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| Vol. 2, No. 4 | April 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 April 2000. This report summarizes the 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 robotic and human exploration of the planet Mars.While you're here, make sure to check out the Special Offer that is being made to the chapters of the Mars Society.
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 March 2000 Activities The Monthly Agenda Call for Volunteers Chapter Representation The Chapter's Council Web Site The Mars FAQ Chapter's Council Membership
Overview of March 2000 Activities
During the month of March, the Chapter's Council made progress on several fronts. Chief among these were work on the Chapter's Council web site, development of a chapter starter kit and work on a Mars/Mars Society FAQ.Activities were slowed, and some recovery work had to be done, as a result of the merger of Egroups with Onelist. The new structure is somewhat different but visitors should have no difficulties in navigating around the new site.
Anyone, members or nonmembers, can bring issues to the attention of the Chapter's Council by sending an email to the Mars Society Chapter's Council. Further, interested parties can follow the ongoing activities of the Chapter's Council by visiting the Mars Society's Chapter's Council area on the eGroups web site.
The Monthly Agenda
To assist in planning for each month's activities, the Council votes on a conceptual agenda. Items to be included in the agenda are first identified and then voted upon by the Council so that a prioity may be assigned. The following table documents the agenda for the current month.
The April Agenda
Rank Brief Description Detailed description or URL for one 1 BOD and Steering Committee Council Rep Elect members from the council to have reps on both the Steering Committee and BOD 2 Building a chapters council website within the Mars Society domains See Chapter's Council Home Page 3 Setting up Mars FAQ web page Create a FAQ on the Chapter's Council web site to answer questions about Mars and the Mars Society. 3 Prepare council introduction tools for new members Create documentation that new members of the Chapter's Council can use to quickly get up to speed. 4 Chapters starter kit Create documentation that will be useful to those individuals interested in starting a chapter. 4 Discussion regarding Mars Society governance Discussion to determine whether the lack of democratic organization within the Mars Society is something the Council should address, and, if so, brainstorming of ideas regarding methods for addressing. 5 Writing chapter handbook Create a handbook that can serve as a reference tool for chapters. This could include the Chapter Starter Kit. 5 Setting up a Speaker's Bureau To place volunteer speakers at chapter and outside group meetings, especially when they are traveling. 6 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. 7 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. 7 Setting up space advocacy group coordination committee This committee would work to coordinate policy and activities with other space advocacy groups.
Call for Volunteers
The Chapter's Council is looking for volunteers who can help us with our various projects. 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
- creating a Mars/Mars Society FAQ for the Chapter's Council web site
Chapter Representation
As of this writing, there are still a number of chapters that have not elected a representative to the Chapter's Council. This under-representation has an adverse impact on the council's activities. Every chapter should be participating in the activities of the Chapter's Council.To find out how your chapter can elect a representative to the Chapter's Council, please send an email to the Mars Society Chapter's Council.
The Chapter's Council Web Site
The Chapter's Council has developed a web site to document the activities of the Council and to serve as an online resource for both the chapters and the general membership of the Mars Society. The main page for accessing this site is at
http://chapters.marssociety.org/council/In addition, the Red Planet Satellite Report can also be accessed from this page.
Jim Burk has volunteered to serve as webmaster for the site. If you have questions about the site, or would like to make suggestions, please send email to Jim Burk
The Mars FAQ
The Chapter's Council is working on a FAQ that will answer the many questions people have about both Mars and the Mars Society. This FAQ will be placed on the Chapter's Council web site, as well as being posted to the relevant Usenet newsgroups.If there is a question that you would like to see on this FAQ, or have some suggestion regarding the structure of the FAQ, etc., send an email to the Mars FAQ Committee.
Chapter's Council Membership
The Chapters Council is currently made up of the following individuals:
Jim Beyer Michigan
Sam Burbank California, Northern
Webmaster Jim Burk (volunteer)
Ombudsman Erik Carlstrom Oregon
Stephen DeVoy Arizona, Tucson
Serina Diniega California, CALTECH-JPL
Matt Dumstorf Ohio
James Eberhardt Georgia
Sec. Agenda and Mark Eby Alabama Ombudsman
Sec. Voting and Gary Fisher Pennsylvania Sec. Documentation
Matthew Giovanelli Wisconsin
Richard Heidmann France
Lisa Ice New Mexico
Carmen Marra Canada, Toronto
Council Vice-Chair Piotr Moskal Poland
Vesna Nikolic (volunteer)
Sec. Communication Jim Plaxco Illinois
Raimund Scheucher Germany
Stacy Sklar (volunteer)
Council Chair Chris Vancil Washington, Puget Sound
Paul Wooster New England
Veronica Ann Zabala Arizona, Phoenix
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: Mark Eby, maeby@zebra.net
No activity to report.
Contact: Marilyn Dudley-Rowley, MD-R@msn.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Stacy Sklar, JMakus3339@aol.com
Roughly ten people attended our meeting at the Flagstaff Public Library. Outreach for the Mars Society and Mars in general were discussed. Due to the limited time of volunteers and resouces, a different approach will be used for the next Flagstaff Chapter Meeting. Outreach will continue to be done by Flagstaff Chapter Member Stacy T. Sklar until her departure in August to Northern California to pursue her studies in biochemistry. One volunteer agreed to help with the website for the Flagstaff Chapter.The highlight of the Flagstaff Chapter meeting was that two members, Thomas and Sabine Jagemann, from the Germany Mars Society stopped by while visiting Northern Arizona. The topic of conversation was the Mars Express mission which is slated to launch in June of 2003.
