News & Announcements

The exploration and settlement of Mars is one of the great challenges of our time — a point strongly underlined by Monday’s announcement of the discovery of potentially life-holding liquid water on that planet — so it is not surprising that there have been many good novels investigating its possibilities. There have, however, been no worthwhile movies on the subject. True, there have been a fair number of big-budget extravaganzas that nominally involve Mars, but these have been simply a… READ MORE >

The Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), the world’s longest-serving Mars surface simulation habitat located in southern Utah, played host to a group of twelve international entertainment and science bloggers last weekend. Organized by 20th Century Fox, one of the largest U.S. film studios, the media visit to MDRS was set up as part of the company’s ongoing effort to promote the Ridley Scott-directed film, The Martian, which is due out in theaters October 2nd. During the two-day visit,… READ MORE >

Students to propose design concepts mission to open the path to the Red Planet Introduction The U.S. human spaceflight program is currently adrift. It needs a goal, and that goal should be sending explorers to Mars in our time. In order to help provide such direction and get a real humans to Mars program underway, the Mars Society is launching an international student engineering  contest to design the Gemini Mars mission, creating a plan for a two-person Mars flyby that… READ MORE >

During the 18th Annual International Mars Society Convention, held in mid-August in Washington, D.C., the Mars Society convened its Steering Committee and decided on a number of major initiatives for the coming year. These include: + The Mars Society will attempt to intersect the political ferment associated with the now unfolding U.S. presidential campaign to mobilize its American members and chapters to take every opportunity to meet all presidential hopefuls while they are out on the campaign trail, as well… READ MORE >

The 18th Annual International Mars Society Convention held at the Catholic University of America August 13-16, 2015 was a great success. Some 250 people attended to hear over 80 presentations covering all aspects of Mars exploration, including the latest robotic missions, human expeditions and settlement of the Red Planet and Mars habitability. By most accounts, the high points of the four-day conference were two dramatic debates conducted on the evenings of Thursday, August 13th and Friday, August 14th. The first was… READ MORE >

We’re pleased to announce that the Mars Society just reached the 100% funding mark for its Mars Desert Research Station GreenHab crowdfunding campaign! We were able to accomplish this important goal due to your generous support… three days early. Over 140 people from the U.S. and several other countries have donated – so far – to the online campaign. As with most crowdfunding efforts, campaign planners typically prepare stretch goals in case the desired mark is reached before the scheduled… READ MORE >

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Lucinda Offer has been appointed as the organization’s new Executive Director, a position she held previously from 2009-2012. Mrs. Offer’s appointment was approved during a recent meeting of the Mars Society Steering Committee. A high school science teacher by profession, Mrs. Offer has been at the forefront of Mars advocacy for more than a decade, having served as director of public relations and a senior officer for international development for the Mars Society,… READ MORE >

A number of plenary talks, panel discussions and public debates from the 2015 International Mars Society Convention have been posted on the Mars Society’s YouTube page for viewing. If you were unable to attend the four-day conference in Washington, D.C., please consider watching the videos online. More will be added in the coming days. Thanks!… READ MORE >