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| Vol. 2, No. 3 | March 2000 |
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The purpose of the Red Planet Satellite Report is to provide up to date information to both our membership and the general public on the many activities of the Mars Society chapters, task forces and Chapter's Council. Please use the Table of Contents to quickly access those sections of the report that are of primary interest to you.
Welcome to the Red Planet Satellite Report for March 2000. In the pages of this report you will learn about the many projects and activities of the world wide network of Mars Society chapters. You will also learn about what is going on in the Chapter's Council and in the many Task Forces that the Mars Society has established to further the goal of human exploration of the planet Mars.While you're here, make sure to check out the Special Offer that is being made available to the chapters of the Mars Society.
If you have read previous versions of the Red Planet Satellite Report you will notice something different. We've migrated from a straight text version of the report to one that takes advantage of the formatting capabilities of HTML.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank Richard Wagner, the former editor of the Red Planet Satellite Report for his long hours of work on this project.
To learn how you can contribute to the Red Planet Satellite Report, please read the Submission Guidelines section. The deadline for submitting materials for inclusion in the next issue is the last day of the month. We want to hear from you!
I want to hear from you to. If you would like to make suggestions regarding the format of the Red Planet Satellite Report just send me an email.
Thank You,
Jim Plaxco, Editor
Welcome to the Chapter's Council News. Here you can read about the most recent activities of the Chapter's Council as well as finding out how you can participate in our various projects and contribute to our success.Index to Chapter's Council News
Overview of January - February 2000 Activities Call for Volunteers Are You Represented? The Chapter's Council Web Sites Chapter's Council Membership
Overview of January - February 2000 Activities
The Mars Society Chapter's Council officially began business on February 1, 2000. The Chapter's Council is the successor to the Provisional Members Council whose mission was to put in place a structure that would make it possible for the members and chapters of the Mars Society to have a higher level of input to and feedback from the Mars Society proper. This included drafting a set of By-laws for the council and submitting them to the membership for a vote of approval. The By-laws vote passed by an overwhelming margin with only two votes against.
In order to smooth the transition process, transitional Chapter's Council officers and backups were nominated and voted upon in late January 2000 by the members of the Provisional Members Council. The results of these elections were as follows:
In addition to electing transition officers, the PMC created a conceptual agenda to serve as a jumping off point for the Chapter's Council. Items on this agenda included:
High Priority (A):
Medium Priority (B):
- Developing a chapter/council district registration page
- Setting up a Chapter's Council web page at marssociety.org
- Making up a list of suggested committees.
- Making up a list of recommended additions/clarifications to the bylaws to the permanent council for review
- Making up a list of suggested Chapter's Council initiated task forces
- Making up a list of projects for the Chapter's Council to tackle.
Low Priority (C):
- How to collect member input for permanent council.
- Additional representation for large chapters & task forces.
- How long should the Chapter's Council use this egroups site.
- What information should be stored in the vault.
- Setting up a separate private site for voting.
- Additional council functions.
- Methods of Communication.
Prior to the Chapter's Council "opening day", chapters were called upon to elect representatives to the Chapter's Council. Any chapter with 10 or more members, or any grouping of chapters with 10 or more members, is entitled to send a representative to the Chapter's Council. Voting for representatives was completed by a number of chapters in time for the February 1 start of business. As of this writing, the elected representatives to the Chapter's Council are:
- Develop a survey like our Conceptual Agenda to the membership to get an idea of the priority the membership would like us to take.
- What would the role of chapters versus task forces be?
Unfortunately, a number of chapters have not yet elected their representative. In order to maximize the effectiveness of the Chapter's Council, it is critical that all chapters participate. It's not to late. To find out how to proceed, send an email to the Mars Society Chapter's Council requesting instructions on how to elect a representative to the Chapter's Council.Following the election of the chapter representatives, nominations for officer positions were made and voted upon. Please note that prior to these elections, the position of Council Executive and Vice-Executive were renamed to Council Chair and Vice-Chair respectively. The results of the officer elections were as follows:
Following the completion of elections, the council began work identifying issues to be addressed and tasks to be undertaken by the Council. These issues and tasks were organized according to priority. Following a period of discussion and a polling of the council members, the items to be acted upon were placed on the agenda for the month of March and are identified in the following table.
March Monthly Agenda Table
Rank Brief Description Detailed description or URL for one 1 Building a chapters council website within the Mars Society website Self explanatory 1 Prepare council introduction tools for new members self explanatory 2 Writing chapter handbook This could include both a general manual and a starter kit 2 Chapters starter kit http://www.egroups.com/group/mschapterscouncil/545.html? 3 Member opinion poll web page This poll will be used to gather information of use in better serving our constituants as well as planning outreach content and policy. 3 Setting up committee to review dues collection and distribution Is any needed? 4 Setting up communication committee. This committee will work to improve communication between all parts of the Mars Society starting with improving communication of council business. 4 Setting up a Speaker's Bureau ... to place volunteer speakers at chapter and outside group meetings, especially when they are traveling. 5 Taking over the Red Planet Satellite Report Should the council take over this function as part of its communication function? This is supported by the person currently responsible-Richard Wagner 5 How to get more people on the council The PMC envisioned a council with 30 to 75 members in order to be able to tackle a wide variety of issues. We are short on both officers and people willing to actively participate in committees. We have more ideas than time. We need more members. 6 Setting up Mars FAQ web page This will include questions and answers for both the general public and Mars Society members. 6 Public opinion poll web page This poll will be used to gather information of use in planning outreach content and policy. 6 Setting Up Technical Advisory Task Force This task force will be composed of experts which will answer technical questions chapters and task forces may have outside the expertise of their members. This task force is not intended to replace the technical task force. 6 Setting up bylaws review committee This committee will review both the council and national bylaws and make recommendations on any changes they see needed. 6 Setting up a policy review committee. This committee would respond to member and council questions on policy. It would develop policies to be approved by the entire council and then the board of directors. 6 Setting up space advocacy group coordination committee This committee would work to coordinate policy and activities with other space advocacy groups. 6 Reviewing the addition of non-elected (and non-voting) support personnel to the council. I think this has already been covered, but it is added in case anyone disagrees. 6 Changing council name to "member's council" to reflect the original intentions of many of those who met at the '99 convention to set up a "member's council", and to encourage participation by those living where it would be impractical to form a chapter. 999 Setting up a task force support committee This committee would work to find resources of information, people, or anything else needed by task forces. 999 Prepare egroups introduction/help manual for new council members This could include example application of the bylaws, guidelines on how to use council tools efficiently, and address any other issues new council members feel are confusing. 999 Mars Society slide ad for Cinemas Shepard production of slide promoting Mars Society to be shown in Cinemas 999 should the bylaws committee reconsider the one-vote per chapter rule 999 Setting up a uniform committee structure so that we don't have to specify how the committee discusses, votes, reports; or if non-chpt-reps' can be on a committee,.... for each committee set up
One of the first tasks to be undertaken has been the creation of a committee to develop a Chapter's Council web site. One purpose of this web site will be to serve as a source for information about the ongoing activities of the Chapter's Council. Another purpose of the site will be to fulfill another high-priority task that has been identified by the council: the creation of a Chapter Handbook. The purpose of the Chapter Handbook is to provide both new and existing chapters with the information necessary to organize, maintain and grow a chapter. In addition, it has been decided to form a permanent Chapters Startup Committee whose purpose will be to assist in starting new chapters and helping them grow to the point of self sufficiency.If you have ideas that you would like to contribute to the Chapters Startup Committee or would like to find out how to participate in its activities, please send an email to the Mars Society Chapter's Council.