The next chapter meeting will take place at the Flagstaff Public Library Saturday April 29th at 4:30pm
I would like to thank Cornel K from the Phoenix Chapter with his help with outreach material. I would also like to thank Kurt Micheels for taking time out of his busy schedule to discuss outreach on the Flashline Mars Society Arctic Research Station.
For more information or to volunteer, please feel free to contact Stacy T. Sklar.
Stacy T. Sklar Flagstaff Chapter Contact
Contact: Veronica Ann Zabala, GEOBUM@prodigy.net
Web Site: http://frontpage.inficad.com/~azmars
No activity to report.
Contact: Aaron Schultz, aschultz@Seds.org
No activity to report.
Contact: Wayne Bowen, bowenw@alpha.obu.edu
On Wednesday, March 8, Dr. Wayne Bowen, a professor at Ouachita Baptist University, spoke about Mars and missions to Mars to sixty 4th graders at Salem Elementary School in Bryant, Arkansas. The students had been been studying the solar system and space all year, and demonstrated an active interest in crewed missions to the Red Planet. At the end of the session, when Dr. Bowen asked which of the students wanted to go to Mars, over fifty raised their hands.Wayne Bowen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History
Ouachita Baptist University
bowenw@alpha.obu.edu
Contact: Derek Shannon, dms@caltech.edu
Web Site: http://mars.caltech.edu/
No activity to report.
Contact: Domenique van der Goore, traveler@cyberlynk.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Bill Weitze, bweitze@california.com
Mailing list: Majordomo@lists.Stanford.EDU
with the command subscribe norcal-mars-society as the message.On the weekend of March 3, several Northern California MS members took part in Contact, Cultures of the Imagination. (This was not a Mars Society event, however.) MS members and friends Chris McKay, Greg Benford, Bill Clancey, Gerald Nordley, Seth Shostak, Bill Weitze, John McKnight, Jean Marie Walker, Randall Clague, Don Scott, and Lara Battles were in attendance. Contact explores the possible existence and nature of extraterrestrial beings, and simulates a first contact between ETs and humans. This year, the theme was artificial intelligence, and AI pioneer Marvin Minsky was on hand to kick things off. Chris McKay, Greg Benford, Bill Clancey, Gerald Nordley, Seth Shostak, and others also gave presentations.
Contact was hosted in the same hotel at the same time as Consonance, a filking convention. As part of Consonance, MS member Bob Kanefsky had a pre-release party for his upcoming CD, "Roundworm", published by Prometheus Music, a filk label operated by MS member Eli Goldberg. Several of us got to hear sneak previews of the songs, some funny, some serious, some both.
On Tuesday, March 7, Nick Walker, Maraya Cornell, and Patrick Beatty publicized the Mars Society at a preview of Disney's "Mission to Mars" at the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco. The outreach was a great success, even with the movie's shortcomings.
The Northern California chapter has not had a chance to meet and choose a chapter council representative, but MS members Tom Gangale and Stacy Makus have both agreed to help with the council until we can choose someone officially. We are certainly lucky to have two hard-working members.
Speaking of which, Tom Gangale has put up a Web site at The Martian Ministry of Culture for voting on a Mars flag. Whether or not you like the red-green-blue tricolor that flew on the Space Shuttle in December 1999, it must be admitted that there was no input from the membership or the general public on its design. Tom's site changes that, listing many historical designs plus several modern ones.
Tom is also looking into making an additional run of the t-shirts that member Nick Walker had had made (based on Tom's Mars Society California logo) for our Mars Day event (December 4, 1999).
Contact: Dave Jedynak, jedynak@sileas.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Brad Jarvis, bjarvis@ezlink.com
Web Site: http://www.rmms.org/
RMMS will be hosting the Mars Society Steering Committee meeting on April 21 and 22 at CU in Boulder, and has been asked to serve as Mission Control for both the Mars Arctic Research Station and pressurized rover operations. For updates, see http://www.rmms.org.
Contact: Dick Brodeur, r.e.brodeur@mindspring.com
No news to report. The next Florida chapter meeting is tentatively scheduled for May 6th.
Contact: Mike Kretsch, mkretsch@compassusa.com
Announcing the RED DIRT spaceship design competition! Do you write VRML 2.0? If so, you may submit your spacecraft to RED DIRT c/o mike kretsch via_email
Entries should not exceed a total size of more than 90 kb.
Entries will be judged on originality, useability, and style.
Entries should be sized to permit the standard 1.7ish meter avatar to inspect the ship.
Its supposed to be an Interplanetary Capable ship, like you might use for a Mars mission.
Entrants will be posted on the RED DIRT site.
Prize will be a certificate, and an original work of art, selected by us and to be posted later this week.
So Enter!
Contact Needed. Volunteers, please contact Maggie Zubrin, mzubrin@aol.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Chris Struble, clstruble@earthlink.net
No activity to report.
