Mars Artists Community

Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa

2012-02-12T07:28:00.001-08:00

Ernst Stuhlinger wrote this letter on May 6, 1970, to Sister Mary Jucunda, a nun who worked among the starving children of Kabwe, Zambia, in Africa, who questioned the value of space exploration. At the time Dr. Stuhlinger was Associate Director for Science at the Marshall Space Flight Center, in Huntsville, Alabama. Touched by Sister Mary’s concern and sincerity, his beliefs about the value of space exploration were expressed in his reply to Sister Mary. It remains, more than four decades later, an eloquent statement of the value of the space exploration endeavor. Born in Germany in 1913, Dr. Stuhlinger received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Tuebingen in 1936. He was a member of the German rocket development team at Peenemünde, and came to the United States in 1946 to work for the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss, Texas. He moved to Huntsville in 1950 and continued working for the Army at Redstone Arsenal until the Marshall Space Flight Center was formed in 1960. Dr. Stuhlinger received numerous awards and widespread recognition for his research in propulsion. He received the Exceptional Civilian Service Award for his part in launching of Explorer 1, America’s first Earth satellite.

Dear Sister Mary Jucunda:

Your letter was one of many which are reaching me every day, but it has touched me more deeply than all the others because it came so much from the depths of a searching mind and a compassionate heart. I will try to answer your question as best as I possibly can.

First, however, I would like to express my great admiration for you, and for all your many brave sisters, because you are dedicating your lives to the noblest cause of man: help for his fellowmen who are in need.

You asked in your letter how I could suggest the expenditures of billions of dollars for a voyage to Mars, at a time when many children on this Earth are starving to death. I know that you do not expect an answer such as “Oh, I did not know that there are children dying from hunger, but from now on I will desist from any kind of space research until mankind has solved that problem!” In fact, I have known of famined children long before I knew that a voyage to the planet Mars is technically feasible. However, I believe, like many of my friends, that travelling to the Moon and eventually to Mars and to other planets is a venture which we should undertake now, and I even believe that this project, in the long run, will contribute more to the solution of these grave problems we are facing here on Earth than many other potential projects of help which are debated and discussed year after year, and which are so extremely slow in yielding tangible results.

Before trying to describe in more detail how our space program is contributing to the solution of our Earthly problems, I would like to relate briefly a supposedly true story, which may help support the argument. About 400 years ago, there lived a count in a small town in Germany. He was one of the benign counts, and he gave a large part of his income to the poor in his town. This was much appreciated, because poverty was abundant during medieval times, and there were epidemics of the plague which ravaged the country frequently. One day, the count met a strange man. He had a workbench and little laboratory in his house, and he labored hard during the daytime so that he could afford a few hours every evening to work in his laboratory. He ground small lenses from pieces of glass; he mounted the lenses in tubes, and he used these gadgets to look at very small objects. The count was particularly fascinated by the tiny creatures that could be observed with the strong magnification, and which he had never seen before. He invited the man to move with his laboratory to the castle, to become a member of the count's household, and to devote henceforth all his time to the development and perfection of his optical gadgets as a special employee of the count.

The townspeople, however, became angry when they realized that the count was wasting his money, as they thought, on a stunt without purpose. “We are suffering from this plague,” they said, “while he is paying that man for a useless hobby!” But the count remained firm. “I give you as much as I can afford,” he said, “but I will also support this man and his work, because I know that someday something will come out of it!”

Indeed, something very good came out of this work, and also out of similar work done by others at other places: the microscope. It is well known that the microscope has contributed more than any other invention to the progress of medicine, and that the elimination of the plague and many other contagious diseases from most parts of the world is largely a result of studies which the microscope made possible.

The count, by retaining some of his spending money for research and discovery, contributed far more to the relief of human suffering than he could have contributed by giving all he could possibly spare to his plague-ridden community.

The situation which we are facing today is similar in many respects. The President of the United States is spending about 200 billion dollars in his yearly budget [more than $2 trillion in 2012]. This money goes to health, education, welfare, urban renewal, highways, transportation, foreign aid, defense, conservation, science, agriculture and many installations inside and outside the country. About 1.6 percent of this national budget was allocated to space exploration this year [less than .5 of one percent in 2012]. The space program includes Project Apollo, and many other smaller projects in space physics, space astronomy, space biology, planetary projects, Earth resources projects, and space engineering. To make this expenditure for the space program possible, the average American taxpayer with 10,000 dollars income per year is paying about 30 tax dollars for space. The rest of his income, 9,970 dollars, remains for his subsistence, his recreation, his savings, his other taxes, and all his other expenditures.

You will probably ask now: “Why don’t you take 5 or 3 or 1 dollar out of the 30 space dollars which the average American taxpayer is paying, and send these dollars to the hungry children?” To answer this question, I have to explain briefly how the economy of this country works. The situation is very similar in other countries. The government consists of a number of departments (Interior, Justice, Health, Education and Welfare, Transportation, Defense, and others) and the bureaus (National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and others). All of them prepare their yearly budgets according to their assigned missions, and each of them must defend its budget against extremely severe screening by congressional committees, and against heavy pressure for economy from the Bureau of the Budget and the President. When the funds are finally appropriated by Congress, they can be spent only for the line items specified and approved in the budget.

The budget of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, naturally, can contain only items directly related to aeronautics and space. If this budget were not approved by Congress, the funds proposed for it would not be available for something else; they would simply not be levied from the taxpayer, unless one of the other budgets had obtained approval for a specific increase which would then absorb the funds not spent for space. You realize from this brief discourse that support for hungry children, or rather a support in addition to what the United States is already contributing to this very worthy cause in the form of foreign aid, can be obtained only if the appropriate department submits a budget line item for this purpose, and if this line item is then approved by Congress.

You may ask now whether I personally would be in favor of such a move by our government. My answer is an emphatic yes. Indeed, I would not mind at all if my annual taxes were increased by a number of dollars for the purpose of feeding hungry children, wherever they may live.

I know that all of my friends feel the same way. However, we could not bring such a program to life merely by desisting from making plans for voyages to Mars. On the contrary, I even believe that by working for the space program I can make some contribution to the relief and eventual solution of such grave problems as poverty and hunger on Earth. Basic to the hunger problem are two functions: the production of food and the distribution of food. Food production by agriculture, cattle ranching, ocean fishing and other large-scale operations is efficient in some parts of the world, but drastically deficient in many others. For example, large areas of land could be utilized far better if efficient methods of watershed control, fertilizer use, weather forecasting, fertility assessment, plantation programming, field selection, planting habits, timing of cultivation, crop survey and harvest planning were applied.

The best tool for the improvement of all these functions, undoubtedly, is the artificial Earth satellite. Circling the globe at a high altitude, it can screen wide areas of land within a short time; it can observe and measure a large variety of factors indicating the status and condition of crops, soil, droughts, rainfall, snow cover, etc., and it can radio this information to ground stations for appropriate use. It has been estimated that even a modest system of Earth satellites equipped with Earth resources, sensors, working within a program for worldwide agricultural improvements, will increase the yearly crops by an equivalent of many billions of dollars.

The distribution of the food to the needy is a completely different problem. The question is not so much one of shipping volume, it is one of international cooperation. The ruler of a small nation may feel very uneasy about the prospect of having large quantities of food shipped into his country by a large nation, simply because he fears that along with the food there may also be an import of influence and foreign power. Efficient relief from hunger, I am afraid, will not come before the boundaries between nations have become less divisive than they are today. I do not believe that space flight will accomplish this miracle over night. However, the space program is certainly among the most promising and powerful agents working in this direction.

