netherlands
Arno Wielders, mailto:arnoux@strw.leidenuniv.nl
No report.
+ 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
Indeed it seems like only yesterday, but those were two busy weeks for
us here, in Poland. A few days ago in the Space Research Center in
Warsaw (part of the Polish Academy of Sciences) there was a convention
devoted to the theme of space travels, with a strong focus on Mars. We
entered in contact with a lot of very interesting people. First, with
PTA (Polish Astronautical Society). We will start a close cooperation
with them, begining with some help in creating their WWW site. They are
printing a periodic called "Astronautyka" -- we will write articles
about Mars for them, probably regularly. Also, we received invitation to
COSPAR (conference of the Commitee on Space Research) which will take
place in Warsaw, July 2000. I guess it will be a great occasion to meet
new people, also it would be good if we could give some speech during
the convention (but it is not sure yet, we have almost a year to settle
things after all).
The second great contact we made is with the team who builds polish
components for the Rosetta lander and Mars Express (both ESA's
projects). We talked with Dr Marek Banaszkiewicz (Space Research
Center), who is the leader of the team. He agreed to write an article
about their work to be put on our web site. Also, we talked with Dr
Stanislaw Zurkowski, who works in the Aero-Engines Department. We hope
to maintain a close link to all those people, as they are very important
and precious partners for us.
One more thing: I'm almost done with a new design of our web page. Hope
it'll be better, nicer & more attractive...
+ 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, Pennisular
Alexander Hristov, mailto:ahristov@psd.es
No report.
+ Sweden/Scandinavia
Claes-Gustaf Nordquist, mailto:c_g_nordquist@yahoo.com
Nothing new to report.
+ 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
Work continues finalising the details of Robert Zubrin's 3-day UK tour.
Talks have been set up with the following universities and institutions:
Surrey University
Leicester University
St. Andrew's University
The Surrey Space Centre
The Institute of Mechanical Engineers
In addition, negotiations are in progress for Robert to speak at
Imperial College, London, and to be interviewed by the BBC World
Service. The Mars Society UK trade stand will be on display during the
tour, and the Society will be supporting the Beagle 2 project with Dr.
Mark Sims sharing the platform with Dr. Zubrin at Leicester University.
The Society continues towards official formation as a UK company limited
by guarantee. The initial board will comprise 3 individuals, but will be
rapidly expanded as the organisation grows. As a major part of this
process, we are developing a comprehensive "business plan", to define
the steps and actions required to enable Britain to play a role in the
Society's goal to "Explore and settle the Red Planet".
Forthcoming outreach opportunities (beside Robert Zubrin's tour) include
speakers at the forthcoming UK-SEDS conference, and a major
science-fiction convention in Scotland.
** Task Forces/Special Interests **
+ Administrative Director
Maggie Zubrin, mailto:mzubrin@aol.com
Nothing new.
+ Education
Tom Becker, mailto:tombecker@primary.net
No report.
+ Fundraising
Kristin Boekhoff, mailto:kristin.k.boekhoff@us.pwcglobal.com
A couple of you have requested pledge cards and instructions, but there
are still many more chapters out there who can participate. We can't get
to Mars on good will alone, so please take the initiative to start a
pledge campaign in your area. Fundraising experts say that most people
won't give money unless you ask them! Also, if you have rolled out the
pledge campaign in your area, please drop me a note and let me know how
it went!
+ Graphics & Production
Gary Hollingshead, mailto:garyah@imagineering-usa.com
We are currently working with the Jim Burke of the Seattle Chapter to
get ready the next version of the CD. Meetings have been scheduled to go
over content and design strategy. Also Sam Burbank of San Francisco
regarding conference video footage.
+ Internet Task Force
Marc Boucher - webmaster@marssociety.org
Harold Miller - peabody@wayback.net
I would like to bring to people's attention the fact that the Mars
Arctic Research Station task force has an official web site at
http://home.marssociety.org/arctic/. Since this project is so important
to the Mars Society some chapters might be inclined to create their own
site or page about it. However the official task force site will have
the most up to date and accurate information. With that in mind we ask
that you link to this site instead of creating your own site for the
project. This way we can present one comprehensive accurate site to the
public.
Thanks to the efforts of several people including Bruce Mackenzie,
Randall Severy and Jim Burk the following chapters and task forces now
have web sites on the Chapters web server.