Contact: Matthew Lowry, lowryclan@geocities.com
Web Site: http://www.astrodigital.org/marschicago/
At the March 26th meeting of the Chicago chapter, Doug Hubbard and Dejan (Dan) Vucinic gave the chapter a sneak-preview of their presentations they plan to give at this summer's convention in Toronto.Dan presented "Bootstrapping the Mars Fuel Market", an economic plan that he calls "yet another ultra-capitalist approach to conquering the Red Planet." The basic premise of Dan's talk is a very interesting and novel approach to funding a series of Mars missions.
Doug presented his "Mars MORE Direct" plan next. According to Doug, the objectives of the MMD plan are "to reduce costs of multiple missions by minimizing launch mass and/or number of launches -- increasing the likelihood of a manned mission to Mars in the next 10-15 years." The title of this talk alone was enough to catch my undivided attention.
Be looking for Chicago's own Doug and Dan at the convention this summer! For more information about the Chicago chapter, see our website.
Contact: Matt Lowry at lowryclan@geocities.com
Web Site: http://www.astrodigital.org/nsms
On March 10th, the North Shore chapter set up a Mars Society information booth at a local theater for the premier of the movie "Mission to Mars". In the course of 4 hours (whew!), we handed out all but 4 of our slick, glossy brochures and about 250+ of our home-made North Shore fliers. In addition, we got contact information from 28 people who signed our contact sheet. Also, about 75 people signed the copy of the Mars Petition that we had present!Last, but not least, one of the most supportive people present was Wendy Tepper, who is an assistant to Congressman Phil Crane (8th district). She was also very interested in being contacted by us! The evening, IMO, was a smashing success for our very first major outreach opportunity in the North Shore area. Some people looked at us funny and didn't want to be bothered, but a success ratio of about 30-40% is great in my book! Again, thanks to all who worked to make this possible.
We had some very positive media coverage in the Chicago Tribune concerning this event as well. The article is entitled "In the Pull of Mars" .
Next meeting is Thursday, April 6th. For more information, see the North Shore Mars Society website.
Contact: Jim Plaxco, astro@astrodigital.org
Web Site: http://www.astrodigital.org/mss/
No activity to report.
Contact: Steve Resler, sresler@eyeworld.net
No activity to report.
Contact: Katharine Osborne, kosborne@eai.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Holly Kellogg, HKellogg@feist.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Shelly Hynes, cshynes@cp-tel.net
To: anyone within driving distance of Lafayette, LA. I am trying to schedule a meeting sometime in the near future. I plan on having it here in Lafayette, but I need YOUR imput on what time and what day of the week is most convenient for you. PLEASE EMAIL ME this info and I will try to arrange a meeting. I realize I can't accomodate everyone, but I will do my best. Thanks for your help, and hope to see everyone in the near future.
Contact: Theresa Klein, tjk2@ix.netcom.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Julie Edwards, jedwards@umich.edu
Web Site: http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/mi/
No activity to report.
Contact: Ben Huset, BenHuset@skypoint.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Garry W. Speer, VMSmith1@aol.com
No activity to report.
Contact: George Howard, Ghoward683@aol.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Derrick M. Davis, dmdventures@hotmail.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Shawn Plunket, SPlunket@aol.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Paul Wooster, pwooster@mit.edu
Website: http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/ma/
We've had quite a busy time here in New England over the past little while, with events ranging from a McCain rally for part of Operation President, to "Mission to Mars" Movie Outreach, to a talk covering Martian Meteorites.We're currently trying to expand our presence in New England by establishing a number of sub-chapters. In addition to the one already at MIT, we would like to startup Boston University, Harvard, Cape Cod, and New Hampshire sub-chapters. If you are interested in being a part of any of these chapters, let me know, and I'll pass the info along to the relevant sub-chapter contact. So far, three of our officers have discussed the Mars Society at a recent Boston University AIAA meeting, and quite a few people expressed interest in forming a local chapter.
The MIT Mars Society chapter has recently teamed up with the Mars Society Youth Group to help publish the monthly Martian Chronicles. To read them online, click here. If you would like to contribute an article, contact Margarita.
In addition to our meeting on Tuesday, April 11, and our guest speaker on Tuesday, April 25, we will be taking part in Astronomy Day at the Boston Museum of Science this Saturday, April 8. For more information on this and other events, see the New England Chapter's website
Contact Needed. Volunteers, please contact Maggie Zubrin, mzubrin@aol.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Eric Orrill, mailto:eorrill@jntsw.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Lisa Ice, ice@cs.unm.edu
No activity to report.
Contact: Paul Contursi, pcon@pipeline.com
No activity to report.
Contact: John R. Cable, jrjohn@martin.ndak.net
No activity to report.
Contact: Jonathan Hovland, fenix@thequest.net
No activity to report.
Contact: Tamarack R. Czarnik, patttam@erinet.com
Presentations
Activities
- To Miami Valley Astronomical Society - 10 Mar 2000
- To MILLENNICON science fiction Convention - 25 Mar 2000
- To Astronomy Day in Dayton - 8 Apr 2000 (upcoming)
- MISSION TO MARS (M2M) MOVIE TABLES
- Dayton: M2M movie table on Friday, 10 Mar 2000, at Hollywood 20 Cinema.