Let me only remind you of the recent near-tragedy of Apollo 13. When the time of the crucial reentry of the astronauts approached, the Soviet Union discontinued all Russian radio transmissions in the frequency bands used by the Apollo Project in order to avoid any possible interference, and Russian ships stationed themselves in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans in case an emergency rescue would become necessary. Had the astronaut capsule touched down near a Russian ship, the Russians would undoubtedly have expended as much care and effort in their rescue as if Russian cosmonauts had returned from a space trip. If Russian space travelers should ever be in a similar emergency situation, Americans would do the same without any doubt.

Higher food production through survey and assessment from orbit, and better food distribution through improved international relations, are only two examples of how profoundly the space program will impact life on Earth. I would like to quote two other examples: stimulation of technological development, and generation of scientific knowledge.

The requirements for high precision and for extreme reliability which must be imposed upon the components of a moon-travelling spacecraft are entirely unprecedented in the history of engineering. The development of systems which meet these severe requirements has provided us a unique opportunity to find new material and methods, to invent better technical systems, to manufacturing procedures, to lengthen the lifetimes of instruments, and even to discover new laws of nature.

All this newly acquired technical knowledge is also available for application to Earth-bound technologies. Every year, about a thousand technical innovations generated in the space program find their ways into our Earthly technology where they lead to better kitchen appliances and farm equipment, better sewing machines and radios, better ships and airplanes, better weather forecasting and storm warning, better communications, better medical instruments, better utensils and tools for everyday life. Presumably, you will ask now why we must develop first a life support system for our moon-travelling astronauts, before we can build a remote-reading sensor system for heart patients. The answer is simple: significant progress in the solutions of technical problems is frequently made not by a direct approach, but by first setting a goal of high challenge which offers a strong motivation for innovative work, which fires the imagination and spurs men to expend their best efforts, and which acts as a catalyst by including chains of other reactions.

Spaceflight without any doubt is playing exactly this role. The voyage to Mars will certainly not be a direct source of food for the hungry. However, it will lead to so many new technologies and capabilities that the spin-offs from this project alone will be worth many times the cost of its implementation.

Besides the need for new technologies, there is a continuing great need for new basic knowledge in the sciences if we wish to improve the conditions of human life on Earth. We need more knowledge in physics and chemistry, in biology and physiology, and very particularly in medicine to cope with all these problems which threaten man’s life: hunger, disease, contamination of food and water, pollution of the environment.

We need more young men and women who choose science as a career and we need better support for those scientists who have the talent and the determination to engage in fruitful research work. Challenging research objectives must be available, and sufficient support for research projects must be provided. Again, the space program with its wonderful opportunities to engage in truly magnificent research studies of moons and planets, of physics and astronomy, of biology and medicine is an almost ideal catalyst which induces the reaction between the motivation for scientific work, opportunities to observe exciting phenomena of nature, and material support needed to carry out the research effort.

Among all the activities which are directed, controlled, and funded by the American government, the space program is certainly the most visible and probably the most debated activity, although it consumes only 1.6 percent of the total national budget, and 3 per mille (less than one-third of 1 percent) of the gross national product. As a stimulant and catalyst for the development of new technologies, and for research in the basic sciences, it is unparalleled by any other activity. In this respect, we may even say that the space program is taking over a function which for three or four thousand years has been the sad prerogative of wars.

How much human suffering can be avoided if nations, instead of competing with their bomb-dropping fleets of airplanes and rockets, compete with their moon-travelling space ships! This competition is full of promise for brilliant victories, but it leaves no room for the bitter fate of the vanquished, which breeds nothing but revenge and new wars.

Although our space program seems to lead us away from our Earth and out toward the moon, the sun, the planets, and the stars, I believe that none of these celestial objects will find as much attention and study by space scientists as our Earth. It will become a better Earth, not only because of all the new technological and scientific knowledge which we will apply to the betterment of life, but also because we are developing a far deeper appreciation of our Earth, of life, and of man.

The photograph which I enclose with this letter shows a view of our Earth as seen from Apollo 8 when it orbited the moon at Christmas, 1968. Of all the many wonderful results of the space program so far, this picture may be the most important one. It opened our eyes to the fact that our Earth is a beautiful and most precious island in an unlimited void, and that there is no other place for us to live but the thin surface layer of our planet, bordered by the bleak nothingness of space. Never before did so many people recognize how limited our Earth really is, and how perilous it would be to tamper with its ecological balance. Ever since this picture was first published, voices have become louder and louder warning of the grave problems that confront man in our times: pollution, hunger, poverty, urban living, food production, water control, overpopulation. It is certainly not by accident that we begin to see the tremendous tasks waiting for us at a time when the young space age has provided us the first good look at our own planet.

Very fortunately though, the space age not only holds out a mirror in which we can see ourselves, it also provides us with the technologies, the challenge, the motivation, and even with the optimism to attack these tasks with confidence. What we learn in our space program, I believe, is fully supporting what Albert Schweitzer had in mind when he said: “I am looking at the future with concern, but with good hope.”

My very best wishes will always be with you, and with your children.

Very sincerely yours,

Ernst Stuhlinger

Associate Director for Science

Colbert Creates Public Service Announcement in Support of NASA

2012-02-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

SpaceX's Dragon Panorama Created by PictureBubbles Studio

2012-01-24T05:52:00.000-08:00

http://www.spacex.com/panorama/index.html

Spin through this high-res zoomable 360 degree panorama of Space X's Dragon in its cargo configuration...interactive created by PictureBubbles, well done!

Apple's All New iTunes U App and iBook Author eBook Publishing

2012-01-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

Apple announced the availability of "iBooks Author" which allows users to create interactive digital books using powerful but intuitive templates.

Now anyone can create stunning iBook textbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. Use Multi-Touch widgets to include interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations, 3D objects, and more. Then submit your finished work to the iBookstore with a few simple steps -- before you know it, you (or your space advocacy organization) are published.

iBooks Author is available for free in the Mac App Store.

Streaming video of Apple's education event:

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/19/hands-on-video-with-apples-digital-textbooks/

Come on, Get Happy!! (How to Portray Martian Settlement)

2012-01-13T07:24:00.000-08:00

Life on Mars will be FUN! We will have 24/7 wall-sized Skype murals with permanently open (6 to 44 minute) delayed stream of whatever you want to see on Earth (if that is an issue).

Please...if you advocate Mars settlement it would be helpful not to emphasize actually surmountable challenges. Phrases such as these pollute the public's imagination:

"I envision life on Mars to be...frightening, lonely, quite cramped"

"It's going to be a very long period of isolation and confinement"

"After the excitement of blast-off, and after the initial landing on Mars, it will be very difficult to avoid depression. After all, one is breaking one’s connections with family, friends, and all things familiar"

"Each day will be pretty much like the rest. The environment, once the novelty wears off, is likely to be deadly boring. Despite being well prepared and fully equipped there are certain to be unanticipated problems that cannot be remedied. One by one the crew will get old, sick, and die-off."

"I do very well with solitude."

We must make this negative portrayal of Martian settlement incomprehensible. As strange as if someone were to suggest standing under Earth's blue skies would lead to feelings of paralysis, suicide, or aesthetic bias toward non-photo blue. (In other words, ridiculous.)