In keeping with the principle of improved communications, the Chapter's Council has also taken on the responsibility of producing the Red Planet Satellite Report, a task previously performed by Richard Wagner. The purpose of the Red Planet Satellite Report has been expanded to include reporting of the activities of the Chapter's Council.
Call for Volunteers
Did you know that you can contribute to the success of the Chapter's Council? You can! Right now, we members of the Chapter's Council have our hands full. Projects already underway include:If you would like to make suggestions on any of these projects or have an idea for a project that should be undertaken by the Chapter's Council, then please send an email to the Mars Society Chapter's Council.
- developing a Chapter Starter Kit to assist both new and old chapters in their endeavours
- building a Chapter's Council web site to better communicate with the Mars Society members and to disseminate useful information.
- taking over production of the Red Planet Satellite Report
Are You Represented?
Currently there are many chapters that are going unrepresented in the Chapter's Council. It is imperative that every chapter participate in the activities of the Chapter's Council. In order to have a representative elected to the Chapter's Council, a chapter, or a group of chapters combined, must have at least 10 Mars Society members in good standing.Even though the council has begun its activities, it is still not to late to add your voice to the proceedings. To find out more about how you can have a representative on the Chapter's Council, please send an email to the Mars Society Chapter's Council.
The Chapter's Council Web Sites
The Chapter's Council is developing a web site to document the activities of the Council and to serve as a resource site for both the chapters and general membership of the Mars Society. The site will be located at
URL=<http://chapters.marssociety.org/>.An Announcement of Availability will be sent out once this site is online.
For information on the membership of the Chapter's Council, please see the Chapter's Council Membership section of this report.
You can follow many of the ongoing activities of the Chapter's Council by visiting the Mars Society's Chapter's Council area on the eGroups web site.
The Chapters Council is currently made up of the following individuals:
Officer Representative Representing Chapter Jim Beyer Michigan Sam Burbank California, Northern Ombudsman Erik Carlstrom Oregon Stephen DeVoy Arizona, Tucson Serina Diniega California, CALTECH-JPL Matt Dumstorf Ohio James Eberhardt Georgia Secretary of the Agenda
OmbudsmanMark Eby Alabama Secretary of Documentation
Secretary of VotingGary Fisher Pennsylvania Matthew Giovanelli Wisconsin Richard Heidmann France Lisa Ice New Mexico Carmen Marra Canada, Toronto Council Vice-Chair Piotr Moskal Poland Secretary of Communication Jim Plaxco Illinois Raimund Scheucher Germany Council Chair Chris Vancil Washington, Puget Sound Paul Wooster New England Veronica Ann Zabala Arizona, Phoenix
CC Member Spotlight
Stacy Makus, is currently a volunteer for the Chapter's Council and was previously a member of the Provisional Member's Council. She has just started a new Mars Society Chapter in Flagstaff, Arizona. Stacy lives and works in the Tourism Industry in the Grand Canyon(where she has logged 200 hiking miles). She will be moving to Northern California mid-summer to pursue her studies in biochemistry. She is active within the council and helping with chapter start-ups. Stacy is looking for any members in the South Dakota and Montana. Please feel free to contact her concerning any Mars Society Issues.
Return to the Chapter's Council Index
You can use the following index to go directly to the chapter of your choice. Use your Browser's "Back" button to return to this index.
Contact: mailto:maeby@zebra.netWe at the Mars Society on the campus of the University of Alabama in Huntsville were delighted to discover that there is a second Alabama chapter floating around somewhere south of here.
The Mars or Bust buttons were a hit both before the meeting and during the "Mars Minute!" program. Plans are underway for a joint Mars Society/SEDS/AIAA meeting during Space Week (March 6-10) to host a speaker (probably me, Daniel Slosberg) to talk about Mars Exploration. I'd like to thank Bruce MacKenzie for the slides and presentation packet.Shane Smith (camper79@eb.uah.edu) and Timothy Weaver (weaverta@email.uah.edu) are organizing money raising efforts to send 10 students to the Toronto conference in August. If anyone knows of corporations who might be willing to help college students defray the cost of travel, please let any one of us know.
Several of our group are gearing up for their ride on the Vomit Comet in early March and have their experiment ready to go.
Three new members joined this month and we are still looking for members wishing to actively participate in chapter projects. Any Alabama residents interested in actively participating in the chapter should send a message to msalabama@egroups.com.
I think that's all for now. Greetings to Mark Eby (maeby@zebra.net) and the other half of the Alabama chapter. On to Mars!
Contact: mailto:MD-R@msn.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:JMakus3339@aol.comThe Flagstaff Chapter will be having it's first meeting on April 1 at the Flagstaff Public Library at 3:00 pm. We will be discussing the direction we would like the Flagstaff Chapter to take with possiblity of future meetings at the Lowell Observatory.
Stacy T. Makus, Flagstaff Chapter Contact
Contact: mailto:GEOBUM@prodigy.net
Web Site: http://frontpage.inficad.com/~azmars
Veronica Ann Zabala is the Contact and Representative for the Phoenix Chapter of the Mars Society. She is also the Chapter President for the Arizona State University Chapter. Since January, we have been very busy establishing membership within Arizona and as of this week, March 8, 2000...Arizona now has the following Chapters that are fully active: Arizona State University, Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff. Steve DeVoy is the Representative for the Tucson Chapter and Stacey makus is the Contact and Representative for the Flagstaff Chapter.
On February 18, 2000, we had our first meeting at Arizona State University (ASU) where ASU members and Phoenix members got together to discuss membership and future projects and election of officers. nathan Koren is acting Vice President for ASU. Ernest Proper is acting Webmaster for the Phoenix and ASU Chapters.
http://frontpage.inficad.com/~azmars, is our URL. Any comments or suggestions to our website will be greatly appreciated.
On March 10, 2000, the ASU Chapter will be holding a Funding/Pizza Party held at ASU and will be held between 12-1pm in the geology Bldg. on the 5th floor of the Planetary Geology Department. Dr. Ronald Greeley is the advisor for the ASU Chapter and without him, the ASU Chapter would not be in existance at this present time. The fee is $5.00 per person for the party. During the party, new membership will be addressed and the selling of the mars Society T-shirts and Calenders will take place.
On March 10, 2000, four people from the Phoenix Chapter will be manning local theaters to sign on new members and to sell Mars T-shirts, calenders and flags. Educational outreach materials will be handed out to promote education to the general public about Mars and the Society and where humanity is headed in the new millenium. I, personally, want to thank the following men for helping the Society out during this movie project: Cornel Choskey, Geoff Thomas, Nathan Koren and Ernest Proper. I will be going to both locations and helping out these gentleman and giving moral support during this evening.
