The culmination of an entire year's planning reached fulfillment today with the launch of Expedition One.

The center-piece of the Mars Society of Canada's (MSC) international collaborative science program is the first of an intended series of special expeditions to each of the international Mars Society's analog research stations. The Mars Society of Australia (MSA) partnered with MSC to initiate the first of these, Expedition One, to be held at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, from February 15th - March 16th, 2003.

The first members of Crew 14 arrived at the Mars Desert Research Station over a twenty four hour period from noon Feb 14 to noon Feb 15. Unlike the usual size of 6-person crew for MDRS, we have brought 14 people -- 3 geologist, 3 biologists, 2 human factors officers, 2 videographers, and 4 engineers, arriving from Canada, Australia, France and the United States. This 30-Day mission is divided into four phases of investigations. Each successive phase will involve a different combination of crewmembers. Over the course of the whole expedition there will be 26 participants.

A group photo was taken, then we had a short briefing on hab safety and systems. After lunch a meeting was held to organize the weekend training, with the intent to begin our ambitious research program on Monday. Crewmembers organized into subgroups for training. The field scientists reviewed biology protocols, and geological regolith-landform mapping. The engineers were introduced to the habitat service systems. Human factors officers and PR officers / videographers familiarized with data collection protocols and equipment. In the evening, a grand banquet with fine Australian wine was enjoyed by the crew, our first supper together for this ambitious undertaking.

Participating in Expedition One's first phase are:

From Canada, Rocky Persaud (Commander and Principal Investigator), Melissa Battler (Geologist), Brian Orlotti (Communications Engineer), Jean Lagarde (Executive Officer) and Kathy Plachta (Human Factors Officer).

From Australia, Jonathan Clarke (Chief Geologist), James Waldie (Chief Engineer), and Guy Murphy (PR Officer).

From the United States, Julie Edwards (Lead Biologist), Vuong Nguyen (Biologist), Jim Oliver (Communications Engineer), and Steve Jordan (PR Officer).

From France, Fathi Karouia (Biologist) and Amaury Solignac (Human Factors Officer).

Also with us this training weekend are Shannon Rupert (Chief Biologist), Frank Crossman (Lead GIS Support), and Craig Snapp (GIS Support).

This mission was first conceived by Rocky Persaud and Anna Paulson over Christmas 2001 when the first unofficial Shakedown Crew of MDRS lived at the hab amidst its construction, conducting operational experiments into EVA exploration strategies. The experience of that mission and Rocky's past rotation at FMARS evolved into a plan with the following goals:

Expedition One Goals:

1. Conduct a four-week expedition to the Mars Desert Research Station in early 2003, with nearly a year of advance planning.
   
   
2. Phase the expedition according to specific research needs:
   
   a. Two weeks of focused missions of investigations. Use the station as a base of operations rather than for fully-holistic mission simulations. The first week, Phase One, will study EVA tools (spacesuits, rovers, data-logger, etc.) and exploration strategies while the second week, Phase Two, will focus on EVA science operations (performing geological and biological studies while suited).
   
   b. Phase Three will be one week of missions of opportunity, focussing on Mars-analog geological and biological investigations in a semi-holistic simulation, with investigations into Earth-Mars mission science interactions. This uses the station as both a base of operations and a research lab. This will also include a few training days to convey the lessons learned from the first two Phases to the crew of Phases Three and Four.
   
   c. One week of a mission of discovery. This assembles the lessons learned over the previous three weeks into a mission simulation which includes the best EVA strategies used to conduct real science, approaching a fully holistic situation. This uses the habitat as a base of operations, a research lab, and as a test-bench for habitability studies and completing the crew social-psychology studies conducted over all four phases. Also this phase culminates in an unprecedented week-long confinement study in the Everest Mars Analog Rover with a crew of one geologist, one biologist and one engineer.

After this past year of planning, recruiting a crew, developing a research program, and organizing a diverse international crew, I must express my delighted surprise at how incredibly well everything came together. There were a multitude of challenges, frequently on a daily basis, and the crew rose to every one, and moved forward towards defining new approaches to Mars analog research.

Over the course of this next week (Phase One) the main science and technology research program will be highlighted according to this schedule:

Feb 15 - Geology Research Program
Feb 16 - Mission Support Research Program
Feb 17- "MarsSkin" Analog Suits Research Program
Feb 18 - Human Factors Research Program
Feb 19 - Biology Research Program
Feb 20 - Datalogging Research Program
Feb 21 - Mars Analog Rover Research Program
Feb 22 - Mission Support Communications Experiment

In addition to these program documents we will be posting daily engineering reports, images, and keeping you apprised of our health and welfare.