- Cincinnati: M2M movie table 10-12 Mar 2000, at Springdale Showcase. 150 new signatures to Mars Petition, by 'raffling' copies of The Case For Mars.
- Cleveland: M2M movie table 10 - 12 Mar 2000 at Regal Middleburg Town Square Cinema. Large contingent from nearby NASA Glenn Research Center.
- Columbus: M2M movie table set for Northland 8 Cinema cancelled due to work emergencies.
- MILLENNICON SCIFI CONVENTION
On 24-26 Mar 2000, Ohio Chapter members maintained a 'Mars Society' informational table at this SF Con, selling buttons, books, videos and Toronto design T-shirts, explaining the 'Mars Direct' mission scenario, collecting Mars Petition signatures and distributing brochures, Newsletters and Dr. Zubrin's "Mars: America's New Frontier".- LATVIAN MAGAZINE ARTICLE
Cincinnati member Janis Jaunbergs has published 'Esmu Marsietis' ("I Am A Martian") in the popular Latvian magazine Rigas Laiks (The Rigas Times). In it he discusses robotic and human exploration of Mars, as well as the Mars Society.
Contact: John Ohlheiser, JPO10708@aol.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Gus Frederick, gus@norwebster.com
Web Site:http://chapters.marssociety.org/or/
Our second MSOR "Road Show Meeting" was on March 11 in Central Oregon at the Bend Public Library. We met with several of the teachers involved with the OPEN/MSOR/OL5 Mars Millennium Project, as well as members of the general public. We gave a guided tour of the MMP Web site, as well as showed the Mars Society slide show. Chapter secretary Gus Frederick produced an audio CD of the sound track. It was determined that a second, less technical, faster-paced version would be helpful for more general audiences.At this time, we also distributed copies of the first edition of our chapter newsletter, "The Oregon Martian." This will be a quarterly publication sent to all MSOR and Oregon Mars Society members. We also had quite a few of the NSS-Lockhead-Martin "Mission to Mars" viewer's guides. NSS sent us about 1000 of these, of which half were distributed to Oregon school teachers. The remainder were distributed at the meeting, and at the Silverton, Oregon Palace theatre, which opened and featured the flick for two weeks. We still have about 100 left, which we will use for future events and outreach.
We are starting to get responses back from our "Mars Candidate's Summit" letter. The Bush campaign replied that the May 13th date was too far off to plan for, and the Gore camp responded that Al will not be in-state that weekend. Alternate dates may be planned.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry invited the chapter to participate in their "Russian Rocketry Weekend" on April 15/16. This even is a tie-in to the traveling Stroganoff Art Exhibit currently underway at the Portland Art Museum. We will be on hand, sharing a table with the Oregon L5 Society, which has arranged for a former Soviet rocket scientist, Dr. Mikhael Benikov, to speak on Saturday, April 15 at 2:00 in OMSI's classroom 1. This talk will be free for the public, and the admission fee to OMSI is not required.
The April meeting will be on April 8 at 2:00 at the Corvallis Public Library.
Contact: Wojciech Klimkiewicz, Ph.D., wxk10@psu.edu
No activity to report.
Contact: Gary C. Fisher, gcfisheris@aol.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Daniar Hussain, daniarh@yahoo.com
Mailing List:mars-penn@onelist.com
The Mars Society of Pittsburgh -- the Johnstown division -- did an excellent movie outreach event at a local theater in Johnstown, western Pennsylvania for the new movie Mission to Mars.To the success of the event, I extend my greatest thanks and appreciation for the work of Sameer Soi, a new member of the Pittsburgh Chapter and a freshman in high school. He did a great job organizing the event, which took a large part of the burden off my own shoulders.
Both Sameer and I were at the theater Friday night for the premier of Mission to Mars, and I feel it was a highly successful event. (Granted, the movie was not well done.) But I felt we had reached about 250 people that first night. We made people think, and to consider their comfortable positions -- and that is an achievement, in my opinion. Most of the people were respectful of us, and took and looked at our pamphlets. I would guess most people read at least part of the pamphlets. About 5 people or so were genuinely interested, and asked questions about Mars and about the Mars Society. And 2 guys were very much interested in us, and talked with us for about 15 minutes. We gave them a brief description of the Mars Society, and our goals, and I gave them my business card. Just reaching those two people was worth the whole evening spent.
Sameer and his sister were also able to make it to the theater on Saturday night, and distributed the remaining 100 or so flyers that were still left over. We gave out all 350 of our brochures -- which I feel is a good achievement for a single event. I am optimistic that our stance was taken positively by the local people here, and we hope to continue to work in our own small ways to increase awareness of our cause.
On the same Friday, I also did outreach to my AP Government class, and I gave my class the official MS brochures as well as brochures I had made myself previously. The class took the idea very positively, and was quite interested in our organization -- of which they were not aware of. My goverment teacher, Mr. Jones, was also very interested in us. He termed us a "special-interest group." I told him that I consider ourselves to be more of a "general-interest group" since we fight for a cause that will help all of mankind.
"We were born to stand on a new world, and to look beyond it!"
ON TO MARS!!!!!!............. {And Beyond!!}
With best regards,
Dan Hussain, Chapter Contact, Mars Society of Pittsburgh
Contact: Jose Lopez Reyes, skyloop@caribe.net
No activity to report.