On March 11, 2000, the Phoenix Chapter will be holding a meeting at a local restrurant to which the ASU and Tucson Chapters are more than welcome to attend. Issues that will be discussed: new membership, fundraising activities, upgrade of Chapter URL, implementation of Mars Curriculum in local school disctrict, future guest speaker(s), possible fieldtrips, etc. The meeting will be held at Chili's restrurant off of Mill Avenue and University right by ASU. It will be held between 12-1:30pm and everyone will equally split the cost of food since funds are very limited.
On May 25-29, 2000, the ASU and Phoenix Chapters will be volunteering time to help out with the ISDC Conference that will be held in Tucson at the Holiday Inn City Center. The Chapter will receive Sponsership status from teh Convention in return for our services. This will look great on our "resume". So far, there are 10 people who are willing to help out. Dr. Robert Zubrin will be on hand to sign books at our table.
On April 21, 2000, Astrobiologist, Jack Farmer will be discussing life on Mars and in the Solar System. The meeting will be open to all that are interested (Tucson, ASU, Phoenix, Flagstaff, etc) and will be held from 12-1pm on the 5th floor of the Geology Bldg. in the Geology Conference room.
Every week new opportunities are revealed to us and right now we are just going with the flow. We encourage anyone that is within Arizona to stop by and join one of our meetings/events. Our E-mail is always open to anyone with a love for Mars and Human Space Exploration. Our Chapters have very strong feelings about promoting educational outreach and since our resources are limited we encourage everyone to write to their state's Congressman/woman to encourage them to vote for increasing funds for the Space Program and education. If you have any outreach materials that are collecting dust in your cabinets, please send it our way.
Contact: mailto:aschultz@Seds.orgAfter forming our chapter here in Tucson our first decision, as one might expect, involved our form of governance. We have chosen to experiment with direct democracy. Under this form of government our decisions will be made collectively and no individual member of the chapter will be given the title of president. When it becomes necessary for an individual to organize or oversee a particular project we will elect an individual to do so. The only official, standing positions will be that of chapter contact and national representative for the purpose of interfacing with the national organization, satellite chapters, and the public at large.
We are currently working on the following projects
- Outreach at 1 or 2 movie theaters in town for the opening of "Mission to Mars"
- Construction of a large 3-D Mars Pathfinder panorama to be used in public outreach
- Involvement in the National Space Society's International Space Development Conference which is to be held here in Tucson (see http://www.tucson2000.org/)
- A monthly speaker series focused on human exploration of Mars
Contact: mailto:bowenw@alpha.obu.edu
No report.
Contact: mailto:dms@caltech.edu
Web Site: http://mars.caltech.edu/Report from Caltech/JPL Mars Society: Howdy, everyone--I'm writing from Space2000 in Albuquerque, NM, where I'm visiting Grandma, faxing work back to angry profs, and presenting a first look at our chapter's latest version of the Caltech Mars Society Mission, v. 3.0. It is coming along great thanks to the hard work of Chris Hirata and Nathan Brown, and we are having a naming contest as "Caltech Mars Society Mission" is sort of a clunker. E-mail as many entries as you want to mars@caltech.edu.
POLITICAL ACTIVITY:
With the CA primary a week away, we hope to see the remaining presidential candidates (Bush, Gore, McCain--we already saw Bradley) in the next few days. Hope to have good news to report soon!MISSION TO MARS:
Got an e-mail asking us about it, so I thought I'd point out our "Resources Page" with copious PDF handouts. I'll try to put up the latest publisher files of our top 3 handouts + Mars petition specific sign-ups over the weekend, as they are more up to date and you can put your own groups contact info on them--they are great for xeroxing. The link is:
http://mars.caltech.edu/resources.html
Contact: mailto:traveler@cyberlynk.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:bweitze@california.com
We did not have a meeting in February, but we still hope to open our March meeting with a general interest lecture, open to the public. We also expect to have booths or tables at movie openings for Mission to Mars, but specific plans have not been made yet.Lily Cella has set up a Sister Chapter agreement with Rene Shaad of the Swiss Chapter. She will be e-mailing meeting minutes to him from now on, and he will be sending us similar material.
Kevin Hand, the Northern California chapter's "wandering star", is currently in Edinburgh, Scotland, having made it back from Africa. Kevin says he had a "fantastic adventure . . . talked to lots of kids about space, life in the universe, and Mars." He also gave a well-attended Mars Society talk in Cumbria, England.
Contact: mailto:jedynak@sileas.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:bjarvis@ezlink.com
Web Site: http://www.rmms.org/Tom Burke spoke at our last meeting about potassium bicarbonate as a cheap way to fight bone loss in zero-g. In the previous meeting, Kurt Micheels talked about his research into analog space habitats. Kurt has asked us to contribute to the design of the M.A.R.S. living quarters. Next month we will be hosting the Steering Committee meeting in Boulder. For more news, visit our web site.
Contact: mailto:r.e.brodeur@mindspring.comNext chapter meeting is tentatively scheduled for May 6th at Cape Canaveral. No other news to report.
Dick Brodeur (mail r.e.brodeur@mindspring.com )
Contact: mailto:mkretsch@compassusa.comWhere we are going...
Where we are meeting...
Be there, March 11th 12:00 noon Rocky Mtn Pizza, at 10th and Hemphill, Atlanta Ga.
Contact Needed. Volunteers, please contact mailto:mzubrin@aol.com
No Report
Contact: mailto:clstruble@earthlink.net
No report.
Contact: Matthew Lowry, lowryclan@geocities.com
Web Site: http://www.astrodigital.org/marschicago/
No report.
Contact: Matt Lowry at lowryclan@geocities.com
Web Site: http://www.astrodigital.org/nsms
Movie Outreach -- I contacted the general manager over at the Rivertree Court Theater in Vernon Hills a few days ago, and he said that if they got the "Mission to Mars" movie, our chapter would be welcome to have an information booth there in the lobby! I followed up by giving him a Mars Society brochure, and I'll be talking with him about arrangements within a week's time.Other possible theaters for outreach are the Regal Cinema in Lincolnshire and Gurnee Mills in Gurnee. Updates to come when we get word back from those checking these out.
We came up with a display for our information table:
* Mars Petition
* Mars Society Brochures (old and new?)
* Flyer on next meeting of North Shore Chapter
* Possibly some books on humans-to-Mars ("Case for Mars", etc.)
* Mars Society sign up/contact sheets
* Mars Flag and globe of Mars
Dinner at Lovell's -- We'd like to put together a joint meeting and dinner with the Chicago chapters at Lovell's restaraunt in Lake Forest sometime in June. This could turn into an annual event, if everyone likes the idea. To get us started on this, we're going to write a letter to Jim Lovell inviting him to join us at this meeting/dinner.Presentations of the Mars Society -- New presentations of the Mars Society were discussed. The following were specific organizations need contacting...
* Lake County Astronomical Society
* Northwestern University - Possible joint presentation with Chicago?
