Patrick Beatty, Managing Director of Beyond Earth Ventures, will bring an investor’s perspective on the future of space exploration to the 29th Annual International Mars Society Convention, October 22–24, 2026, at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. Patrick’s presentation will explore investing in the growing space economy and how investment, innovation, and emerging technologies can help advance long-term human exploration and settlement of the Moon and Mars. A veteran venture investor, operator, and data science leader, Patrick… READ MORE >
News & Announcements
August 31st, 2026
Red Planet Live: Mars Lessons from the High Arctic
What can one of the most remote places on Earth teach us about living and working on Mars? Join Red Planet Live on Tuesday, September 15 at 5:00 p.m. PT for a conversation with Crew Commander Trevor Jahn and Executive Officer Dr. Laura Thomas, members of Crew 19 – Tiriganiaq, the latest Mars analog crew to live and work at the Mars Society’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island in Nunavut, Canada. Located in the Canadian High Arctic… READ MORE >
August 28th, 2026
Astera Institute’s Mars Terraforming Engineer Fabrizio Pisani to Speak at 2026 Mars Society Convention
The Mars Society is excited to announce that aerospace engineer and entrepreneur Dr. Fabrizio Pisani will be joining the 2026 International Mars Society Convention as a plenary speaker, taking place October 22–24 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Currently serving as Lead R&D Engineer for the Mars Terraforming Team at the Astera Institute, Dr. Pisani is helping advance one of the most ambitious long-term challenges in space exploration: developing the technologies and engineering concepts that could one… READ MORE >
August 26th, 2026
Manufacturing in the Cosmos: In-Situ Resource Utilization on Mars [Blog]
By Lou Farrell, Senior Writer, Red Planet Bound Blog Launch mass is expensive and limited, making it impractical to ship every future need from Earth for a Mars mission. A resupply run to the International Space Station can arrive within days if something needs urgent replacement. A supply mission to Mars works on an entirely different timescale, since launch windows only open on an infrequent, fixed schedule dictated by planetary alignment. In-situ resource utilization offers a different path. Future missions… READ MORE >
August 18th, 2026
K-12 Educators: Join Us on Mars!
Calling Utah K-12 Science/STEM-focused teachers! We have opened applications for our next Spaceward Bound Utah crew, which will be held October 12-16. Spaceward Bound Utah is a 5-day workshop at the Mars Desert Research Station outside Hanksville, Utah where K-12 teachers from Utah will be able to experience what living on Mars might be like in the future. The MDRS is a research facility that has been developed to simulate an early research base on Mars. The campus includes a simulated spacecraft designed… READ MORE >
August 17th, 2026
Silent Donor Community Gives $18,000 to Mars Society
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that a growing community of donors recently contributed $18,000 – and counting – to the organization through Silent Donor, providing generous support for our mission and programs aimed at advancing the human exploration and settlement of Mars. Since 2023, the Mars Society has cooperated with Silent Donor, a Chicago-based organization that allows individuals and organizations to make fully anonymous, tax-deductible charitable contributions. The partnership provides privacy-minded supporters with another way to support the… READ MORE >
August 12th, 2026
MTI Partner Unleashed Robotics Wins NASA Support for Next-Gen Mars Drilling Technology
Unleashed Robotics, a Washington state-based company and Tier-1 partner of the Mars Technology Institute (MTI), established by the Mars Society to advance technologies needed for the human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet, has been selected by NASA for negotiation for a $225,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award. The six-month project will advance the company’s innovative robotic core-drilling technology for future planetary exploration. The project, “Iris Core Cutter and Retention Mechanism for Stratigraphy-Preservation,” will focus on… READ MORE >
August 6th, 2026
Building the Next Generation of Moon & Mars Exploration: New Partnership Featured on Red Planet Live
Join Mars Society Executive Director James Burk and South Seattle College President Dr. Monica Brown on Tuesday, August 18th (5:00 pm PT) for a special episode of the Red Planet Live podcast, hosted by Ashton Zeth, as they discuss the Society’s new 10-year partnership with the College to build a Moon-Mars analog research station in the Pacific Northwest. The conversation will explore how this ambitious collaboration will establish a new center for analog astronaut training, scientific research, workforce development, and… READ MORE >