Contact: Steve Connors, connors@ici.net
No activity to report.
Contact: Richard Allen Brown, Charlestonideas@hotmail.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Trae Winter, hwinter@latte.memphis.edu
No activity to report.
Contact: Tim Crain, crain@csr.utexas.edu
No activity to report.
Contact: Scott Bell, ntms@usa.net
No activity to report.
Contact: Chris Barnes, USAMarsMan@aol.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Tom Allred, AllredTj@ubtanet.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Johannes Helgeson, noachis@hotmail.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Jim Burk, President, jburk@jburk.com
Chapter email: marspuget@egroups.com
Web Site: Mars Society Puget Sound
This month our chapter is attending the NorWesCon science-fiction convention (special guest is Larry Niven, author and writer for space.com). We will be organizing a panel on NASA vs. Private industry for space and mars missions.In June we are organizing a Mars Society chapter meeting / mini-convention in the Eastern washington area. It will bring together Mars Society chapters in Oregon, Washington State, Idaho, and British Columbia.
Contact: Robert Strong, strongro@WLSVAX.WVNET.EDU
No activity to report.
Contact: Scott Davis, scud1@execpc.com
The Wisconsin Mars Society arranged with the management of General Cinemas to have an exhibit in the lobby of their 18 screen complex at Milwaukee's Mayfair Mall for the opening weekend of Mission to Mars.Our banner was suspended from the ceiling, our exhibits and information tables where set up at the lobby entrance off the mall and we had great exposure and great traffic all weekend, Fri-Sun, May 10-12. We managed to man the exhibit and tables full time and really enjoyed ourselves talking to people, young and old, men and women, white, black, hispanic, oriental - interest both in the movie and in our eye catching exhibits was universally high. This was a joint effort between Wisconsin Mars Society and the Lunar Reclamation Society (NSS-Milwaukee) who brought along their table top lunar homestead model (reviews: 99% "cool", 1% "neat") and set of "Mars bricks" which demonstrated the difference between Earth gravity and Mars gravity to the astonishment of everyone. This was a hands-on, pick-them-up display. It was interesting that a lot of people expected the Mars brick to weigh more than the Earth brick, thinking that Mars was bigger than Earth.
We produced a Wisconsin Mars Society flyer to tuck inside the Mars Society pamphlets, and had an email-list sign up sheet which got us a lot of prospective new members. Many said that they didn't know that clubs like this existed in Milwaukee and said they wanted to join.
We had color prints of Mars showing where the ancient ocean used to be, and this proved to be a talking point advantage. We also had a nice enlarged Pathfinder panorama. We also enjoyed telling people about the Devon Island project and had lots of photos to show where and what etc.
We learned some lessons and got lots of ideas about putting up an even better display next time. I think we want to get across that Mars is not just a place we want humans to explore, but the next human frontier. There is a lot of enthusiasm to tap out there.
The following weekend, we had our monthly meeting in Madison (once a quarter). And plans were made to set up an information exhibit at the next Tripoli Rocket Association model rocket launching event on the weekend of April 15-16 at the former Bong Air Force Base west of Kenosha in the SE corner of the state.
WMS member Peter Kokh was interviewed by space.com on lavatubes and their possible use on the Moon and Mars and this resulted in a pair of articles published on March 21st: Moon Caves and Mars Caves.
Bill Hensley arranged an interview with his local state senator. This was a get-your-feet-wet starter, and now he's aiming at the Washington crowd.
Progress continued on a number of projects led by individual WMS members. More on that as they ripen.
Submitted by Peter Kokh
Contact: Patrick Banks, PAT@uwyo.edu
Believe it or not, the Wyoming Chapter (well, actually just me) actually has something to report. I went to see mission to Mars on March 11th. The girl who took my ticket saw my Mars or Bust pin and started to giggle, so I handed her and the other person selling tickets a Mars Society brochure. I also handed one to the fellow tearing the tickets.Patrick Banks, Wyoming Chapter
Contact: Margarita Marinova, mmm@mit.edu
Web Site: http://chapters.marssociety.org/youth/
The *third* issue of The Martian Chronicles - the Mars Youth Newsletter - is now out! Check it out at our web site!In this issue:
- A Mars Anthem
- The Recluse (Part 2)
- A Vacation on Mars
- Mars Art
- Meet the Scientist - Dale Anderson, SETI Exobiologist
- Paper Mars! (paper Mars spacecraft models)
- OPEN Mars Millenium Project
Deadline for submissions for the next issue is April 22. Submissions can be anything! and are *greatly* appreciated!
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: Gabriel Rshaid, grshaid@marsacademy.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Andrew Hamilton, ahamilto@nsw.bigpond.net.au
This month was the much anticipated tour of the country by Dr. Robert Zubrin. It was an amazing success! He visited Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane to give five public talks on the Mars Direct plan, why we must settle the Red Planet, what the Mars Society is and does and also suggested we get active for an Australian space program. The talks got extensive press coverage from local and national sources including TV, radio and newspaper interviws. The number of people that turned up to each event were:
Which comes to a grand total of 2480 people attending Zubrin's lectures in Australia – and here's the best part: almost every single one of these people are now on a mailing list which will soon become availiable to the Mars Society Headquarters as well as the Australian chapter.