The story of Mars will not be one of danger. It will not be written by timid academics. The question frightened armchair astronauts should be asked is, "How often does your mom really want to Skype with you -- on Earth??"

Humans on Mars will paint, play guitar, raise children, plant flowers, and have vibrant loving families. There is nothing solitary or depressing about the place.

(And they will have great relationships with their moms.)

Ridiculous, embarrassing article from which the quotes above were taken:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/10/space-volunteer-way-mission-mars/#ixzz1jLhRlYvW

Earth as Seen from the Surface of Mars (& Musk quote)

2012-01-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

[Image: NASA, posted on Facebook by Milky Way Musings]

This picture, taken from the surface of Mars, is the first taken of our home world from the surface of another planet. This is the view that future human pioneers on the Red Planet will have of their former home.

"Ultimately we don't really want 10,000 people on Mars," Musk says, after letting the pause linger a few seconds more. "We want millions." Fantastic interview with Space X's Elon Musk here: http://www.marssociety.org/home/press/news/illputmillionsofpeopleonmarssayselonmusk

2012 Mars Society Poster Contest

2011-12-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

The 2012 Mars Society Poster Contest is now underway! The winning design will be used as the primary graphic for promoting the 15th Annual International Mars Society Convention, to be held in Pasadena, California, August 3-5, 2012.

Winner of 2011 Mars Society Poster Contest

When designing posters, members and friends are asked to use the main themes of the 2012 convention: “Mars Science Laboratory rover”, “robotic exploration” and “finding life on Mars”. The poster should seek to emphasize the critical importance of robotic research and exploration of the Red Planet as a key stepping stone to a humans-to-Mars mission within the decade.

The winner will receive free admission to all sessions of the convention in Pasadena, which will include a ticket to the main convention banquet and (tentatively) the viewing of a live broadcast of the MSL landing on the Martian surface on the evening of August 5. [Airfare and hotel accommodations are not included.]
The deadline for submitting all poster designs is Friday, February 3, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. EST.

With regard to technical requirements for the contest, the poster size should be 11" x 17". There are no restrictions on color. If your poster is chosen, in addition to the full color poster we will need a gray-scale copy. Posters can be submitted as a .pdf file, although it is preferred in the original format (i.e., Photoshop).

To submit your poster, please e-mail the sample to: postercontest@marssociety.org Please also use this e-mail address for any questions regarding the contest and/or the submission process.

New Videos with Many Original Thought-Provoking Images

2011-12-20T18:10:00.001-08:00

io9 Article on Space Themed Storytelling

2011-12-13T07:02:00.000-08:00

io9, a daily publication that covers science, science fiction, and the future has published a fun thought provoking article on space themed storytelling.

(Please click through to read the article in full.)

Why Adding "In Space" Makes It Better

Everybody always says that every story idea has been done before - which is totally not true, because nobody's done a "nuns raise an ostrich to be the perfect killer" story before. But even if a story idea has been done to death, you can always make it fresh and brilliant all over again, by adding just two little words: "in space."

Science fiction fans have known this forever, but it's time that everybody was told. There is no genre, no type of story, no set of story beats, that cannot be improved by adding "in space." It bears the same relation to storytelling that "in bed" does to fortune cookies. And we've got the proof, right here.

Please click through to the full article at io9:
http://io9.com/5867361/why-adding-in-space-to-any-concept-really-does-make-it-better/

Participating in the Narrative: Tell Your Story

2011-10-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

Third in a series from guest writer Joi Weaver in preparation for NaNoWriMo. This post exemplifies why Mars Artists exists. NaNoWriMo may seem like a hokey gimmick, but it teaches discipline and ruthless time awareness. Give it a chance.

Joi Weaver (author of "Mars Project: Mission"):

It's always tempting, when talking of influencing culture, to buy into the "magic bullet" theory, the idea that a single cultural item will change the course of the society. "Oh," we might say, "if only someone would make the perfect movie about space exploration, or write the perfect novel, or create the perfect painting, then everyone would understand!"

Of course, these "magic bullets" never actually work. You may get millions to see a movie like Apollo 13, but only a small percentage will become fans of space exploration because of it. Books like Roving Mars will convince a few of the need for further exploration, but only a few.

Influencing culture turns out to be more like creating a stalagmite than hitting a target. Trillions of drops of water, over thousands of years, slowly form a beautiful, lasting pillar inside a cave. In the same way, thousands of stories, in every medium, over decades and centuries, will slowly build up an idea in a culture, the picture of space as our playground, our backyard, our home.

The stories that will inspire the human race to reach for the stars cannot come only from the experts and the big-budget movie makers. The stories that will change the world have to come from us, the stories we tell our friends and neighbors as we point out the ISS in the night sky, the stories we dream up as teenagers and scribble into notebooks in college.

In this case, even a poor story may be better than no story at all. The poorest space story is still another drop of water, another point of data, another element in the construction of the narrative.

So what are you waiting for? It may not matter if you're the next Ray Bradbury, or if only your mom reads your story: you can still influence someone.

Signups have begun for National Novel Writing Month, a free online challenge in which participants pledge to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. If you finish the month with 50,000 words, you win. There are thousands of winners every year: your prize is the satisfaction of having written a novel. Thousands of people are already telling their stories, and now is the time to contribute ours. Sign up, write a book about Mars colonization, or space exploration, or anything that you think will move the culture forward even the tiniest amount. It may be only a drop in the ocean, but we need every drop we can get.

NASA Space Launch System: Next-Gen Heavy-Lift To Mars

2011-09-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

"It's also a shift in emphasis from the moon-based, solid-rocket-oriented plans proposed by the George W. Bush administration. NASA figures it will be building and launching about one rocket a year for about 15 years or more in the 2020s and 2030s, according to senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet made. The idea is to launch its first unmanned test flight in 2017 with the first crew flying in 2021 and astronauts heading to a nearby asteroid in 2025, the officials said. From there, NASA hopes to send the rocket and astronauts to Mars – at first just to circle, but then later landing on the Red Planet – in the 2030s."

"The key financial part of this arrangement is that NASA hopes to save money by turning over the launching of astronauts to the International Space Station, which orbits the Earth, to private companies and just rent spaces for astronauts like a giant taxi service. NASA would then spend the money on leaving Earth's orbit and the Earth-moon system."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/14/nasas-space-launch-system-rocket_n_961844.html

Spacelog: Project to Publish Transcripts of Early Spaceflight

2011-09-07T06:08:00.000-07:00

Read the stories of early space exploration from the original transcripts. Now open to the public in a searchable, linkable format. "Reminds us of why the internet is so insanely awesome." --Engadget

"To date there have been over two hundred human spaceflight missions. Only a small number of these are currently available on Spacelog, although we'd be delighted for assistance in getting more up and alive."

Spacelog is a volunteer project that anyone can contribute to!

http://spacelog.org/get-involved/

Creating A Better Narrative: Sacrificing the Science?

2011-08-16T00:28:00.000-07:00

(We would very much like to post an article about the artist responsible for creating this image. Please contact: MarsArtists@FactualFiction.com)

Second in a series of posts from guest writer Joi Weaver

in preparation for NaNoWriMo.

The common wisdom in creating stories about real science is: don't. You either lose your audience or deal with scientists who ridicule your story as unrealistic or dumbed-down. For example, see every movie about Mars for the past 50 years. Is there anything in there that is both dramatically compelling and acceptably scientifically accurate?

