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Mars Society Launches Kickstarter to Create MarsVR Crew Training Program

The Mars Society, the world’s largest space advocacy group dedicated to the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars, launched today a Kickstarter campaign to help raise $27,500 for a new open-source virtual reality platform called MarsVR, which will be used for serious research to support the goal of sending humans to the Red Planet. The MarsVR program will be a unique multi-phase effort designed to pioneer the emerging field of CrowdExploration, which we define as the partnership between the… READ MORE >

Bridenstine Confirmation : Message from Robert Zubrin

A Message from Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin Congratulations Jim Bridenstine for your Senate confirmation as NASA Administrator. The Mars Society offers you its full support in any effort you make to give the American people a purpose-driven space program that is really going somewhere. May you succeed in once again making NASA the banner of the pioneer spirit. New worlds are at hand, filled with wonders waiting to be discovered and history waiting to be made. The chains… READ MORE >

Mars InSight Project Manager Tom Hoffman to Address Mars Society Convention

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Tom Hoffman, Project Manager of the upcoming Mars InSight lander mission, will address the 21st Annual International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for August 23-26, 2018 at the Pasadena Convention Center (Pasadena, CA). With a launch window opening on May 5th and a scheduled landing on the Red Planet in late November, Mars InSight will examine the deep interior of Mars with the goal of helping us understand how terrestrial planets – including… READ MORE >

2018 Mars Society Poster Contest Extended for 5 Days

PLEASE NOTE: Due to a number of recent requests from designers, the deadline for the 2018 Mars Society Poster Contest has been extended until Wednesday, April 18th, 5:00 pm MST. The design competition was originally scheduled to end on April 13th. The 2018 Mars Society Poster Contest kicked off recently. Members and friends alike are invited to submit a poster for consideration, with the winning design to be used as the main promotional graphic for the 21st Annual International Mars… READ MORE >

Mars Society Australia Preps for 2nd Balloon Payload Flight [4.8.18]

Mars Society Australia (MSA) announced that its second near-space payload is ready for flight. Set to be lofted into the atmosphere on board a high-altitude weather balloon (courtesy of Robert Brand) later this month, the MSA science package was built by Trent McDougall & Steven Hobbs and consists of a variety of research instruments, including a fish-eye camera, a spectrometer, a visible camera, a near-IR camera and pressure and temperature sensors.   This effort is part of the Marsobot Project,… READ MORE >

RPP Blog (#37) Building Mars: Modeling Permanent Structures Using Mars-Sourced Materials [4.7.18]

By: Lorena Bueno, Guest Blogger Red Planet Pen (RPP) Blog, Issue #37 Crack open any mid-level science novel from the last 70 years and you’ll find, among fanciful descriptions of grand canals and sand-scattering weather systems, varied descriptions of what’s underfoot (or boot): Martian sand. Regolith, powder, basalt rock, even clay, hint at a time when Mars had enough water and geologic activity to create clay. As we plan our first trips to Mars on Earth with the Mars Desert… READ MORE >

Utah Mars Society Chapter Planning Inaugural Meeting (April 14) in SLC

The Mars Society is a membership-driven non-profit organization that advocates Mars exploration and a human mission to the Red Planet. Our organization thrives on promoting our mission through public and political outreach, establishing educational programs, organizing Mars simulations and STEM-related research projects and much more in the hope of growing this dream into a future reality. Utah is already home to one of the Mars Society’s two research stations – The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) outside Hanksville. Please join… READ MORE >

[R.Zubrin Op-Ed] Moon Direct: How to Build a Moonbase in Four Years [3.30.18]

By Robert Zubrin SpaceNews, 03.30.18 The recent amazing success of the Falcon Heavy launch offers America an unprecedented opportunity to break the stagnation that has afflicted its human spaceflight program for decades. In short, the moon is now within reach. Here’s how the mission plan could work. The Falcon Heavy can lift 60 tons to low Earth orbit (LEO). Starting from that point, a hydrogen/oxygen rocket-propelled cargo lander could deliver 12 tons of payload to the lunar surface. We therefore… READ MORE >