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As part of its effort to promote public understanding about the importance of exploring the planet Mars and the need to establish a permanent human presence there, the Mars Society is pleased to announce the launch of a new monthly blog called “Red Planet Bound”.  Hosted on the Mars Society’s web site, the new online column is being written by Evan Plant-Weir HBSc, co-founder of The Mars Society of Canada. A passionate and long-time advocate of space exploration, Evan is… READ MORE >

By Jen Carver-Hunter, Veteran Educator, NASA Spaceward Bound Utah Spaceward Bound Utah (SWB) is a NASA-funded program at the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah. The purpose of SWB is to inspire future space explorers by providing a Mars analog experience for classroom teachers. Each SWB cohort brings together a group of 6-8 educators with varied professional experience from Utah, across the country, and even internationally. The most recent SWB cohort, Crew 271, spent an engaging,… READ MORE >

By Lawrence Klaes, Guest Writer, The Mars Society If there is one highlight among many that the Twenty-First Century can be noted for when it comes to space exploration, it is as the era when the automated rover really took off – and all over – the planet Mars. At this moment, there are three functioning multi-wheeled explorers making their way across different parts of the Red Planet, their suites of instruments gleaning what they can about their new homes… READ MORE >

By Ashton Zeth, Guest Writer, Red Planet Bound, 03.08.24 International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated annually on March 8th, is dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of women throughout history. Beyond celebrating the triumphs of women, IWD also focuses on raising awareness about ongoing struggles and campaigning for gender equality. According to the US Census Bureau, International Women’s Day dates back to March 8, 1857, in New York City, when “female textile workers marched in protest of unfair working conditions… READ MORE >

By James Melton, PhD, Mars Society Chief Ambassador Red Planet Bound Blog OUR STORY In the dark stillness of the night, zero four hundred hours a Zoom link is clicked in Pakistan. Nasir reaches for his notepad for the call. Simultaneously, in Australia, at 0700 hours at dawn, Jonathan is ready for work, but before leaving, he clicks on the Zoom link. In the United Kingdom, at 10:00 PM, Emma and Steve join in. At 4:00 PM in Austin and… READ MORE >

A Guest Post for the Red Planet Bound Blog by Kris Davidson, Crew Journalist for Transatlantic MDRS Crew 261 During the zenith of the Age of Exploration, spanning the 14th to 16th centuries, a captivating sway of the monstrous and mythical prevailed over cartography. This period, signified by insatiable curiosity, saw audacious explorers venturing into uncharted territories. The maps of that era, intricate renderings of the known and the unknown, served as essential tools for navigation and understanding Earth’s expansive… READ MORE >

In Person or Proxy to Mars and Beyond? By Larry Klaes, Guest Writer, Red Planet Bound In 1972, singer, pianist, and composer Sir Elton H. John (born 1947) released a song titled “Rocket Man”. This music piece, which was inspired by a Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) science fiction story of the same name, has an individual who sees his job in outer space not as some grand adventure as one might expect of a typical astronaut, but rather as ordinary and… READ MORE >

RED PLANET BOUND by Evan Plant-Weir International collaboration in space is an important catalyst for the growth of our species. Not only does is bolster our total scientific and economic productivity as a planet, but it also constitutes an important mechanism for our transition into a more planetary-minded people. Humanity is fumbling through its adolescence. We grapple with the messy contradictions found at the intersection of our violent past, and our aspirations for the future. We have matured enough as… READ MORE >

By Evan Plant-Weir, Senior Writer, Red Planet Bound Blog Space exploration is not just about gathering data. By and large, the last few hundred days on Earth are not going to be remembered fondly. Few will recall the COVID-19 years with a sense of happy nostalgia. Ultimately, however, this time won’t be entirely defined by the beating we took at the hands of a pandemic. Despite the many tragedies and challenges therein, we still managed to pull off some pretty… READ MORE >

By Evan Plant-Weir, Red Planet Bound Blog 02.24.21 Humanity has some unfinished business with the Moon. The lunar surface has fallen back into the realm of the remote and unfamiliar for too long. The Apollo landings kindled a dream of an expansive, space-faring future for our species, and that vision continues to inspire us nearly a half century later. Though we have sustained an ember of that dream through crewed missions to the International Space Station, it diminishes a little… READ MORE >

Senior ManagementDr. Robert Zubrin, PresidentJames Burk, Executive Director Kent Nebergall, Chairman, Steering Committee Michael Stoltz, Director, Media & Public Relations Dr. Shannon Rupert, Senior Director, Analog ResearchKevin Sloan, Director, University Rover ChallengeNicole Willett, Director, Education ProgramsFrank Crossman, Chief ArchivistMolly Gray, Executive Assistant Mars Desert Research Station ManagementDr. Robert Zubrin, President, The Mars SocietyJames Burk, Executive Director, The Mars SocietyDr. Shannon Rupert, Senior Director, Analog ResearchSergii Iakymov, Director, MDRS Kay Radzik, Director, MDRS RefitsDr. Peter Detterline, Director, MDRS ObservatoriesScott Davis and… READ MORE >

Spaceward Bound Utah will host its final two MDRS cohorts in Fall 2024 & Spring 2025 NASA Spaceward Bound (SWB) is a popular and successful program to train K-12 teachers in how to engage their students in activities that will inspire careers in the space sciences by taking educators into the field with scientists who are working on space-related research in a given location.  First instituted by scientists and researchers at NASA Ames, today researchers involved in that early project… READ MORE >