Is this divide necessary, or have we just not told the right stories in the right way yet? Imagine if realistic science fiction about space colonization started outselling vampire romances? It's completely possible, but only if we start creating narratives that can capture the imagination and flood the market. We don't have to sacrifice the science, but the narrative must be compelling. When the general public is more interesting in supernatural romances and pirate stories, we don't have the luxury of being science snobs.

I believe the problem is simply that we haven't yet told enough of the right stories in the right way. The movie Apollo 13 demonstrated that people do care about science-heavy stories, as long as the drama is compelling. (Lest you doubt that Apollo 13 is science-based, think of the time spent in the movie explaining to the audience about the equipment inside the command module and re-entry angles.) This isn't limited to historical accounts, either. Give an average sci-fi fan a copy of Red Mars and see what happens.

But for now, let me take as an example the book Roving Mars by Steve Squyres, the Principal Investigator for the MER mission. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it. After you've read it, give it to someone who thinks the human presence in space ended with the shuttle program.

Squyres brilliantly dramatizes the science in Roving Mars. Enough detail is given about the construction and function of the major components of the Mars Exploration Rovers to enable the reader to feel anxiety when a part breaks or refuses to function as intended, or a deadline creeps closer during testing. The difficulties in getting funding and approval from NASA play out more like office dramas than anything on NASA TV: and who hasn't had trouble getting their boss to understand their pet project?

The majority of the book discusses the time prior to the launch of the rovers: the first third is simply getting approval for the mission! A sense of frustration as the mission meets delays, obstacles, and budget issues is palpable, but it never slows the narrative. There's plenty of science to be found in Roving Mars: basic descriptions of the equipment on board, explanations of the conditions the spacecraft have to endure, and information about technological problems that occurred during testing. It's far from "dumbed-down."

What Squyres does brilliantly in this story is use science to create a narrative to which readers can relate. His description of PANCAM isn't there to show how cool the tech is, it's there so the audience will understand why it's an important piece of equipment and what the stakes would be if it were lost. The same goes for the solar panels, the Mossbauer, and most of the payload.

As good as Roving Mars is, however, it's not enough. Space geeks often fall prey to the temptation of looking for a "silver bullet," a cultural artifact strong enough to improve the public's view of space exploration with a single blow. The silver bullet doesn't exist. Changing public perception is more like Chinese Water Torture: one little drop at a time. We don't need a better Roving Mars, we need hundreds more like it.

How do we get those hundreds of stories? When we start creating them. See part 3 of this series next month for more ideas on how to do that.

Joi Weaver's "MARS BLOG PROJECT: MISSION"

http://mars.sonrider.net/index.php

Feng Zhu School of Design: Inspiration for Concept Artists

2011-08-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

Concept designs depicting Lockheed Martin's Orion and SpaceX's 'Red Dragon'.

(If artists responsible for rendering these images would please contact us we would love to feature posts dedicated to your work: MarsArtists@FactualFiction.com )

A fantastic resource from which even professionals can glean tips is the YouTube channel to which concept designer Feng Zhu generously posts many tutorials:

http://www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL

Just please no depictions of guns, monsters, or shiny Battlestar Gallactica vehicles...

Check out our "Guide to Mars Positive Art"

http://marsartists.blogspot.com/p/mars-positive-art.html

The Importance of the Narrative: Tell Them a Story

2011-08-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

(First in a series of contributions from our guest author Joi Weaver)

I'm sure we've all had the same experience. Caught up in the excitement of a new Mars mission, or a new photo from the surface, or even a new bit of tech that could help in the colonization of the Red Planet, you look up to find the person you've been talking to staring at you with glazed eyes. Your heart sinks as you realize, they just don't get it.

How do we help people see what is exciting about space exploration in general, and Mars exploration in particular? I believe it boils down to one simple thing: it's all about the narrative.

The early space missions had a story that anyone could grasp: we were sending men to the moon! It was dangerous! It was exciting! It was putting our country in the forefront of science! This narrative kept public attention and support for the space program high through the Mercury, Gemini, and early Apollo missions.

But it fell short, ultimately resulting in an early cancellation of Apollo and hamstringing all future NASA spaceflight. Why? No-one ever developed a new narrative. "We've beaten the Russians to the moon," most people thought, "isn't that the end of the story?"

Of course it's not the end. But you wouldn't know that to talk to the average person-on-the-streets. Many people believe the shuttle was capable of lunar landings and had no idea the whole shuttle program was coming to an end until a few months ago. NASA, for all its media presence, failed to provide a new narrative. In the post-Challenger era, NASA decided to stress the safety of spaceflight, despite the fact that it is the riskiest human endeavor possible. NASA TV became little more than clean-cut men and women floating in a sterile environment, smiling as they talked in acronyms that meant nothing to the public: it was very safe, but it was terrible story-telling.

What does this mean for Mars?

Mars is still a blank slate in the public mind. Some of the more well-informed people may know about the rovers, but that's about it. This is an opportunity. We can still set the narrative for Mars, and more importantly, learn from NASA's mistake: the story can't just be about getting there, or we may never go back after the first trip.

A narrative is almost never set by a single person; rather, it's a hundred little stories that slowly take root in the heart and mind of the people, gradually changing the way we see the world. No-one can say that the MER program happened because Ray Bradbury wrote The Martian Chronicles. But would it have happened, or happened in the same way, if he hadn't written it? Where would the space program be without Bradbury, Asimov, Clarke, and a hundred others who fanned our desire to explore?

It's time to start creating the narrative for Mars, to show the Red Planet as we know it: a place of danger, beauty, and adventure. A place that could, eventually, become home.

In May, I began a work of fiction, a blog purportedly written by the first private colonists on Mars. Though the characters I've developed may write about the weather conditions, the environment, and the technical difficulties of living on the planet, they also write about what it is like to make Mars home, how it feels to live on the new frontier, and what this colony means for humanity. These characters are creating a narrative for Mars that goes far beyond the race to land on the surface. They are finding a way for people to think of Mars as "home."

The frontier is open. Let's start telling the stories.

Joi Weaver's "MARS BLOG PROJECT: MISSION"
http://mars.sonrider.net/index.php

Mars Society Convention

2011-07-28T23:58:00.000-07:00

Please tell friends, students, relatives - anyone you may know in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana or within driving distance of Dallas to check out the Mars Society's Conference from Thursday through the weekend. "Get in the car and drive over." Single day tickets are available; events run from early morning thru parties late into the night.

Attending can be less expensive than everyday costs of staying home: student discounts are available; free brunch will be served; a lounge area will serve snacks and hold evening parties - crash in the lobby, your car, or a friend's room. Ask relatives and friends to donate air miles; take a bus or shuttle from the airport to the hotel. Put your brain at the conference and enjoy sharing ideas about Humans to Mars.

THE MARS SOCIETY INVITES YOU to attend the 14th Annual International Mars Society Convention in Dallas, Texas. The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, as well as the State of Texas, are considered by many the heart of the aerospace industry in the United States. Lockheed-Martin, maker of the F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, is headquartered in Fort Worth, while Bell Helicopter is located in the DFW area. SpaceX’s McGregor propulsion test grounds is a short drive south of DFW, and NASA's famed Houston Space Center is also a few hours driving from the DFW metropolitan area.

http://www.marssociety.org/home/join_us/convention
http://www.marssociety.org/home/join_us/convention/marsconv2011speakers

Update (coverage from the Dallas Star-Telegram):

"The Mars Society, founded in 1998, isn't made up people dressed up like Star Trek officers or aliens. They're physics teachers, scientists and engineers. While they talk about the ethics and religious meanings of interplanetary travel, they're also practical. Society members examine means of propulsion and train crews to live and work in Mars-like environments in far-flung regions of the Arctic as well as Utah, with some cooperation from NASA."