- Sydney – 130 people
- Adelaide – 800 people
- Melbourne (Uni talk) – 150 people
- Melbourne (public talk) – 600 people
- Brisbane – 800 people.
We are still baffled by the fantastic success of Zubrin's tour and believe it to come down to these two factors (we have written a report on our activities so other chapters can learn from us) one is the fact that the smaller the city where the talk was held the more people turned up, which is probably because of the buzz it created. The second is the fact that for most public events people had to book ahead giving the impression that this was big and seats were filling fast (which they were because of this). This last factor had the added bonus of creating a reliable mailing list for future use.
Overall the Australian chapter of the Mars Society had a very eventlful month and we're now in the process of recovering our energies and organising the lists we've collected.
Felix Dance, Mars Society Australia.
Contact: Antoon Van Boxstael, Antoon@hotmail.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Marc Boucher, webmaster@marssociety.org
Web Site: http://canada.marssociety.org
The Mars Society of Canada formation committee recently elected the following people to the board of directors. These are temporary positions for purposes of creating a non-profit organization in Canada. General elections will be held this summer for an elected Board of Directors.President - Marc Boucher
Vice-President - Nick Welke
Secretary - Jacob Westfall
Treasurer - Isabelle Tremblay
Director of Membership - Robert George
Director of Projects - John Roesch
Director of Communications - Chandra Clarke
Contact: Jean Lagarde, jlagarde@bigfoot.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Rocky Persaud, rocky.persaud@utoronto.ca
Web Site: http://Chapters.MarsSociety.org/toronto/
No activity to report.
Contact: Cristian Puebla-Menne, cpuebla@cmet.net
No activity to report.
Contact: George Lordos, Lordos@mit.edu
No activity to report.
Contact: Richard Heidmann, Rheidmann@aol.com
The first annual convention of PLANETE MARS was held on Saturday 03-11-00 at the Salle de l'Espace (Space Auditorium, C.N.E.S.) in Paris. The main points are :
The convention was followed by four general lectures open to the public:
- the statute law was improved (in particular to get more registrations)
- the executive committee includes now nine trustees (instead of six, as foreseen at creation last year)
- activities for 2000 were proposed by the board and debated.
- "Preparation for manned missions" by Albert DUCROCQ, scientific writer and journalist, honorary President of PLANETE MARS
- "Mars in the Artic" by Pascal LEE, planetary scientist from NASA Ames Research Center, Haughton Project Leader
- "Mission to Haughton crater" by Christian LARDIER, journalist at Air & Cosmos, space editor
- "Polar stations and very hard environment " by Richard GAUD, doctor in southern countries in winter.
The new executive committee met on friday 03-24-00 at the head office and nominated the board : chairman Richard HEIDMANN, secretary Dominique GUILLAUME, assistant secretary Erwan BOURCY, treasurer Lionel COUSIN, Bertrand SPITZ webmaster. We also selected activities debated during the last convention.Dominique GUILLAUME, Secretary of PLANETE MARS
Contact: Michael Bosch, Michael.Bosch@wiwi.uni-regensburg.de
Web Site: http://www.marssociety.de/
No activity to report.
Contact: Olafur Patrick Olafsson, opo@hi.is
No activity to report.
Contact: Alin Moss, alinm@hotmail.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Fabrizio Pirondini, pirro@tin.it
No activity to report.
Contact: Onizuka, Michitaka, onizuka@colorado.edu
Contact: Kiosuke Murakawa, murakawa@csp.co.jp
No activity to report.
Contact: Rich Robins, Mars@SpaceProjects.com
Rich Robins, founder of the Mexico Chapter, recently toured the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He felt like he was at the center of the universe, considering how significant JPL is regarding Mars ventures. On a lighter note, though, Rich nevertheless chuckled with friends at how "similar to the actual Mars" the rover testing site appears to be (rocks, backdrops and all). It's a tribute to JPL's integrity that they didn't try to fake a December landing to stay out of hot water, considering how authentic they really can make a Mars scene appear. And to think that the movie Capricorn One starred O.J. Simpson who used to live just down the road.Speaking of Hollywood, while Mission to Mars was thoroughly enjoyable, the movie hasn't made it to many foreign countries yet (let alone Mexico).
Rich is presently serving his native USA's space agency in Washington D.C., using his legal and entrepreneurial skills to try and better facilitate NASA's outsourcing to small businesses. Rich's office (Small Business Utilization) is proud to have found the small company (BST Systems) that produced the Mars Sojourner Rover's battery, which lasted 3 times as long as contracted for, and at the cheapest price available on the market too. Remember that? So now that the entire Mars program is being re-worked, let's try and prepare to create more small business Mars success stories for the future! Rich's NASA supervisors seem to be comparatively very energized, insightful, aggressive, and ready to make a difference for humanity in space (just like Rich). Feel free to e-mail him at rrobins@hq.nasa.gov.
On to Mars!
Contact: Arno Wielders, arnoux@strw.leidenuniv.nl
or Arno Wielders, arno@marssociety.nl
Web Site: http://www.marssociety.nl
No activity to report.
Contact: David Maclenna, mac@xtra.co.nz
No activity to report.