* College of Lake County
* Lake Forest College
In addition, we have two major presentations coming up...* Lake Forest High School - Craig Segall will present in April
* Skokie Valley Astronomical Society - Matt Lowry will present in June
Political Outreach -- Richard Price had the opportunity to spend an exclusive 30 minutes with one of the representatives running for the U.S. House of Representatives 10th District seat (the one to be left vacant by Potter), Terry Gladman. During this conversation, Mr. Gladman was asked about his commitment to NASA, Space Sciences and the prospect of a manned mission to Mars in the very near term. He was very candid and expressed his very strong support for space sciences as well as strong support for a manned mission to Mars.One last thing, would it be possible for us to get some of the new Mars Society brochures if they're available before the 10th of March? If you've got some to give, I can send you my home address and you can mail them to me. They'd be nice to have a theater outreach and presentations.
NEXT NORTH SHORE CHAPTER MEETING:
Thursday, March 2nd @ 5:30-6:30PM
Lake Forest High School, rm 224
Ad Astra -- Matt Lowry, NSMS chapter contact
Contact: mailto:astro@astrodigital.org
Web Site: http://www.astrodigital.org/mss/
Jim Plaxco was a panelist on three space related panels at the Capricon science fiction convention. He took the opportunity to speak about the Mars Society and to distribute Mars Society literature to those in attendance.
Contact: mailto:sresler@eyeworld.net
No report.
Contact: mailto:kosborne@eai.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:HKellogg@feist.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:cshynes@cp-tel.net
No report.
Contact: mailto:tjk2@ix.netcom.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:jedwards@umich.eduWeb Site: http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/mi/ We have made progress on several fronts this month. Tony Galdikas has done a great job bringing our website up to date! And Chad Ohlandt has updated the political action area of the site. Mike Hudson provided images of progress to date on our Hab project, which were also added to the website.
Julie Edwards was able to personally hand Tipper Gore a copy of The Case for Mars at a rally in Novi MI. Jim Beyer and Randy Hessler are working on a money-making project, still in the planning stage. Jim and Julie were able to aquire a used booth which we will be able to use at future events.
Our meetings are still being held on the University of Michigan campus once a month. Info on the website. In May, we plan to be involved with the "What's Up Weekend" at the Jackson Space Center on the campus of Jackson Community College in Jackson MI.
Contact: mailto:BenHuset@skypoint.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:VMSmith1@aol.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:Ghoward683@aol.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:dmdventures@hotmail.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:SPlunket@aol.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:sjrussel@MIT.EDU
No report.
Contact Needed. Volunteers, please contact mailto:mzubrin@aol.com
No report.
Contact: Eric Orrill, mailto:eorrill@jntsw.com
We are organizing an event in conjunction with the New Mexico Space Society (the state chapter of the NSS) to do outreach for the Mission to Mars movie. Outreach is currently planned to occur at the largest movie theater in New Mexico, and will have substantial media coverage courtesy of the theater promotions manager.As part of our outreach, we'll have:
- A joint display for the New Mexico Space Society and the Mars Society
- The National Space Society's Mission to Mars Viewer's Guide
- The ThinkMars petition
- NSS and Mars Society brochures
- New Mexico Space Society brochures
- Brochures for the local chapters of the Mars Society
- ISDC 2001 (an Albuquerque event) and other space-related
- organizational flyers
- Sales of space and Mars-related items.
Contact: mailto:ice@cs.unm.edu
We have travel mugs! They are burgundy with the Mars Society logo and the words "Opening the Next Frontier, www.marssociety.org." We'll be making them available for other chapters at a small markup in mid-March (unless they all disappear at the Mission to Mars outreach event).We've increased our membership recently and will be starting to have regular meetings over pizza and at lunch, in addition to occasional public meetings.
Contact: mailto:pcon@pipeline.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:jrjohn@martin.ndak.net
No report.
Contact: mailto:fenix@thequest.net
No report.
Contact: mailto:patttam@erinet.com
Presentations:
Josh Martin (Columbus Branch) - OSU Astronomy Club - February 11.
Janis Jaunbergs (Cincinnati Branch) - U. of Cinci Organic Chem Dept - February 28.
Tam Czarnik (Dayton Branch) & Joe Michalski - BGSU - February 29.
Activities:
The biggest excitement has to be for "Mission to Mars"; tables are scheduled for Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus for the premiere weekend, and all Ohio is busy. Member Tom Schneider printed up huge full-color posters of several 'Mars Direct' slides for the occasion. Dayton Branch now has Toronto's Mars Society T-shirts to wear, and we've made hundreds of copies of 'Mars: America's New Frontier' and the Founding Declaration. Cleveland Branch will have a cadre of NASA Glenn Research Center employees helping.Thanks!
Tamarack R. Czarnik, MD
Chair, Ohio Chapter - Mars Society
Contact: mailto:JPO10708@aol.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:gus@norwebster.com
Web Site:http://chapters.marssociety.org/or/Mars Millennium Project:
Work progresses on the Mars Millennium Project Web resource being created in partnership with the Oregon Public Education Network. Several Social Science lessons dealing with history are currently in place, as is an Art section on constructing a Martian lava tube model. Field reports from our schools continue to come in.Upcoming developments will focus on more subject lessons, as well as the fleshing out of the "ET Agriculture" section. We have received permission from the Stewart-Peterson group to modify many of their online "Ag Ed-Network" agriculture lessons to apply to Martian Colony use. A new "Mars Command Control Panel" has been implemented for a fun way to navigate the site:
http://www.open.k12.or.us/mars/mcontrol.html
The site URL is linked from the Oregon Chapter's home page.Candidate Space Summit:
Letters have been sent to all the viable candidate critters "Space Summit" for the U.S. Presidential Candidates, to query they're views of space. We hope to have this happen the Saturday before the Oregon Primary elections in May, when the candidate critters are in state. We are waiting to get responses.Meetings:
Our next "roving" meeting will be in Bend, Oregon on March 11. We hope to include several of the school teams there working with us on the MMP, and hopefully visit one of numerous lava tube caves located in the area. We plan to show TMS slide show, and our completed Martian Lava Tube Model. We have been working with Oregon L5 Society, (an Oregon Chapter of National Space Society) in distribution of the NSS/Lockheed Martin "Mission to Mars" movie viewer's guide. All our participating MMP schools have received a copy for each student, and we have a pile for our Bend meeting, and the M2M Movie premier.Media Outreach:
Besides informing the media about our Bend Trip, the Palace Theatre in Silverton, Oregon will be opening the Disney space epic "Mission to Mars" on March 10. We are working with the owner to do a "pre-show" Mars Society event prior to one of the showings.
Contact: Wojciech Klimkiewicz, Ph.D., wxk10@psu.edu
Planning presence at the following events:April 8, 2000: The PA Space Grant Consortium (PSGC) is planning "Space Day at Penn State" for all Penn State groups who are involved in space-related research and education to exhibit information about their programs at this public event. It will be held on Saturday, April 8, 2000, from ~11:00am to 2:00pm in the Alumni Hall of the HUB/Robeson Center. The goal is to display the wide variety of space-related activities taking place at Penn State and to engage the public in fun and educational hands-on activities and demonstrations.
April 7-8, 2000: The Aerospace Engineering Department is hosting a regional student conference for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Penn State; http://navier.aero.psu.edu/~aiaa/conf/ .