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/08/04/3270751/international-mars-society-meets.html#ixzz1UA56P25q

2011-07-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

A traveling art exhibition featuring 73 works by some of America's leading artists has been organized by the Smithsonian Institution to honor NASA's 50th birthday.

Video courtesy SpaceVidCast.com:
http://www.spacevidcast.com/2011/06/20/nasa-art-50-years-of-exploration-spacepod-2011-06-20/

Extraordinary Cassini Composition by Chris Abbas

2011-06-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

(click on "vimeo" in the lower right of the player above for best resolution)

Director Chris Abbas from GiantKillerPandas.com and Digital Kitchen created a remarkable video using individual single frame still images downloaded from the web for free. It has nothing to do with Mars but is still the most heroic work of art inspired by space in ages.

This video is created from free still images taken by the Cassini Saturn orbiter. Chris downloaded them directly from JPL's Cassini Solstice Mission website. He used off the shelf standard compositing software and did not ask JPL or anyone associated with Cassini for guidance or 'permission' (unrequired). The first time those involved with the mission learned of his video was a few days prior to this post. Amazing. Heroic. A testament to individual artistic vision. Congratulations Chris this is by far the most inspiring video seen in a long time.

Paul Davies Plenary Address on 'Mars to Stay' One Way Mission at Annual International Mars Society Conference

2011-04-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

Professor Paul Davies will give a plenary address to the opening session of the 14th Annual International Mars Society Convention, which will be held on August 4-7, 2011 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

A prominent spokesman for the concept of a one-way mission to Mars, Prof. Davies is a world renowned physicist, writer and broadcaster. In addition to giving a plenary talk at the Mars Society convention’s opening session on August 4th, Prof. Davies will also participate in a special panel discussion on the topic of a possible one-way mission to Mars.

https://www.facebook.com/MarsToStay

Robert Zubrin on "Mars Direct" at the University of Washington 2011/02/25

2011-03-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society, gave an address at the University of Washington in Seattle, February 25th on his “Mars Direct” plan and efforts to send humans to the Red Planet within a decade.
Attended by students and faculty members, the lecture was hosted by Prof. Adam Bruckner, former Chair of UW’s Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics and one of the founding members of the University’s Astrobiology program.

The Mars Society would like to extend a special word of thanks to Gabriella Rios-Georgio, one of Prof. Bruckner’s students, for her wonderful work filming and editing Dr. Zubrin’s address at UW.

To watch Zubrin's address, please click here

Skype "Mars to Stay" Plugin

2011-03-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

It would be cool if someone were to lead an effort to create a Skype plugin simulating communication with Mars by calculating in real-time the three to twenty-two minute communication delay. Not only would such a free, public, high-profile project have practical applications but it could also allay concerns some might have leaving friends and family on Earth as the public plays with such a plugin.

https://extras.skype.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Mars#Communication

Congratulations to The Mars Society's 2011 Convention Poster Winner: Markus Iske of Germany!

2011-03-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

“Mr. Iske’s submission was well-designed, being both aesthetically pleasing while also incorporating a number of the major themes from our organization’s upcoming international convention [scheduled to be held in Dallas, Texas on August 4-7], said Susan Holden Martin, the Mars Society’s Director of Public Affairs.

New Pop Art Blog - Inspiration for Realistic Visualization?

2011-03-02T11:17:00.000-08:00

To many potential space enthusiasts this kind of pop concept art makes space seem dangerous and exotic. Rather than a simple Mars-to-Stay Tuna Can, we run the risk of waiting for Battlestar Galactica and Starfleet Academy. Nevertheless this new blog deserves mention -- hopefully it may improve visualization of near-term, realistic, affordable, doable space exploration. (Thanks to Pixar's Ronnie del Carmen (@paperbiscuit) for bringing this to our attention.)

http://conceptships.blogspot.com/

IT'S UP!!!! The Beautiful New Mars Society Website is Live!!

2011-01-22T10:17:00.000-08:00

Check out the Mars Society’s new website! They upgraded to a Google Sites solution. Thanks for your support and patience as we polish this new web presence to forward our Humans to Mars cause. If you have constructive feedback or if you are familiair with Google Sites (or willing to learn, think Blogspot on steroids) and would like to help the Mars Society, please write: feedback@marssociety.org

THIS CLUELESS STEREOTYPE IS NOT BOB ZUBRIN...

2011-01-21T01:16:00.000-08:00

While America suffers from a 30% high school dropout rate and ranks dead last in every education statistic we cannot afford to perpetuate easy-to-write stereotypes of "absent minded professors," "science geeks," and "socially inept engineers."

Advocacy organizations attract and reward extroverted, dynamic, socially savvy personalities: even among space advocacy organizations the charisma and optimism of Mars Society leadership stands out. Humor is a constant feature of presentations at Mars Society conventions. The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station was designed and constructed by Franz Schubert, former lead guitarist for the band Devo. Under the guidance of Gerry Williams the San Diego Chapter presents an award winning Mars Movie Night. Conventions often close with impromptu bands composed of members who are gifted, professional musicians. There are always pannel presentations by novelists and artists.

Zubrin, Frank Schubert, and others constructing FMARS (click to enlarge)

If space is to be attainable it must be cool; science, engineering, and the social habits enabling their education must also be cool. Almost two million people have seen the indie film from which the above screenshot is taken: Pioneer One. "Hired Mars Expert Zachary Walzer" is a cheap, one-dimensional character who would make anyone run from the Mars Society: characters leave the room rolling their eyes when Walzer speaks, he whines to Congress, even the scribbles on his charts have no bearing to a single easily reproduced diagram from Zubrin's book Mars Direct. We cannot afford to let such easy-to-write stereotypes distract the next generation of engineers and scientists.

Rhetoric aside, this blog does not insult individual persons or their irremediable attributes; no one should be called a "dork" in real life. The actor Jack Haley, playing Zachary Walzer, is interviewed halfway through this Pioneer One production diary: http://vimeo.com/16290264 It is frustrating to see in person he is not at all like his socially inept Walzer character, or even physically out of shape, but for some reason adds a whiny veneer to an otherwise exceptional fun caricature of Zubrin. Ironically, Jack Haley provides one of the best performances in this series; unfortunately, rather than incorporating Zubrin's personality quirks into a cool, hip, charismatic, proactive engineer (with a strong, heavyset, commanding presence) -- we are instead insulted by an old, tired, easy-to-convey cliché of "clueless science guy" (with a frumpy, blinkered, goofball demeanor). The talented crew of Pioneer One worked hard to create this successful indie series; please encourage them to improve its portrayal of scientists and the value of science.

See this page for more on "how to write a film about Mars"
http://marsartists.blogspot.com/p/mars-positive-art.html
_______

Update:
From an email response by Pioneer One's writer and co-director, Josh Bernhard:

As for the Walzer character himself, well, you write that you wish we had turned

"Zubrin's personality quirks into a cool, hip, charismatic, proactive engineer"

and that, believe it or not, was my intention. Our success at conveying that is another point entirely. With a budget of $6000 and limited experience in bringing narrative stories to life, having created something that holds together as well as it does is an achievement unto itself. Now, moving forward, we can fine-tune the result and get even closer to the mark.