Contact: Johan Veerman, jveerman@yahoo.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Kin Enriquez, kin_toy@hotmail.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Piotr Moskal, piotr.moskal@lupus.pl
We just finished the registration process in the court -- all is fine. We are also preparing some presentations and a project list for the year 2K. Apart from that, nothing new happened.
Contact: Gennady Gusev, marssociety@mail.ru
No activity to report.
Contact: Evan James Dembskey, evan@telemessage.co.za
No activity to report.
Contact: Cayetano Santana Gil, csangi@idecnet.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Alexander Hristov, ahristov@psd.es
No activity to report.
Contact: Claes-Gustaf Nordquist, c_g_nordquist@yahoo.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Claude-Alain Roten, claude-alain.roten@igbm.unil.ch
Contact: Gabriel Borruat, gabriel.borruat@igbm.unil.ch
No activity to report.
Contact: Vladymy Shevernytskyy, charity@akcecc.kiev.ua
No activity to report.
Contact: Bo Maxwell, sagan@dircon.co.uk
Web Site: http://www.marssociety.org.uk
The UK has been a little quiet during February and March, but that is about to change.With Mission to Mars opening in the UK in mid-April, the Mars Society UK is ramping up for a presence at the London opening and to have tables at several regional theatres. Brochures are in hand, and we hope to have our new Mars Society UK tee shirts available for sale as well. Currently our 6ft by 6ft trade stand is being updated to carry information on the Society (for those going in to see the film) and information on the differences between the Hollywood portrayal of a Mars mission and reality (for those coming out of the theatre). Touchstone pictures UK are currently being contacted to hopefully gain their support.
Phillip Dembo, Executive Director of the Society in the UK has been contacted by the BBC's "Newsnight" programme, which is an in-depth news and current affairs programme broadcast nightly, and Bo Maxwell has been contected by BBC's "Tomorrow's World" weekly science magazine programme. Both "Newsnight" and "Tomorrow's World" have expressed an interest in the work of the Society.
The Society's outreach programme is stepping up, not only with Mission to Mars, but also with dates and talks at universities across the country.
In April, the Society will host the inaugural meeting of the UK Space Development Council, a new organisation the Society is pioneering to bring the need for greater UK involvement in all space-related activities (robotic missions, manned missions, near Earth and deep space) to the attention of the public and politicians alike.
In May the Society will be hosting a meeting for European Chapter Leaders to discuss greater co-ordination and development of Mars Society activities across Europe and to help the smaller chapters in their attempts to grow.
Both of these meetings will take place in London and will be reported on in due course.
Also in May, Bo Maxwell will be visiting the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, as a guest of the Computer Sciences Department. The university is involved in developing robot airships for use in remote sensing operations on Earth and also for potentially exploring Mars. The visit will include a tour of the university's facilities and meeting to discuss mutual support and co-operation, during which a presentation on the Society's work in the UK and internationally will be made.
Finally, in closing congratulations go to:
Peter Loftus (Memberships Director) and his wife Karyn, on the birth of their third son on the 6th March.
Bo Maxwell on his marriage to Susan on the 2nd March.
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: Jim Burk, Task Force lead, jburk@jburk.com
Web Site: Ares CD-Rom Task Force
Task Force email: ares-cdrom@chapters.marssociety.org
We are close to finishing the first and only Beta for issue #3, "Life on Mars?" which will ship next month. It will contain articles and research papers on Astrobiology and Exopalentology, as well as the usual suite of Mars Society products. If you would like a free copy of the beta, send your postal mailing address to me at jburk@jburk.comIssue #2 is still apparently being worked on by the Imagineering company, and I would like to extend an apology to the Mars Society membership for the length of time it's taken. We were originally going to shoot for Issue #2 to be done in November, but we've suffered many delays in getting the PC/Mac compatibility fully tested, and now are waiting for our outside contractor (which we have little oversight of) to finish it's volunteer work. Hopefully for Issue #3 we can have a much shorter schedule so there is not such a large gap between issues of this "quarterly" publication. (Our premiere issue was finished just prior to last August's convention)
Contact: Tony Santana, TSMarsCo@aol.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Gabriel Rashaid, GRshaid@marsacademy.com
Task force web site: http://www.marsacademy.com/marssoc/
No activity to report.
Contact: Maggie Zubrin, mzubrin@aol.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Kurt Micheels, kmicheels@aol.com
The hab construction continues on schedule, with test assembly in Denver to be complete by May 5th. The contractor (Infracomp) is also looking at the cost of installing the interior systems (plumbing, electrical and HVAC). This work will begin as soon as possible. A number of meetings were conducted at NASA Ames Research Center during the Astrobiology Conference, April 3-5, between Kurt Micheels and numerous members of the Haughton - Mars Project with regard to sciene equipment and systems necessary to support exploration at Haughton Crater. Issues discussed included the greenhouse design, robotics, communications / IT, life support and astrobiology lab design. A report of these meeting will be prepared by mid April.
Contact: Kristin Boekhoff, kboekhoff@excite.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Gary Hollingshead, garyah@imagineering-usa.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Marc Boucher, webmaster@marssociety.org
Contact: Harold Miller, peabody@wayback.com
This is an initial call for people interested in working on a potential new project to test one area of the future InterPlanetary Internet (IPN). A test of the IPN may be possible next year at Devon Island. This does not necessarily mean that participants will be able to go to the Flashline Arctic Station. Interested people should contact Marc Boucher.