April 22, 2000: Penn State HEDS-UP Student group with Mars Society support is planning a MARS ROBOTICS event at Penn State. It will be held on Saturday, April 22, 2000 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the 108 Wartik Lab. During the event, students will outline future robotic Mars missions to help the Human Exploration and Development of Mars. Stay tuned for more details on this event or visit student webpage: http://www.engr.psu.edu/ee/pub/ee497d/.
Contact: mailto:gcfisheris@aol.com
We had a chapter meeting on Saturday, February 26 at the Brew Moon restaurant in the King of Prussia Mall attended by 8 members. The main topic of discussion, besides the beer samplers, was staffing table at cinemas during the first three days of 'Mission To Mars'. Marty Farrell agreed to have his High School SEDS group staff a table at two theaters, and the rest of the chapter members agreed to staff a table at another. Plans were finalized since the meeting. We will be staffing a table March 10, 11, and 12 at the AMC 24 at the Neshaminy Mall. Marty's group will be at the Brandywine Regal 16 (1.5 miles from Painters Crossing), and Regal Edgmont 10. Thanks to Chris Carberry for the On To Mars posters. Our NSS members got us a good supply of the NSS Mission To Mars handouts for the tables. We also had political action cards like those handed out at the last Convention printed up to give to movie goers.I showed my photos from my recent trip to Biosphere 2 and we discussed various Mars and Space related topics. Other than having the waiter spill a beer on me it was a wonderful afternoon.
Submitted by Gary Fisher, Chapter Contact.
Contact: mailto:daniarh@yahoo.com
Mailing List:mars-penn@onelist.com
The Mars Society of Pittsburgh is planning a Mission to Mars event for Friday March 10 (and the Saturday after) at the Richland Cinemas located in Johnstown, PA. We received permission to have a table, and give out literature and brochures at the theater. We have also requested that the official Mars Society brochures be given out with each ticket that is bought for Mission to Mars. We have also contacted the local media (in Johnstown) -- the newspaper, local radio station, and local TV station. We received positive responses from these groups, and hope that this event will get coverage and educate local people here about the Mars Society and our goals. We look forward to this event, at which we hope to have 3 Mars-advocates present to represent our cause.TO MARS!!! (via Hollywood?) {and beyond!!}
Contact: mailto:skyloop@caribe.net
No report.
Contact: mailto:connors@ici.net
No report.
Contact: mailto:Charlestonideas@hotmail.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:hwinter@latte.memphis.edu
No report.
Contact: mailto:crain@csr.utexas.edu
No report.
Contact: mailto:ntms@usa.net
No report.
Contact: mailto:USAMarsMan@aol.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:AllredTj@ubtanet.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:noachis@hotmail.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:jburk@jburk.com
Chapter email: marspuget@egroups.com
Web Site: Mars Society Puget Sound
We're still preparing for our movie outreach events for March 10, the opening of MISSION TO MARS. We've gotten a bunch of copies of the NSS movie special, probably not enough copies for all our events, but it's a great tool to use to get people excited about the movie and the cause.
Our chapter is organizing a mini-convention we've dubbed "Four Corners" between members of our chapter, the Oregon Mars Society chapter and Oregon L-5, and any interested space enthusiasts in Washington state, British Columbia, Idaho, and Oregon. The venue is currently being determined but will be in a central location, possibly a resort in eastern Washington (with a field trip to the Channel Scablands, which JPL scientists have visited as a Mars analog) This mini-convention will have many science talks, and general inter-chapter coordination and experience sharing. The date we've penciled in is the weekend of June 17-18, but it's still kind of in flux.
At our last meeting, we elected Chris Vancil as our representative to the Chapters Council. Our own chapter election process is coming up in April. I for one will be running for re-election, but I doubt our officer slate will change much. One problem is that most of our non-officer core members are officers in NSS Seattle and don't want double duties (except for our hardworking Treasurer David Stuart).
In addition to the movie outreach activities, our chapter has also been involved in several local events. The latest was an Engineering and Science fair held at the Crossroads Mall in Redmond, WA. NSS Seattle and the Puget Sound MS chapter co-staffed a table for two days and gave out lots of literature about our organizations to attendees of the fair. Drawing much attention at the fair was the Raven human-powered airplane, and our VP Dustin Green has been an active member of their team.
Contact: mailto:strongro@WLSVAX.WVNET.EDU
No report.
Contact: Scott Davis, scud1@execpc.comThis is the first report for the Wisconsin Mars Society, but we will be making one monthly from here on.
Wisconsin Mars Society has ten paid MS members, and again as many who have asked to be on our email list and who participate at our monthly meetings.
Matt Giovanelli (chooy@execpc.com) of the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa is president and principal contact person. Scott Davis (scud1@execpc.com) of the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek is webmaster. Peter Kokh (tanstaaflz@aol.com) of Milwaukee is point man on exhibits and Red Satellite reporter.
We were founded in Madison over a year ago by UW Chemical Engineering senior Jason Orloff, who unfortunately is no longer part of the group. Jason built a working sabatier reactor for a UW engineering open house, but, again unfortunately, when he left the group, he donated that to the UW Chemical Engineering Dept. It would have been nice for us to have had it.
We have been meeting regularly for about a year, at first only in Madison. An independent group, the Badger Space Explorers have arranged and hosted our meetings there at one or the other of the UW Unions.
Since summer 1999, to reflect where most of our more active members live, we meet in Milwaukee two months each quarter and in Madison the third month.
We have had an outreach presence at four events to date: the '99 biennial UW Dept. of Engineering open house, a Tripoli Rocket Club launch in SE Wisconsin, and two science fiction conventions, one in Milwaukee, the other in Janesville.
We are currently planning outreach events for the debut of "Mission to Mars", a presentation to the local NSS chapter (Lunar Reclamation Society) the next day, at an April model rocket launch, and at a May 20th "Rockets for Schools" Super Loki suborbital launch from the Lake Michigan shore in Sheboygan where we are fortunate to have a World War II gunnery restricted zone still on the books out over the Lake. The Super Loki soars to an altitude of 38 miles. This will be the 5th annual event. It regularly draws thousands of kids and adults.
For those of you who may wonder about two famous big events in Wisconsin, the annual EAA Fly-in at Oshkosh with a draw of over a million, and Gencon, the largest gaming convention in the country (over 30,000) held annually in Milwaukee, the price tag for an exhibit space at either, even for a non-profit, is astronomically prohibitive. These events are out of reach for our small group. But we are open to assisting at an official Mars Society presence at EAA, now renamed the Air Venture. It is a big manpower challenge: if you do not man your space morning, afternoon, and evening every day for this 5 or 6 day event, you will not be invited back.
Chapter projects include outreach, meetings, and provides speakers to schools and group meetings.
Several of our members have been to past Mars Society Conventions and are planning to go to Toronto.
WMS has no separate dues. They have not been needed so far to support our activities. We have no hardcopy newsletter, and all the considerable selection of exhibit items available to us belong to individual members or are ours to use, when available, courtesy of the local NSS chapter (Lunar Reclamation Society) with whom we have been collaborating on finding outreach opportunities and putting up exhibits. You can find details on these items on our website's exhibits.html page.
