MDRS Crew 35
February 20 - March 5, 2005

During the active field season, the crew of the Mars Desert Research Station rotates every 2 weeks. These are the scientists and engineers who live and work on site within the MDRS. They explore all of the facets of human exploration in a simulated Mars environment. The MDRS will be active for a 7 month period.

Name	Speciality
Hugh S. Gregory	Mission Commander - Astronomy Researcher
Adam Rehnberg	Executive Officer - Asst Engineer-Paramedic
Felipe Broering	Crew Doctor & HSO - Medical Researcher
Anthony Francis, Jr.	Engineer - Computers - AI Researcher
Kevin Saka	Senior HVAC Research Specialist

Hugh S. Gregory	Hugh S. Gregory: I have always wanted to go into space, which is why I shelled out and arm and a leg 12 years ago to be a Beta tester of Adult Space Camp (see Bob Gathany's photograph at left) and in January of 2004 I applied to be a passenger candidate with one of Canada's X-Prize teams (obviously didn't make the cut but I tried). As a spaceflight historian on the Sci-Fi con circuit for the past 15 years, I travel about 35,000 air miles a year (out of my own pocket), to lecture Sci-Fi fans on non-North American current space news events and answer questions on the previously hidden and secret history of the former Soviet Unions' space programs. Very few Americans seem willing to touch the subject of foreign space efforts. So as a Canadian I've been filling this knowledge void since 1990 and get great personal satisfaction out of helping enlighten others. I am experienced in isolated location emergency medicine and telemedicine as nearly 20 years ago I did a series of Industrial Paramedic postings over 3 years in Northern BC where I was usually a minimum of 2 hours from the nearest medical aid centre by boat or road. I was often out of camp as a part of the crew as I was then using my (not paying very much) Surveyors' Technician education to man the theodolite and translating engineering plans into a lay out of roads, bridges, railway lines and putting in control for building foundations. I am an amateur astronomer (member of RASC since 1991), a licensed pilot and a retired Para Jumpmaster with over 700 freefalls and two competition bronze medals. Married 8 years to sweetheart and best friend Anne. I am really excited and looking forward to my first visit to "analog Mars" as a part of an MDRS crew. What a way to celebrate your 50th birthday, eh !!! I hope my participation in a supporting analogue Mars-naut capacity will help to further the on going research by the scientists of the Mars Society into the problems mankind will face when we finally send off our first human exploration crew to the Red Planet.
Adam Rehnberg	Adam Rehnberg, 29, is an aeronautical engineer from Stockholm, Sweden. He has a Masters' degree in aeronautics and has been working for a couple of years as an engineering consultant for the aerospace industry, being active in areas such as flight dynamics, airborne systems design and flight testing. Adam has also done a compulsory year of service in the Swedish army, as well as working for six months as an ambulance crew leader with Swedish UN forces in former Yugoslavia. Adam is a licensed private pilot and also enjoys running and fencing.
Felipe Broering	Felipe Broering is a physician from Brazil. He completed his medical degree at Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and also a Residency Training in Family Medicine. His interests include biomedical engineering, neuromuscular physiology, extreme environment studies and microgravity simulations. He is currently working in the Microgravity Laboratory at Pontificia Universidade Catolica (PUC-RS), in Porto Alegre, Brazil and this is his first time at MDRS where he will serve as Health & Safety Officer - Medical Researcher.
Anthony Francis, Jr.	Dr. Anthony G. Francis, Jr. designs intelligent machines and emotional robots. His research explores the relationship of memory, emotion, and context in humans, animals and machines, and uses findings from cognitive science to design artificial intelligences that better meet human needs. On his first trip to the MDRS he will serve as computer technican and will collect exploratory observations to determine the feasibility of an AI crew advisory tool. He received his PhD in Computer Science at Georgia Tech, where his work in contextual memory retrieval later grew into the kernel of a commercial information retrieval engine at Enkia Corporation. With the same team of researchers, he also worked with Yamaha Motor Corporation to develop an emotional long term memory for a robot pet. This work fed his standing interest in the convergence of narrative, art and AI in computer games. Dr. Francis is employed as a senior software developer at Scientific Technologies Corporation, where he works with the PHIN VADS Enterprise Vocabulary team to improve how computer systems store, maintain and communicate vocabularies for public health. Dr. Francis also lectures on artificial intelligence and public health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. In addition to being a computer scientist, Anthony is also a science fiction author, comic book creator, and martial artist. He has one published short story and writes, draws and produces Fanu Fiku, an anime-inspired science fiction webcomic. Anthony is also a third degree brown belt in Taido, an acrobatic Japanese martial art. When time permits, Anthony also enjoys running, biking, improv, scuba, rock climbing, camping, reading, and cooking Lebanese food.
Kevin Saka	Kevin Saka is a 39 year old Gypsy engineer, and is making his inaugural trip to MDRS. He is an accomplished researcher and design engineer in the areas of HVAC, Combustion, Emissions Controls, Heat Transfer, and Building Energy Analysis. He comes from a cross-functional background in Civil, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering with most of his experience in HVAC, Cooling, and Refrigeration Systems. He has extensive knowledge in the area of cooling cycles and multi-phase / multi-component thermodynamics. Kev enjoys working on and developing new experimental and futuristic cooling systems. He is currently an integral part of a new development program called Buck Rogers Voyage-25, which is aimed at pioneering new technologies that reach out and touch tomorrow today. His career path has been completely unplanned and has unexpectedly turned out to be much more than just having a another job, rather it has been a series of exciting and unparalleled adventures. Kevin’s complete voyage/profile can be viewed at http://www.SoldierofTechnology.com as this portrays a thumbnail sketch of his "Engineering Playland". As well as an educator, he is also an athlete, and plans return a second year for the 2005 Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. Fascinated with Space Exploration, he one day hopes to become a United States Astronaut, as the unknown mission is to travel into the future on a new rocket-ship to a place called "Tomorrowland". According to Kev, "The best engineers in life don’t get old, instead they become Warriors."