Soliciting Web Designers: Mars Society Site Redesign

2010-12-28T08:51:00.000-08:00

The Mars Society is switching their entire online presence to a Google Sites hosting and design solution. This very robust, powerful platform will offer extensive integration with Google Docs, easy maintenance, and long-term viability. Design tools are limited but evolving.

If you would like to help migrate the current site (MarsSociety.org) contact the Mars Society, here: http://www.marssociety.org/portal/author/MarsSocInfo

The above screenshot is from the Mars Desert Research Station's new (still beta) Google Site, here: https://sites.google.com/a/marssociety.org/mdrs/home

Special Offer on Print Version of the Journal of Cosmology's "Human Mission to Mars: Colonizing the Red Planet"

2010-12-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to announce that until December 31, 2010, the Journal of Cosmology is offering a discount to Mars Society members on the purchase of the print version of its highly acclaimed issue "Human Mission to Mars"

The print version of "Human Mission to Mars-Colonizing the Red Planet" can be purchased by Mars Society members for the reduced price of $50.00 through PayPal by using this link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=KSW2PEG9PJGNL

After December 31, the retail price will be $124.00. (You can become an International Mars Society member, and receive a discount on attending their annual convention, here: http://www.marssociety.org/portal/purchaseList#membership )

The Human Mission to Mars issue was released in October to an international audience. It was edited by Joel S. Levine, Ph.D., NASA, Co-Chair, Human Exploration of Mars Science Analysis Group (HEM-SAG) of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), and Rudy Schild, Ph.D., Center for Astrophysics, Harvard-Smithsonian. It was presented in association and collaboration with The Mars Society.

For more information regarding the Journal of Cosmology, visit: http://journalofcosmology.com/

Pat Rawlings Image Gallery on the Mars Society's Website

2010-10-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

These paintings of Mars exploration by Pat Rawlings have been made available by the artist to Mars Society members and chapters for free use in producing charts and slides for public presentations. Those wishing to use the art in commercial media, including magazines, film, and television, should contact Pat Rawlings at pat.rawlings@saic.com

"Distant Shores"

"After driving a short distance from their Ganges Chasma landing site, two explorers stop to inspect a robotic lander and its small rover. This stop also allows the crew to check out the life support systems of their rover and spacesuits while still within walking distance of the base."

"Hard Science"

"Two kilometers above the lava flows of Mars' Tharsis Bulge, a geologist collects samples from the eastern cliff face at the base of Olympus Mons. To understand the evolution of this Arizona-sized volcano, the scientist investigates the layers of hardened lava that make up the massive feature. The block-like nature of the rock face, caused by columnar jointing, is similar to features on Earth such as The Devil's Tower in Wyoming."

"Another North Pole"

"Like the layers of a carrot cake, centuries of hot and cold seasons have left Mars' polar cap with alternating bands of white ice and red dust. Massive icicles can also be found along the rims of thermally etched canyons."

Pat's personal website is at this url: http://www.patrawlings.com

His entire gallery of images available for the promotion of the Mars Society's endeavors can be seen here:
http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/society-tools/mars_art/pat_rawlings_art

MarsArtGallery.com: A Showcase for Artistic Renditions of Mars Based on Robotic Mission Data

2010-10-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

"Sands of Mars" Source: Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity

From a number of images taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, this picture was constructed by Jim Plaxco, a digital artist, photographer and owner of Artsnova (http://Artsnova.com). Individual frames were all taken by Opportunity's Left Panoramic Camera, with each frame being exposed using a different filter.

"Alien Spectrum" Source: Viking Lander 1

This second image is also hosted by the Mars Art Gallery, which was formally launched in March 2005 to serve as "a showcase for artistic renditions of Mars based on data returned by robotic missions." The above image, titled "Alien Spectrum" has been processed to depict Mars as it might be seen by: "eyes not of this Earth. Evolution has given humans a set of eyes that are responsive to a particular range of electromagnetic radiations and we perceive those radiations as color." A wallpaper image and more information can be found here: http://www.marsartgallery.com/s_alienspectrum.html

Say Hello to 'Cynthia,' a Feminine Robonaut with Attitude (Concept Sketch by Digital Artist Ikan Loring)

2010-10-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

Why do current robonauts look like adolescent dreams of a personal Boba Fett? Meet Cynthia, another variation of an adolescent's dream. With a synthetic boa and pimped-out hat for character not only would a robonaut with breasts provide more room for tools, sensors, and batteries, but the whole shebang could be more fun (for most of us, to an extent) -- and, who knows, maybe encourage more real breasts to go to space.

Concept by Ikan Loring, digital artist ILM (thanks for including our logo!)

"Mars Has Arrived", Mission Coordination by Jonathon Keats

2010-10-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

"The minerals, including pyroxene and ulvospinel and pigeonite, will be used by your body to make bone and tissue. Exploring Mars in this way, you'll start to go native."

Conceptual Artist Jonathon Keats, referring to LASA's "Martian Mineral Water," says, "What's important for me is that we set a precedent, and I believe that we've done that by demonstrating that exploring Mars is as easy as people are willing to let it be. In fact, we may have set two precedents: As Martian hybrids, those potatoes are the first alien life forms ever detected. And they're not on some Goldilocks planet orbiting Gliese 581. They're right here in California."

"I think the mineral water may be an antidote for the madness we exhibit living on this planet. What is most revolutionary about Martian mineral water as a vehicle of exotourism is that it not only gives you a genuine Martian experience but also makes Mars a part of you. You'll become a hybrid Martian/Earthling, a universal alien. If we became a bit alien, we might be able to discover more in common."

A reception for LASA's exotourism bureau lands Oct. 21 at San Francisco's Modernism Gallery. Interested human exotourists can buy even a bottled Martian mineral water, if they want to go transhuman.
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/10/jonathon-keats-exotourism/?pid=1177&pageid=48482&viewall=true

Mars in Science Fiction (Author's Panel, International Mars Society Annual Conference 2010)

2010-09-10T04:06:00.000-07:00

Authors discuss the treatment of Mars in Science Fiction, their work processes, expectations for the field, and more. Panelists: Geoffrey Landis, Mars Crossing, Impact Parameter and Other Quantum Realities; Mary Turzillo, Mars is No Place for Children, An Old Fashioned Martian Girl; Robert Zubrin, First Landing, How to Live on Mars; David D. Levine, Space Magic.

CupCake! MakerBot Industries Cute Open Source 3D Printer

2010-09-07T12:51:00.000-07:00

The Mars Foundation and Thingiverse team up with MakerBot's off-the-shelf open source 3D printer to design and prototype models for use in Martian settlement. A library of open source designs is archived at Thingiverse online for anyone to "print" using a MakerBot. Everything from screwdrivers to saxophones will come out of a little Martian machine like CupCake. Practice now, submit your work, and help build a design archive which will be called upon for ages. : )

MakerBot Industries - Robots That Make Things

http://makerbot.com/

MakerBot overview featured on Google Tech Talks YouTube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zirHL_rRBu0

MakerBot YouTube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/makerbot

Thingiverse

http://www.thingiverse.com/

Mars Foundation "To Arrive, Survive, & Thrive!"

