We are pleased to announce that Dr. Kris Zacny, Vice President and Director of Exploration Technology at Honeybee Robotics (an American subsidiary of Blue Origin), will be a featured speaker at the 28th Annual International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for October 9–11, 2025 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. As a senior research scientist with expertise in planetary robotic systems for life detection, planetary mining, mobility, surface power, and structures, Dr. Zacny offers invaluable insights into advancing… READ MORE >
Topic Area: Global conference
The Mars Society is very pleased to announce that Dr. Vandi Verma, a trailblazer in space robotics and autonomous systems from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will deliver a plenary address at the 28th Annual International Mars Society Convention. This exciting event will take place at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles from October 9–11, 2025 and promises to be a highlight for those passionate about advancing Mars exploration. Dr. Verma brings a wealth of experience from her groundbreaking… READ MORE >
The Annual International Mars Society Convention features plenary talks and panel discussions with top experts in Mars and space exploration, the commercial space industry, technological development, and space advocacy. To give more enthusiastic professional & non-professional speakers a chance to participate, the Mars Society also includes 30-minute track talk presentations during afternoon sessions. This year’s event will showcase several dozen track talk speakers, such as: – Angelina Tsuboi: Architecting Marsnet: Interplanetary Internet Design for Mars and Beyond – Jay Garg:… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is excited to announce that a major panel discussion on NASA’s current and future Mars exploration plans will take place (virtually) on Friday, August 9th at 10:00 am PT / 1:00 pm ET as part of the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention. Amid the growing complexities of Mars exploration, NASA is concentrating on several key areas: deploying robotic exploratory systems (rovers, landers, and orbiters), returning Martian rock and soil samples to Earth, and designing infrastructure for… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is excited to announce that Dr. Agnieszka Wendland, an Assistant Professor at Warsaw University of Technology, will be delivering a (virtual) plenary talk at the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention this August. Her presentation, titled “The First Tree on Mars,” is part of a new multi-authored research project led by NASA’s Dr. Chris McKay. The project explores the possibility of warming the Red Planet by increasing its CO2 density and introducing greenhouse gases like perfluorocarbons (PFCs),… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Jeremiah Pate, Founder and CEO of Lunasonde, will deliver a plenary address on “Mining Space Rocks” at the 27th International Mars Society Convention this August at the University of Washington in Seattle. An entrepreneur and visionary in space resource exploration, Mr. Pate and his team are pioneering ways to secure critical minerals for humanity while preserving our planet from the impacts of traditional mining. Lunasonde is paving a new path for accessing… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Bryan Versteeg, an award-winning conceptual designer, will be presenting at the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention, taking place this August at the University of Washington in Seattle. Mr. Versteeg will deliver a talk titled “Future Habitats: Simulating the Path to Human Space Settlement.” His presentation will explore the innovative use of video game engine tools to enhance awareness and education about space exploration, focusing on both planetary surfaces and free space… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Steven Benner, a renowned biochemist known for his pioneering work in synthetic biology, dynamic combinatorial chemistry, and paleo-molecular biology, will deliver a plenary address at the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention in Seattle this August. His talk, titled “Strategies for Life to Survive on the Near Surface of Mars – Indigenous and Human,” promises to be one of the highlights of the event. Dr. Benner, a Distinguished Fellow at the… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is thrilled to announce that Dr. Alan Stern, a renowned planetary scientist and commercial astronaut, will be delivering an address at the Saturday evening banquet on August 10th during the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention. The event will take place at the University of Washington (Seattle) from August 8-11, 2024. Dr. Stern’s talk, titled “The Other Red Planet,” will focus on exploring Pluto. Dr. Stern is best known for his role as the principal investigator of… READ MORE >
Grant Bonin, Co-Founder and CEO of gravityLab, a Seattle-based company specializing in artificial gravity satellites for research and manufacturing in low Earth orbit by government, academia, and commercial businesses, will give a plenary talk at the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention. The event is scheduled for August 8-11 at the University of Washington (Seattle). Mr. Bonin is an aerospace engineer with expertise in space mission design, spacecraft systems engineering, project management, and business development. He has contributed to over… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Dr. David Catling, Professor in the Earth & Space Sciences Department and the Astrobiology Program at the University of Washington (Seattle), will be a plenary speaker at the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention this August. Dr. Catling’s presentation, “Live Fast, Die Young, and Leave a Red Corpse: The Environmental Evolution of Mars,” will explore the changes in Mars’ environment over its geological history and discuss the potential for life on the… READ MORE >