Contact: Maggie Zubrin, mzubrin@aol.com
See Executive Director's report
Contact: Dean Calahan, 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 to visit and read the minutes from the January workshop. We recently had another meeting, for which minutes will be appearing soon.Canadian members are especially encouraged to become physically involved. With the primary design work going on in the US, we'll have to have someone replicate our design in Canada before transporting it to the Arctic - contact Joshua Lamorie (jpl@xiphos.ca) if you are Canadian and interested.
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 designing an ecologically engineered wastewater processing system for possible attachment to FARS in the summer 2001 research season. The design will be expanded and tuned in subsequent years, to recover ever greater amounts of material and energy, and optimize for volume and mass of equipment.
Contact: Bev Conolly, conollyb@terrigal.net.au
There've been some beneficial changes to communication within the Civ-Culture group in the last month.
Because of the high-level of activity of the group and the wide-ranging discussions, Peter Kokh has suggested that message subject lines contain a three-letter code, to give listmembers a general idea of the type of topic being discussed. This change has allowed members to give greater focus to areas of their own interest, without the need to split off into multiple sub-groups.
Peter's list is available here, and will be amended and added to as the Group requires.
The most active heading of recent weeks has been Ground-Based Infrastructure (GBI), with members discussing:
- Possible shielding/placement/operation options of a nuclear reactor for early exploration/colonization phases.
- Construction methods, e.g. concreting, using materials abundant locally, such as basalt, and,
- Surface communications options, for example ground-based landlines, microsats and/or "meteorburst" communications, and the importance of redundant systems.
Other discussions have centered around:
- Nuclear fuel and drive possibilities as necessary to lower launch costs,
- Habitats and water usage/reclaiming.
- Settlement charters and treaties, their repercussions for Mars and other planets,
- and that often-overlooked area of interest, the protection and preservation of Mars itself.
As always, we welcome new listmembers and delurkers to Civilization-Culture Group!
Contact: Richard Wagner, mailto:campr2@javanet.com
No activity to report.
Contact: Chris Carberry, ccarberry@masshist.org
No activity to report.
This month in the Miscellaneous category, we have several items of interestThe Mars Conference Poster Contest
The Contest:
If you are creative, artistic and interested in the exploration of Mars, then this is the contest for you! Design a flashy, attractive poster advertising the Third International Mars Society Conference for the chance to win a free pass to the conference in Toronto, Canada. The contest is open to people of all ages.The Rules:
1. The poster must be in color and must be 8.5 x 11" in size. 2. The poster should photocopy well in black and white. 3. The poster must contain the Mars Society logo and the following information: Third International Mars Society Conference Date: August 10-13, 2000 Locale: Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Call for Papers - Deadline for 300 word abstract submissions is June 30, 2000. Mail abstracts to: Mars Society, Box 273, Indian Hills, CO 80454. Or via e-mail to: mzubrin@aol.com For more information, please visit the web site at http://www.marssociety.com/convention/2000. Convention registration fee: $180 (US) before June 30, 2000, $240 (US) thereafter. Students: $60 (US). On-line registration is available. Discount room rates available at Ryerson. Call (416) 979-5296 to book now! 4. The entry deadline is May 1st, 2000. Entries must be mailed to Attn: Mars Society Poster Contest C/O Darlene Lim Department of Geology 22 Russell St. - ESC Building University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario CANADA M5S 3B1 OR emailed in PDF, PowerPoint, or MS Word format to lim@zircon.geology.utoronto.ca 5. You can enter a maximum of two posters into the contest. 6. Public domain photographic images of Mars may be used, but all other artwork must be original.Judging:
Entries will be judged on how effective they are in advertising the convention, how attractive they are and how well they reproduce as photocopies. Entrants are encouraged to submit both a color and black and white version of their poster.A Special Offer to Chapters
Robert Jacobs, the owner of Univelt Publishing, has made a special offer to the chapters of the Mars Society. 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:Speaker's BureauThe 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.
To 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.
I can't say that I've visited all the Mars Society web sites on the net, but I just visited my first overseas site. The Mars Society UK site has the standard look and feel of a Mars Society web site, but it also has something I have not seen before - their own newsletter called Mars Today. I found their newsletter, in Adobe's PDF format, really interesting. They also have several other items that you may find useful. So this month, a tip of the hat to United Kingdom Mars Society.
Following is a quote I came across some years ago - I no longer remember where. It is just as meaningful today as it was 120 years ago when it was first spoken. The subject, of course, is Mars.
" It is well to fetter the wings of our fancy and restrain its flights. It is quite possible we may have formed entirely erroneous ideas of what we actually see. The greenish gray patches may not be seas at all, nor the ruddy continents, solid land. Neither may the obscuring patches be clouds of vapor. Man is too quick at forming conclusions. Let him but indistinctly see a thing, or even be undecided as to whether he does actually see it and he will then and there set himself to theorizing, and build immense castles of conjecture on a foundation, of whose existence he is by no means certain. "
American Astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard, 1880
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.