We now have two chapter websites:
www.execpc.com/~scud1/wms (our principal and official site) will be moving to chapters.marssociety.org/wisconsin shortly.
www.neighborhoodlink.com/org/wiscmars takes advantage of free webpages for Milwaukee clubs and organizations on the City's new Neighborhood Link system, and hopefully will result in more people stumbling upon us. It is thoroughly cross-linked to our main page.
Additionally, two of our members have their own personal Mars pages.
In short, while you haven't heard from us previously, it isn't because we haven't been a bunch of busy beavers having fun.
Are members are in two main concentrations: the Madison University of Wisconsin area, and the SE Wisconsin Milwaukee-Kenosha area. We have all been working together and members from each cluster attend WMS meetings when they are held in the other city. As yet we are not at the point where it would be productive to bud into separate chapters.
Peter Kokh
Tanstaaflz@aol.com
Wisconsin Mars Society Red Satellite reporter
02/23/2000
Contact: mailto:PAT@uwyo.edu
The Wyoming Chapter has nothing new to report at this time.
Patrick Banks, Wyoming Chapter
Contact: mailto:mmm@mit.ed
Web Site: http://chapters.marssociety.org/youth/The second issue of The Martian Chronicles - the Mars Youth Newsletter is now out! Check it out at the Youth website!. In this issue:NASA's Valentine; Mars Polar Lander and Mars Climate Orbiter; Doing a Mars Society Presentation; Meet the Scientist - Dr. Robert Zubrin; Human Powered Ornithopter; The Recluse (Mars fiction); Mars and Education; Mars Q&A.
If you are able to distribute the newsletter to schools or other groups in your area, please contact Margarita. Submissions of any type are greatly appreciated! Deadline for submissions for the third issue is March 23.
Please send Margarita any comments & suggestions you have about the Chronicles! Thanks!
You can use the following index to go directly to the chapter of your choice. Use your Browser's "Back" button to return to this index.
Contact: mailto:grshaid@marsacademy.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:ahamilto@nsw.bigpond.net.au
No report.
Contact: mailto:Antoon@hotmail.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:marc@aterra.com
Web Site: http://canada.marssociety.org/By this time next month the Mars Society of Canada will be an official non-profit organization with our own by-laws specific to Canada in place. Plans for this summers convention are proceeding and being handled by the Toronto chapter.
Contact: mailto:jlagarde@bigfoot.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:rocky.persaud@utoronto.ca
Web Site: http://Chapters.MarsSociety.org/toronto/Local outreach continues with more talks and interviews. Rocky Persaud and Darlene Lim gave a talk about the Mars Society and the MARS at the Ad Astra 2000 Convention. Though scheduled at the noon of the final day of the convention, the panel was attended by more than 30 people. Another talk is being prepared for March 8th for the York University chapter of SEDS-Canada.
In regards to the conference planning, many of our initiatives are bearing fruit, unfortunately none of which I can report on at the moment. See you in August!
Contact: mailto:cpuebla@cmet.net
No report.
Contact: mailto:Lordos@mit.edu
No report.
Contact: mailto:Rheidmann@aol.comThe executive committee of PLANETE MARS met on saturday 02-19-00 at the head office (in Paris) to prepare our first annual convention scheduled on saturday 03-11-00. The convention will be followed by four general lectures open to the public on : Mars, the Arctic, the Antarctic. More to report next time.
Best Regards, Dominique GUILLAUME, Secretary of PLANETE MARS (and new regular member of TMS)
Contact: mailto:Michael.Bosch@wiwi.uni-regensburg.de
Web Site: http://www.marssociety.de/Red Mars Event:
in cooperation with a school in Juelich (near Cologne), a happening called the "Red Mars Event" is currently organized, which will take place on April 11th. In the center of interest is Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red Mars". We will have students presenting their theses on the subject, Kim saying hello via VideoCon, a German astronaut (possibly G. Thiele who just returned from space), a representative from the German Space Agency, Ames Astrobiology (=Kevin Hand) and JSC. Bob Zubrin will be the star guest and the focal point of the event with his talk. Currently we are trying to get enough press (and possibly TV) coverage there. Some of the guests are not yet completely fix, but I think it will be pretty cool.Zubrin Talks:
Since Zubrin will come to Germany, we will take advantage of the situation and let him give talks in Stuttgart and Munich, too. We will also try to bring him in contact with representatives of the German Space Agency as well as Industry, so that he can spread some "Mars-Hype" - we definitely could need some of that in Germany! Furthermore, we also have representatives from the German Chapter giving talks on various other occasions.Arctic Base Involvement:
We established a contact between architecture students of the TU Munich and Kurt Micheels (chief architect of the Arctic Base). A bunch of students is now working on the interior of the arctic station - with no costs for the Mars Society. Students and employees of this institute were already involved in studies for NASA's Human Factors Branch with their designs of workstations, beds, showers, etc. for the ISS (which they even tested on the vomit comet). If things work out well, we might soon have a arctic base model which we could display on conferences and airshows in order to catch attention.Computer Simulation and MS/McDonalds CD-Rom:
We are currently having a volunteer working on a computer rendered simulation of a human Mars mission. We also might have a chance of providing input for a McDonalds "Mars" CD-Rom - that certainly would be pretty cool! Maybe we could come out with it when "Mission to Mars" comes into the theaters in Germany (May).Press Articles:
We've established contact with different space and science magazines which we continue to supply with articles.Local Chapters:
We have also started to found local chapters - which we will hopefully continue in the future!Submitted by Kristian Pauly, kristian.k.pauly1@jsc.nasa.gov
Contact: mailto:opo@hi.is
No report.
Contact: mailto:alinm@hotmail.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:pirro@tin.it
No report.
Contact: mailto:onizuka@colorado.edu
Contact: mailto:murakawa@csp.co.jp
No report.
Contact: mailto:Mars@SpaceProjects.com
In early February, the Mexico Chapter's founder, Rich Robins, attended the annual space commercialization conference run by the Federal Aviation Administration's Administrator for Space Transportation (http://ast.faa.gov/), near Washington D.C. He was delighted to learn that the U.S.A. already has 4 licensed spaceports! (and counting). The AST's apparently a VERY well-run agency, by the way.Mid-February's NASA Congressional budget posturing hearing was quite an event, as Congressman Sensenbrenner (who heads the Science Committee) expressed very animated concerns about the International Space Station delay$, and the recently failed Mars missions. It would be extremely helpful if we could all use the upcoming Mars movies to somehow broaden support for better-funded future Mars missions. Fortunately the Planetary Society recently did its part with its February 18th live webcast event in Washington D.C. that focused on Mars issues, which Rich attended. Meanwhile, we are all eagerly looking forward to the Mars movies' delayed arrival to Mexico, the country where much of Total Recall was filmed, incidentally.
In his capacity as an international business attorney and former legal academic, Rich is about to participate in a NASA conference in Ontario, California that's sponsored by the nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and NASA Headquarters. The event's core focus will be NASA's growing tendency to outsource to smaller businesses, especially (but definitely not limited to) those owned by women, and ethnic minorities. Annually, NASA already procures well over a billion dollars in goods and services from such companies in both the U.S.A. and abroad. That gradually increasing figure represents around a sixth of its overall procurement budget.