2010-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

The mission of the Mars Homestead Project is to design, fund, build and operate the first permanent settlement on Mars. The initial goal for the Mars Homestead Project is to identify the core technologies needed for an economical, growing Mars Base built primarily with local materials. Efforts will then be focused on prototype projects of increasing sophistication. The Mars Foundation has also established a small board of technical advisors who provide expertise in specific areas, and created a general "brainstorming" discussion group which is open to the interested public, regardless of their technical experience.

Mars Foundation "To Arrive, Survive, & Thrive!"
http://www.marshome.org/

Mars Foundation Artist's Concepts Gallery
http://www.marshome.org/images2/

Started 'Mars to Stay' Facebook Page

2010-09-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

Mars to Stay is the proposal that astronauts sent to Mars for the first time should stay there indefinitely, both to reduce mission cost and to ensure permanent settlement of Mars. Under a Mars to Stay mission architecture the first humans to travel to Mars will be composed of a six-person team. After this initial landing subsequent missions will raise the number of persons on the Martian surface to 30 within a few years, thereby beginning an organically evolving Martian settlement.

Since the Martian surface offers all the natural resources and elements necessary to sustain human society—unlike, for example the moon—a permanent Martian settlement is thought to be the most effective way to ensure humankind becomes a space-faring, multi-planet species. For more information, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_to_Stay and of course...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mars-to-Stay/117122635006732

Everybody! on Mars...and a Global Golden Age

2010-08-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5smPcN8AoE

"Whitey on the Moon" was a thought-provoking poem sung by Gil Scott-Heron during the 1970s. It is important to keep in mind, first, NASA is incredibly diverse -- and hopefully headed to more profitable destinations than the moon (asteroids for commercial development and Mars for cultural change, scientific advancement, and enlightenment). NASA's current administrator, Charles Bolden, is a former Naval Academy grad, 34 year Marine Corps veteran, astronaut -- and, a black man. We still have a long way to go but chances are the first person setting foot on Mars may be neither white nor male. Nor American.

As for resource distribution: NASA's budget is 18 billion a year, which is less than one half of one percent of the Federal budget. 18 billion is still a vast sum -- even in comparison to 1.2 trillion squandered in Iraq. Everyone involved in the space program is acutely aware of competing worthy social programs; questioning proper allocation of funds will always be appropriate. (Including the lowering of taxes and encouragement of private enterprise….)

Every single cent passing through the government could be immediately allocated to pressing life-saving needs. Stoplights, street signs, ambulances, body armor, medications, etc., are immediately useful -- equally important long-term investments include education, weather satellites, medical research, national parks, air traffic control, and so on. In this triage 'balancing' of immediate and long-term humane compassionate interests, we decide to allocate funds for commercialization of near-Earth resources, increased scientific understanding of our universe, and the establishment of a self-sustaining, permanent Martian civilization.

50 billion to send the first settlers to Mars will do more to propagate Freedom and Tolerance in the Middle East than trillions squandered in Iraq. In the future when humans on Earth reflect upon the reality of persons living on Mars -- who are enjoying their lives, progressing and thriving…while not giving a damn about returning Messiahs or Mahdis a planet away in Jerusalem or Medina -- there could then be a cultural renaissance here on Earth. This could result in redirection of resources on Earth -- from culture wars to real problems such as: poverty, illiteracy, conservation, etc.

The interesting thing is: this Global Golden Age could be the result of cultural change, not direct scientific advancement. Once humans are living on Mars, they will scientifically explore it to our benefit here on Earth and their immediate interest on Mars. In our current culture wars we have tried everything else…if it only takes a few boots on Mars, why not use them to jumpstart enlightenment here on Earth?

Lyrics to "Whitey on the Moon" by Gil Scott-Heron:
A rat done bit my sister Nell
with whitey on the moon
her face and arms began to swell
and whitey is on the moon
I can't pay no doctor bills
but whitey is on the moon
ten years from now I'll be payin' still
with whitey on the moon ya know?
the man just upped my rent last night
cause whitey is on the moon
no hot water, no toilets, no lights
but whitey is on the moon
I wonder why he's uppin' me? cause whitey is on the moon
well I was givin' him 50 dollars a week
and now whitey is on the moon

Taxes takin' my check
the junkies make me a nervous wreck
the price of food is goin' up
and as if all that crap wasn't enough a rat done bit my sister Nell
with whitey on the moon
her face and arms began to swell
with whitey on the moon
with all that money I made last year
put whitey on the moon
how come I aint got no money here?
Hmmm whitey on the moon
ya know I just about had my fill
of whitey on the moon
I think I'll send these bills air mail special to
whitey on the moon

Help can't even help now
and whitey is on the moon
aid for my brothers and sisters
how whitey is on the moon
guess we'll just sit by dyin'
with whitey on the moon
dogs have better luck at their tails tryin'
whitey is on the moon
fed up us people are
and whitey is on the moon
the slogan poverty or bust
later to whitey on the moon

"A Century of Mars in the Movies," by Gerry Williams, presented during Mars Movie Night at the 13th Annual International Mars Society Conference 2010

2010-08-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

The Mars Artists' YouTube Channel now hosts the entire Mars Movie Night from the 13th Annual International Mars Society Conference (in 12 parts), Gerry Williams, creator of the MarsMovieGuide.com
http://www.youtube.com/marsartists#p/u/11/5PEM61R6GiI

Autumn Society + Cartoon Network Illustrators + The Mars Society = Inspiring Outreach Coloring Book for Kids! Woohoo!!

2010-08-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia’s Autumn Society have joined forces with the Mars Society to present Exploring Mars, a scientifically literate children’s coloring book featuring the bright red planet and possible future home. The cover featured above was printed locally in Dayton, Ohio just prior to the 13th Annual International Mars Society Convention...an ISBN# and Amazon listing will be ready soon. Special congratulations to Mars Society Executive Director Lucinda Land and Joseph Game (Cartoon Network producer; http://www.Chogrin.com ) for bringing this thoroughly professional outreach project to fruition in only a few months. Standby for many sequels.

Participating Illustrators:

Amy Houser http://www.amyhouser.com

Anita Mejia http://www.anitamejia.com

Bobby O'Herlihy http://cynicwithapencil.blogspot.com

Joseph Game http://www.chogrin.com

Craig Parrillo http://www.craig-parrillo.com

Carlos Araujo http://www.silbachstation.com

Glen Brogan http://albinoraven.com

Justin Gray http://burntobuild.blogspot.com

Lawrence Hugh Burns http://www.lhburns.com

Mark Wojtko surfmark@yahoo.com

Mike Collins http://creativeaces.blogspot.com

Peter Wonsowski http://www.peterwonsowski.com

Steve Streisguth http://www.streisguth.com

The Autumn Society is a collective of Illustrators from around the world. From art galleries, art books, to fundraisers, the Autumn Society offers creative solutions to creative needs. For more information, see:

http://www.theautumnsociety.com/2010/07/exploring-mars-coloring-book-full.html

Chogrin (Joseph Game), the project organizer, had this to say, "Our Space program has been on hold for almost 30 years. Our last steps on the moon were in 1972. As a generation I feel, we should aim for more and achieve almost anything as many aspired to do much strongly decades ago. Anyways I just wanted to share this with you, for I feel it is important for us, our future, and our survival. With our art and visions we could inspire ourselves & future generations to go beyond anything we can imagine."