Youth Task Force - http://chapters.marssociety.org/youth/
Civilization & Culture Group - http://home.marssociety.org/civ-culture/
Poland - http://chapters.marssociety.org/polska/
France - http://chapters.marssociety.org/france/
Northern California - http://chapters.marssociety.org/northca/
Central California - http://chapters.marssociety.org/centralca/
Oregon - http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/or/
New England - http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/ma/
Illinois - http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/il/
The Internet task force would also like to welcome Paul Wooster a new
member who will be helping with the main web site. Paul is an MIT
student studying Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. He can be
reached at the following email address mailto:producer@marssociety.org.
The Mars Society has signed up with two new affiliate programs. They are
eToys and Value America. Chapters will soon be able to place affiliate
items for sale on their web sites. Proceeds will go directly to Mars
Society projects.
The members area of the main site is in transition and will be revamped
over the next couple of months. Editing your profiles is not available
at this time.
Also, we upgraded our secure web site, it now uses a 128-bit certificate
for encryption (translation: higher security). Unfortunately it has
uncovered a weakness in some browsers. Exportable (i.e. international,
non-US) versions of Netscape Navigator will no longer read our secure
form, instead returning an error that says "The Server has returned bad
data." We're looking at some sort of work-around, but for now we're at a
loss. This problem should affect no other browsers that we are aware of.
In a related issue, if your browser complains of an "expired root
certificate", you can repair/upgrade your certificate by following the
instructions located at:
http://www.thawte.com/certs/server/rollover.html
+ Martian Civilization and Culture Group
(late Law and Governance Task Force)
Ruth Waterton, mailto:ruth@h2oton.freeserve.co.uk>
Nothing new.
+ Marketing
Maggie Zubrin, mailto:mzubrin@aol.com
See Administrative Director's report
+ Mars Arctic Task Force
Kurt Micheels, mailto:seedsmars@aol.com
No report.
+ Political & Public Outreach
Brian Frankie, mailto:brianf5070@aol.com, Chris Carberry
(ccarberry@masshist.org)
The MS Political Action Task Force has been working to restore funding
for NASA's FY 2000 budget. Last week, the Senate took $7 billion from
the education-HHS budget and gave it to the VA/HUD/IA budgets. $1
billion of this money was used to increase the proposed FY2000 NASA
budget to the full amount requested by the Administration. The role
that the Mars Society and other space advocacy organizations have
played in this has been very important. We are now working to make
sure that our members contact House and Senate members to support the
restored NASA funding through the reconciliation process. We urge all
members to keep up their good (and very important!) work.
+ MarsNews.com (www.marsnews.com)
Jim Burk (jburk@jburk.com) -- Managing Editor / Webmaster
No report.
+ Ares: The Mars Society's CDROM (home.marssociety.org/ares)
Jim Burk (jburk@jburk.com) -- Project leader / Content Director
No report.
+ Provisional Members' Council
Chris Vancil, CVANCIL@aol.com
No report.
+ New Mars
Richard Wagner, mailto:campr2@javanet.com
Hope to have a "dummy" site designed and available for compliments and
criticism (the former welcomed, the latter tolerated) (that's a joke) by
the next RPSR. With the able help of Ruth Waterton, noodling around the
development of a fiction "issue" of New Mars.
+ Mars Polar Lander Mirror Site
Richard Wagner, mailto:campr2@javanet.com
We are on the verge of going forward with the purchase of equipment the
mirror site will require (and that will serve the Mars Society's own
needs once the mirror site traffic ebbs and the site itself comes down).
I would like to have a number of member profiles as part of the content
that describes the Mars Society. Chapter heads/contacts, help me out
here. Any intriguing members close at hand? A quality snapshot (no
Klingon, Marvin the Martian etc. outfits please) and 100-200 word
bio/profile would fit the bill for me. Drop me a line, if you can help.
=====================================
Richard Wagner, editor/writer
25 Main Street, Suite 214
Northampton, MA 01060
campr2@javanet.com
voice 413/584-9941 fax 413/584-8170
If you haven't joined the Mars Society yet ...
what on Earth are you waiting for?
http://www.marssociety.org
New Mars - a journal of the Martian frontier
http://www.newmars.com/