Anna Wadhwa, a MD student at Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. candidate at MIT’s Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics, will give a presentation at the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention at the University of Washington (Seattle) this August, with the title of her address being “You Spin Me ‘Right Round’: The Latest Research on Artificial Gravity by Centrifugation and Its Implications for Human Space Exploration.” Interested in enabling human space exploration to the Moon, Mars and beyond, Ms…. READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that long-time writer and editor on science and space Alan Boyle will be giving a plenary talk about the field of space journalism during the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention this August at the University of Washington (Seattle). Mr. Boyle served as science editor for MSNBC.com and NBCNews.com from 1996 to 2015, and in that capacity, he won the 2006 Space Frontier Award for Excellence in Journalism and the 2014 National Space… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is excited to announce that Howard Hu, the Orion Program Director at NASA, will be a plenary speaker at the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention, taking place at the University of Washington from August 8-11, 2024. Hu will discuss “NASA’s Artemis plans for returning to the Moon and beyond”. As the leader of the Orion Program, Mr. Hu oversees the development of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which is designed for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. He… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is excited to announce that Brig. General (Ret.) Dr. S. Pete Worden will give an address about “Life in the Universe and Private Sector Space Science Initiatives” during the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention, held in August at the University of Washington (Seattle). Dr. Worden currently serves as Chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation and as Executive Director of the foundation’s “Breakthrough Initiatives,” a groundbreaking program launched in 2015 with the aim of searching for extraterrestrial… READ MORE >
Dr. Kris Zacny, VP and Director of Exploration Technology at Honeybee Robotics, will be speaking at the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention (Aug 8-11, 2024) at the University of Washington Seattle. He’ll share insights on robotic space exploration and mining. Honeybee Robotics is renowned for its innovative robotic systems, serving diverse industries such as spacecraft, defense, medical devices, and more. Dr. Zacny’s expertise spans space mining, In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), and planetary geotechnical engineering. With a Ph.D. in… READ MORE >
Presentations for the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention are invited. This year’s four-day global forum (August 8-11, 2024 at the University of Washington in Seattle) will deal with all matters associated with the exploration and settlement of the Red Planet, including science, technology, engineering, spaceflight, artificial intelligence, politics, public policy & advocacy, STEM education, economics, etc. Abstracts between 150-300 words can be uploaded on to our Mars Society abstract page. Please note that the deadline for submitting abstracts for consideration is Sunday,… READ MORE >
The Mars Society will officially open its 26th annual international convention on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe October 5-8, serving once again as the world’s largest multi-day forum on Mars exploration, planning for human settlement, and cutting-edge topics related to space exploration, science, and technology. As always, the four-day Mars Society conference will convene a wide range of scientists, engineers, aerospace executives, government policymakers, analog astronauts, and space advocates to discuss and analyze the latest news about humanity’s plans for exploring Mars… READ MORE >
The Mars Society will officially open its 26th annual international convention two weeks from today on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe October 5-8, serving once again as the world’s largest multi-day forum on Mars exploration, planning for human settlement, and cutting-edge topics related to space exploration, science, and technology. As always, the four-day conference will convene a wide range of scientists, engineers, aerospace executives, government policymakers, analog astronauts, and space advocates to discuss and analyze the latest news… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Roberto Carlino, an aerospace engineer at NASA Ames Research Center and a former NASA HERA analog astronaut, will give a plenary address during the 26th Annual International Mars Society Convention this October at Arizona State University in Tempe. The title of Mr. Carlino’s talk will be “What I learned from 45 days in isolation with NASA’s HERA mission,” which took place at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in early 2022 with… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that the official program itinerary for the 26th Annual International Mars Society Convention is now available online. Check it out at: https://bit.ly/3LnO34W. The global forum, to be held at Arizona State University (Tempe) from October 5-8, will include dozens of talks by leading scientists, engineers, government policymakers, members of the media, and space advocates about the latest news about Mars and space exploration. A special panel has also been scheduled to outline the… READ MORE >
Dr. Shawna Pandya, a physician, scientist-astronaut candidate, and Director of the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences Space Medicine Group, will be delivering a plenary address during the 26th Annual International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for October 5-8 at ASU (Tempe). Her talk, titled ‘Medicine for the Moon, Mars and Benefits for Earth,’ will cover her extensive research on medical guidelines for commercial suborbital spaceflight, space technologies that have benefitted terrestrial medicine, and psychological resilience and reproduction & sexuality in long-duration… READ MORE >
The Mars Society welcomes its membership, students, space enthusiasts, and the general public to participate in this year’s challenge by designing and submitting an original poster for consideration. The winning design will be used as the primary promotional graphic for the Mars Society’s main outreach event of the year – the Annual International Mars Society Convention, which will take place from October 5-8, 2023 at Arizona State University in Tempe. This year’s convention theme, “Mars for All,” focuses on the… READ MORE >
Presentations for the 26th Annual International Mars Society Convention, set for Thursday-Sunday, October 5-8, 2023 at Arizona State University in Tempe, are invited. This year’s four-day global forum will deal with all matters associated with the exploration and settlement of the Red Planet, including science, technology, engineering, politics, public policy & advocacy, STEM education, economics, etc. Abstracts between 150-300 words can be uploaded on our Mars Society convention web site at: abstracts.marssociety.org. Please note that the deadline for submitting abstracts… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Jingnan Guo, a research professor at the School of Earth & Space Sciences at the University of Science & Technology of China, will give a virtual address about the potential radiation risks for future human Mars settlement, as well as China’s ongoing and future plans for exploring the Red Planet during the 25th Annual International Mars Society Convention, set for October 20-23, 2022 at Arizona State University (Tempe). Dr. Guo has… READ MORE >