NASA's outreach to Hispanic businesses here and abroad is about to catch up considerably, as Rich is now going to serve, with a hopefully limitless passion, NASA Headquarters' Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codek/). Feel free to call Rich during the upcoming months for whatever free help he can offer, or e-mail him: (Rich.Robins@hq.nasa.gov; although he checks Rich@SpaceProjects.com much more often). Rich's new motto: Mars or bust!!! :-)
Contact: mailto:arnoux@strw.leidenuniv.nl
or mailto:arno@marssociety.nl
Web Site: http://www.marssociety.nl/The Dutch chapter of the Mars Society is pleased and proud to announce their new webpage:
http://www.marssociety.nl/
sponsored by Van Leuven Automatisering.
We are on the brink of becoming a real legal organisation registered by the Chamber of Commerce. In the next Red Planet report we hope to confim are status. The number of people becoming active in our chapter is steadily increasing. We are currently with three people active, but two more will join within a month. We are planning the following activities:- A dutch lecture to be given at Fokker Space B.V. (an aerospace compagny in the Netherlands).
- A stand during the opening of the Mission to Mars movie And several others which are not mature enough to be noted here.Again we have been on national radio for a half hour interview with two of us, about a mission to Mars. And why we should go. An article about the Mars Society will be placed in the Fokker Space compagny newsletter in March.
We have found a sponsor last month "Van Leuven Automatisering" which supplies us with a website, e-mail adresses etc. We hope more will follow.
Arno Wielders, Mars Society Nederland
Voorwaarts Mars! (Go Mars! in Dutch)
Contact: mailto:mac@xtra.co.nz
No report.
Contact: mailto:jveerman@yahoo.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:kin_toy@hotmail.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:piotr.moskal@lupus.pl
We are currently engaged in the "Red Rover Goes to Mars" contest along with the Space Research Center in Warsaw. Also, we are preparing to 2 presentations -- one in Poznan, during a s-f convention, second at the Polytechnics School in Warsaw. Both will be accompagnied by the TMS slide show (or so I hope). We managed to establish a constant cooperation with "Astronautyka", a periodic published by the SRC in Warsaw, we are also trying to do so with "Wiedza i Przyszlosc", edited by the Polish Academy of Sciences (our first article will be published there soon, we hope that it won't be the last). We're still waiting for the registration documents from the court -- after receiving them we will start searching around for some funds. We are obviously also doing a lot of small things (like writing articles for our WWW), but the main focus for March are the presentations.
Piotr Moskal, President, Mars Society Polska
Contact: mailto:marssociety@mail.ru
No report.
Contact: mailto:evan@telemessage.co.za
No report.
Contact: mailto:csangi@idecnet.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:ahristov@psd.es
No report.
Contact: mailto:c_g_nordquist@yahoo.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:claude-alain.roten@igbm.unil.ch
Contact: mailto:gabriel.borruat@igbm.unil.ch
No report.
Contact: mailto:charity@akcecc.kiev.ua
No report.
Contact: mailto:sagan@dircon.co.uk
No report.
You can use the following index to go directly to the Task Force, Committee, or Special Interests Area chapter of your choice. Use your Browser's "Back" button to return to this index.Ares CD-Rom Task Force
E-Commerce
Education
Executive Director
Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station Task Force
Fundraising Task Force
Graphics and Production
Internet Task Force
Marketing
Mars Arctic Life Support System Group
Mars Civilization and Culture
New Mars
Political and Public Outreach
Contact: mailto:jburk@jburk.com
Web Site: Ares CD-Rom Task Force
Task Force email: ares-cdrom@chapters.marssociety.org
We are waiting patiently for Imagineering to finish Issue #2. We're not sure what's taking them so long, but we hope they are doing nothing but improving the quality of the release, so that everybody's jaws will drop appropriately when they begin to use it.We are working with the author of the Roving Mouse Mars Atlas to get the complete contents of their high-res, full color atlas on the next and future issues of Ares. You can see this great atlas now by going to http://www.roving-mouse.com/planetary/Mars/Atlas/
Our current plans are for Issue #3 to be an Astrobiology focused issue to release to Imagineering around mid-March. Issue #4 will be dedicated to the Arctic Research base and will be released this summer, perhaps late June. We are in dire need of quality content for both of these issues. If you have any submissions or even ideas of what we can put on there, please let us know.
Contact: mailto:TSMarsCo@aol.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:GRshaid@marsacademy.com
Task force web site: http://www.marsacademy.com/marssoc/
The Mars Society Education Task Force is working on the teachers workshop that will take place during the convention at Toronto, together with some collateral activities related to Education that are being planned. At the same time, we are working hard on designing a flexible currcicul framework that will be able to grow with the Mars Society and increased teacher participation. The Education Task Force web site (http://www.marsacademy.com/marssoc) will shortly be relaunched reflecting these activities. We have established an alliance with the Canadian National Marsville program by which Mars Society members will act as mentors in this exciting program.
Contact: mailto:mzubrin@aol.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:kmicheels@aol.com
Report for period ending 3.3.2000.Molds for the habitat panels were completed on time February 16. The fabrication of the panels is now under way and will be complete by April 14. The entire design team, including Dr. Robert Zubrin and Dr. Pascal Lee, attended a design review at the Mesa Fiberglass facility on February 16. This meeting was filmed by National Geographic. On February 24, Dr. Zubrin attended a review of the interior design presented by the Mars Design Team of the Sun Dance Lab at the University of Colorado. This design will be integrated into the 3D computer model that will "launched" in May. From February 28 - March 2, Kurt Micheels and Dr. Zubrin attended the Space 2000 Conference in Albuquerque. Kurt presented a paper on the FMARS and conferred with colleagues regarding the hab's design. The conference organizers provided space for a table where drawings and a physical model were displayed. Response to the project was extremely positive.
Contact: mailto:kboekhoff@excite.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:garyah@imagineering-usa.com
No report.
Contact: mailto:webmaster@marssociety.org
Contact: mailto:peabody@nw.netThe Mars Society home page has had a small design change streamlining its appearance. By mid-March a new site structure will be in place making the site more appealing and functional. Chapter meetings world-wide and projects will get much more promotion. The Mars Mall will be completely redesigned. Ideas are welcome.
Contact: mailto:mzubrin@aol.com
See Executive Director's report
Contact: mailto:dean@baloney.com
Web Site: http://home.marssociety.org/tech/life-support/The Life Support Project recently made their official website available at http://home.marssociety.org/tech/life-support/, and encourage everyone interested to visit and read the minutes from the January workshop. There is a good chance for volunteers to be able to participate hands-on if they are not geographically remote from the locations where the work will actually be done.
The Life Support Project is organized under the Technical Task Force, and is designing a biological wastewater treatment system that could be used at the Flashline Station. Our system will be a research platform for exploring various Martian life support options.
Contact: mailto:conollyb@terrigal.net.au
Discussions in the last several weeks have been wide-ranging and somewhat undirected, as might be expected from a diverse group with a very general focus.
Peter Kokh has kindly agreed to assume the leadership of the Civ-Culture group and is now accepting suggestions for topics upon which the Group can focus and to which it can apply itself. Bev Conolly (me) has volunteered to keep the Group's website updated as discussions progress, so expect to see changes there within the next few weeks.