As we count down the final week of our groundbreaking crowdfunding campaign, the Mars Technology Institute (MTI) extends a last call for you to become a founding member of a historic venture. This is your chance to play a pivotal role in an initiative that will not only push humanity towards the stars, but also drive groundbreaking advancements here on Earth. The Urgency of Now In just seven days, our crowdfunding campaign will close. This is your unique opportunity to… READ MORE >

Be a Maker of History – Your Year-End Gift Can Change the Future! Dear Friend, As we approach the end of another remarkable year in the history of the movement to send human beings to Mars, we at the Mars Society reflect on the strides we’ve made and the journey that lies ahead. This is the year we began the Mars Technology Institute to accelerate our goals dramatically. The MTI will pioneer the technologies for the human settlement of the… READ MORE >

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that the 26th Annual International Mars Society Convention will be held once again on the picturesque campus of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe on Thursday-Sunday, October 5-8, 2023.  As in previous years, the international conference will bring together leading scientists, engineers, commercial space executives, government policymakers, members of the media, and prominent space advocates to discuss the latest news about current and future Mars exploration and planning for a human mission to the… READ MORE >

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that the Utah NASA Space Grant Consortium has approved a $5,000 grant request to fund an educational project called “Spaceward Bound Classroom: Bringing Mars to Utah Students,” which focuses on developing a series of labs in a box with engaging science experiments that can be shipped to Utah classrooms when visiting the organization’s Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah is not an option for students. Led by MDRS Director Dr. Shannon Rupert,… READ MORE >

The next Red Planet Live video podcast will include a lengthy chat with Dr. Reut Sorek Abramovich, an astrobiologist & educator at the Dead Sea & Arava Science Centre in Israel, co-founder & former chief scientist for Israel’s D-MARS space analog program, and co-founder & current chairperson of Israel’s Mars Society chapter, on Sunday, May 8th (4:00 pm PT / 7:00 pm ET). The interview will focus on the search for life on Mars, in our solar system and beyond… READ MORE >

Spaceward Bound is a joint NASA-Mars Society program to train K-12 teachers in how to engage their students in activities that will inspire careers in the space sciences by taking teachers into the field with scientists who are working on space-related research in a given location. First instituted by scientists and researchers at NASA Ames, today researchers involved in that early project are still holding Spaceward Bound field expeditions all over the world. Spaceward Bound Utah is a 5-day workshop… READ MORE >

Imagine that you have been transported 3.5 billion years into the past. Somewhere on a young planet Earth, you find yourself standing by the edge of a warm tidal pool. In it, life has just taken shape for the very first time on this world, and perhaps anywhere. As the result of circumstances that we still do not fully understand, non-living matter has somehow joined together in just the right way to generate a living system. You are witness to… READ MORE >

By Dr. Robert Zubrin, National Review, 12.28.21 On Christmas Day, NASA’s long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was finally launched into space. The JWST is, by far, the greatest astronomical observatory ever built. Its primary mirror is 21 feet across, triple that of Hubble, giving it ten times the light-gathering capacity. Add to that the fact that its infrared optics are ten times as sensitive, and the result is a telescope a hundred times as powerful. The discoveries it could make are beyond reckoning…. READ MORE >

Most visiting crews to our Mars Desert Research Station come for a two-week analog mission and consist of researchers, members of academia, or university students. In recent years however #MDRS has opened its doors occasionally to younger groups of would-be Mars explorers, including high school students. Beginning tomorrow (December 9th), a team made up of middle school students from Ogden Preparatory Academy in northern Utah will be participating in a three-day mini-sim on campus. Led by an educator who participated… READ MORE >

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that a special one-hour virtual presentation entitled “Is There Life Out There: Current Biological Research at the Mars Desert Research Station” (MDRS) in Utah will be held during the 24th Annual International Mars Society Convention on Friday, October 15th from 7:30-8:30 pm PT. A group of four experts led by MDRS Director Dr. Shannon Rupert will highlight several long-term research projects that are being conducted at the MDRS facility, including new research looking… READ MORE >

There is something curious at the heart of Mars settlement cynicism. Some specific, underlying mindset appears to be driving many critics of humans-to-Mars. Paradoxically, an awareness of that mindset can help us better understand the value of our multi-planetary future. Have you noticed it? Their language frequently resonates with a kind of knee-jerk pessimism. It feels like the sort of response usually elicited when somebody is confronted with an idea that they would rather not actually consider. We pull away… READ MORE >

International collaboration in space is an important catalyst for the growth of our species. Not only does is bolster our total scientific and economic productivity as a planet, but it also constitutes an important mechanism for our transition into a more planetary-minded people. Humanity is fumbling through its adolescence. We grapple with the messy contradictions found at the intersection of our violent past, and our aspirations for the future. We have matured enough as a species to see the urgent… READ MORE >

Space exploration is not just about gathering data. By and large, the last few hundred days on Earth are not going to be remembered fondly. Few will recall the COVID-19 years with a sense of happy nostalgia. Ultimately, however, this time won’t be entirely defined by the beating we took at the hands of a pandemic. Despite the many tragedies and challenges therein, we still managed to pull off some pretty remarkable things. Somewhere high on that list is the… READ MORE >