Current Topics of Discussion
- An informal vote of listmembers is being conducted by Charlie Taylor to determine the general feeling about such issues as a potential Martian government and possible UN involvement, a time-frame for self-sufficiency, colonisation phases and gun control on Mars. Discussion continues.
- Some of the more technically-minded in the Group have been discussing large-scale living enclosures such as domes, stepped-pressure domes-within-domes, partially-buried spheres and enclosed lave tubes. Some wide-ranging and imaginative suggestions have been made, and the discussion has been luring some list-lurkers out of hiding. Many excellent contributions have been made so far.
- A lively dialogue has ensued regarding sex (or not) and procreation (or not) in micro-g and in Martian g, in the wake of the published French allegations that NASA shuttle crews studied sex in space. This has led to talk of the "rights" (or not) of settlers to have children, and whether colonists have more right to reproduce than other potential colonists have to emigrating from Earth.
- That humans should travel to Mars in a tethered craft, simulating Martian g, for comfort and health reasons, has general consensus amongst the group. Technical aspects of a tether and the mass trade-offs are being considered.
- Listmembers are also being canvassed as to their suggestions for future topics.
Civilisation & Culture Group always welcomes new contributors and listmembers!
Contributed by Bev Conolly (conollyb@terrigal.net.au) 28 Feb 2000
Contact: mailto:ccarberry@masshist.orgOPERATION PRESIDENT
Operation President is on a roll. Over this past weekend we made contact with candidates coast to coast. The most successful efforts were achieved by the Caltech chapter, led by chapter President Derek Shannon. They were able to approach Al Gore, John McCain, and George W. Bush (they also met with Bill Bradley on February 8th). While at the Gore event, Derek Shannon was told by Congresswoman Maxine Waters "If anyone was going to do that [send humans to Mars], it would be Gore." (see reports of these meetings at http://mars.caltech.edu). When Shannon asked Bush about humans to Mars, Bush replied "maybe". Derek Shannon was also able to speak to Congressman Rohrabacher and Congressman Rogan at the Bush event. On the other coast, a dozen members of the New England chapter were in attendance with ON TO MARS! signs at a McCain rally in Boston. Although they were unable to speak to the candidate, they were shown on several television stations (and probably recorded by C-Span), interviewed by a local newspaper, and recruited several people. In Michigan, Julie Edwards was able to hand Tipper Gore a copy of "The Case for Mars"As the field of candidates thins, we still intend to continue our efforts all over the country, by speaking to candidates, their staff, and by increasing our phone, fax, and mailing efforts to the candidates. In addition, Operation President hopes to have a presence at both the Democratic and Republican national conventions, as well as the presidential debates in October. We have already had an impact on this campaign, but we need to continue our momentum all over the country. In order to achieve this goal we need more people to approach the candidates and declare their support for a human mission to Mars by 2010. We will post as accurate scheduling information as we can at http://www.marssociety.org/oppresident. If you have any questions or information to share with us, please contact Chris Carberry at ccarberry@masshist.org. ON TO MARS!
MARS GOES HOLLYWOOD
We have just about reached our goal to have 20 chapters participating in our outreach effort for "Mission to Mars," with chapters participating all over the country. We are confident that our efforts will be a tremendous success. Troy Hudson of the New England chapter designed some beautiful displays for movie outreach. They are available at the Outreach Task Force webpage at http://home.marssociety.org/outreach/public/movies/booths/ Hopefully we are not providing these too late to be of use to chapters for "Mission to Mars." They will certainly be of use for our future movie outreach initiatives. We intend to mount a more ambitious effort for the Mars movie in November. The Task Force will give far more support to the chapters for that effort. If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve our future efforts or are willing to help us, please let me know.Chris Carberry(ccarberry@masshist.org)
Contact: mailto:campr2@javanet.com
No report.
This month in the Miscellaneous category, we have several items of interest.A Special Offer to Chapters
Okay, I'm here to offer you all a special deal. I've been talking with Robert Jacobs, the owner of Univelt Publishing. His company published the three volume Proceedings of the Founding Convention of the Mars Society held in 1998. Here's the deal he is making for the chapters of the Mars Society:Members from Montana and South Dakota WantedThe list price for the 3 volume set is $120.00.
Mars Society members can buy the set directly from Univelt for $90.00.
Now here's the special offer: Any chapter that orders 10 or more sets can purchase them for $60.00 per set.
If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please email Robert Jacobs
Click here to visit the Univelt web site
Submitted by Jim Plaxco.
If you are a member of the Mars Society and live in either Montana or South Dakota, please contact Stacy Makus at JMakus3339@aol.com.Speaker's BureauTo help match up volunteer speakers with chapters and outside groups, especially when traveling. There has been a long-term interest in this, so I will collect names of those who want to help maintain the list of speakers or help make the speaking arrangements. We will see if there is enough interest.Favorite images or photosFor additional information, contact Bruce Mackenzie.
You can post them at: http://chapters.marssociety.org/images Large images are welcome.Arctic-sigThis discussion list is suffering due to lack of administration, if anyone who currently maintains a list would like to help, contact Bruce Mackenzie.Chapter Web space still availableFor details, contact Bruce Mackenzie.
ThanksThanks to Richard Wagner and, now, Jim Plaxco, for these RPSR. Also, thanks to Tony Galdikas for creating a quick "How To" guide for those maintaining a chapter web pages on the CyberTeams server, see: http://chapters.marssociety.org/web-mgt
Bruce Mackenzie.
Hi. This is where I get to pick my favorite Mars Society web site. This month, my hat is off to the members of the Caltech/JPL, California chapter of the Mars Society. They have put together a very professional web site loaded with information. Way to go!
"We are living in a democracy where the will and the mood of the people count. If you want to accomplish something as big as travel into space, you must win the people for your idea. Being diplomatic is necessary, but it is not enough. You have to be filled with a burning desire to bring your idea to life. You must have absolute faith into the righteousness of your cause, and into your final success. In short, you must be a kind of crusader."
Wernher von Braun
This section will be used to give the members of the Mars Society the opportunity to comment on the items contained in the Red Planet Satellite Report. For instructions on making a submission, please see the section of this report titled "Submission Guidelines."
Submissions that are relevant to the activities of the Mars Society are actively sought. Suggested submissions include reviews of chapter activities, event announcements, chapter election results, "how-to" articles that would serve as a source of ideas for other chapters, etc.
You may make your submission as either a plain ASCII text file or you may use basic HTML elements to provide additional formatting. If you would like to use HTML for formatting your submissions, please don't use the font or any other tag that alters the size and color of the textual submission. This is to insure a consistent look and feel across all received submissions. Feel free to use the bold, italic, list and table elements. You may also include links to articles on your chapter's web site in your submission.
The Red Planet Satellite Report will be published by the 7th of each month. Therefore, the deadline for submissions will be the last day of the month.
To make a submission, send email to Jim Plaxco with a subject heading of RPSR Submission. Please note on the first line of your submission the section of the report in which your article is to be included.
For questions, comments or suggestions regarding the Red Planet Satellite Report please contact Jim Plaxco.
The Red Planet Satellite Report is a publication of the Mars Society Chapter's Council, copyright 2000. All Rights Reserved.