"This animation was inspired by reading many books by Robert Zubrin, specifically, The Case for Mars, which contains a beautiful quote by Italian Philosopher Giordano Bruno. And so inspired by these great ideas and dreams of someday terraforming Mars and making it our second home, I made a short video, using my Illustration and the beautiful track, "108 the boat", by the amazing Ambassador Etc." Chogrin

http://www.theautumnsociety.com/search/label/Mars

Bob Zubrin's Closing Statements at the 13th Annual International Mars Society Convention (Twitter: #MSC2010 )

2010-08-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

Mars Society Executive Director Lucinda Land: And most of all I want to thank you for coming here, 'cause I know it's a costly thing to travel and to -- I appreciate your time and your effort -- and the expense of coming to our convention -- and I really appreciate that you're here and showing your support. And I look forward to seeing you next year, um, at our convention in Dallas. For the final statements I'd like to turn it over to Dr. Robert Zubrin. Please welcome him, thank you.

Mars Society President Bob Zubrin: So, ah, I'd just like to reiterate, and ah, this is not pro forma, my thanks to the people who organized this conference -- who made it possible, the Ohio chapter especially -- but also, of course, Pat Czarnik, Lucinda, and others that aren't even here -- Sue Martin and Freya Jackson...this stuff, it doesn't happen by itself, and um, this was really a bang up job, and, I'm really grateful to the people who put up the effort. No one got a dime to get things done, and, a lot was done. So. I might want to mention on the subject of money we did raise about 11,000 dollars last night at the banquet, and uh, that's a good thing -- and that is also, obviously needed, but a demonstration of the kind of commitment that is needed more broadly and makes everything happen.

Now, um, lots been said at the convention here, and, there isn't really that much to add, ah, that hasn't been said, nevertheless it's useful to underline the subject: we're in a battle, um, it's a big battle, ah, it's an important one. We have an -- possibilities for things to move in very different directions at this point. The situation was thrown into flux, ah, when Bush and Griffin left office -- there was a certain program which was in place that -- ffhhwwwwwt -- was ripped up…and that program was not perfect from our point of view. Not -- hardly. Anyone who's been to these conventions knows that I've been quite critical of many aspects of it, but at least it was something-- but at least it would have given us a heavy lift booster, a capsule, an interplanetary throw stage -- about half the hardware set we would have needed to go to Mars. At least it was a way to have some form of progress in our space program.

The, um -- what happened in February -- it was a put up job! -- John Holdren, Barack Obama's Science Advisor -- a long time enemy of human spaceflight, a long time enemy frankly of industrial civilization and technical progress -- you can verify that, if you look up the books which he has co-authored with a man named Paul Ehrlich who's an ardent advocate of the whole zero-growth thesis, that human growth need to be stopped, human growth, population growth, technical growth -- this has all got to stop. And in fact he calls the United States an "over-developed country" that needs to be de-industrialized. If you read these books -- they're amazing -- whenever they use the word "progress" they put it in quotes. And…in other words they can't even say the word progress with a straight face. "Our more advanced civilization…" blah, blah, blah. Okay? Out of their deep concern for the people in Africa they want to prevent them from having to live in the conditions that we live in today…ah -- and would prefer, actually, that it go the other way.

But the space program is -- of course -- the…well, the space program is two things, isn't it. NASA…the government program -- which after all is the main space program which actually exists -- as opposed to the private one, which we're all hoping will emerge -- but the one which has existed up to now is the NASA program. And it has two sides to it, doesn't it. There is -- as its opponents say -- this huge wasteful bureaucracy and it does wasteful things and it is bureaucratic and you name it -- on the other hand, there is NASA as the symbol, of the pioneer spirit, there is NASA as the symbol of the "can do" American spirit: WE CAN DO ANYTHING.

And…ah…of self-reliance, ingenuity -- the ability of progress to make things possible that were never possible before. Okay…and…ah, after all…when we went to the moon what was it fundamentally saying? "FREE PEOPLE CAN DO ANYTHING. THERE IS NO CHALLENGE THAT'S BEYOND US." And there are no limits to human aspirations, and human aspirations do not need to be constrained in order to, ah, fit within certain limits, that some people might want to impose upon us. There's those two aspects. So what?

So, NASA -- not as bold as it was in the 60s by any means -- but still, under the previous plan, we're returning to the moon -- "Ok, we're returning to the moon. We're going back to where we were the last time we made that statement" -- and presumably we would go on from there. And they killed that program. And they killed it: will malice of forethought. Look, there has been a certain number of people in this country, who have said, "We have other needs, the space program is absorbing all this enormous amount of money" -- even though frankly it's not all that much, it's half of a percent of the Federal budget at this point -- but still, "19, 20 billion dollars is not pocket change, we would like to spend it on something else." I can respect that point of view. There are other needs to be met and one could debate what the money should be spent on.

But -- they didn't do that. They didn't cut NASA's budget in order to spend the money on social programs. Or housing projects or highway repairs or body armor for the troops -- or tax reductions. They didn't cut the NASA budget at all -- they just aborted the program. Okay. And instead of having NASA spend its money to restate -- what it said before, to restate that America still has the right stuff -- that we still adhere to the pioneer spirit, that we're still willing to take great risks to do great things, and prove that the impossible is possible…okay…they ah, said, "Fine. We'll give you the money, because we know all you really care about are your jobs -- so we'll give you three billion a year to refurbish the Shuttle launch pads after the Shuttle stops flying." I'm not making this up.

Originally they wanted to kill the Orion altogether -- but finally when there was push back -- they said, "Well, look, we understand, you don't want to be able to send Americans to orbit…all you care about are your jobs, so we'll give you your jobs, you can have your Orion money, we don't care, just so long as it cannot take astronauts to orbit -- so we'll give you an Orion that goes down and not up. I mean this is: incredible. I mean I've never seen anything like this. Carter -- wrecked the space program -- but at least he spent money and spent it on something else. We can argue about whether that was a good idea -- I don't think it was -- but at least it was…ah, ah, on the level, in the sense of saying, "I want to take this money and spend it on something that I think is more valuable." Instead, "Well, okay…you don't like the Shuttle program shutting down, so why don't we keep the Shuttle program going except we won't fly any Shuttles, or, maybe we'll fly one." You know…and, so, this is incredible. It is…degrading. Okay, to NASA. It is degrading to everyone in NASA to be told this: "You're only objecting to the shut down of the program because it's your paycheck -- 'well, we'll give you your paycheck, how's that? We just don't want you to accomplish what you claim you're trying to accomplish.'"

Think how degrading that is. And yet they cynically do exactly that. And, ah…now, you know, uh, Cicero said, "Gifts make slaves." Okay. You give people handouts -- and they become depended, they loose their integrity, they loose their self-reliance, they loose their ability to do anything. Okay. The, the -- and they become something less than what they were before. And the space program…if we have a space program, which is just taking handouts -- its not being asked to do anything -- its going to become something less than it was before and visibly so.

And, while it was debatable whether we should be spending four billion dollars a year on a Shuttle program that was launching six Shuttles to orbit a year -- because that really is frankly pretty inefficient, at Shuttles, at, say, 750 million a launch -- to launch the same thing a proton could launch at 70 million each -- it becomes surreal when one talks about paying 4 billion dollars a year to launch 1 Shuttle, or, no shuttles. Okay? Ah…and…redecorate the pads. Because all you people really care about is the jobs….

"This is not space exploration this not a space program, and you people are not engineers you are welfare recipients."

The…ah…so…now…the positive side of this…was that it was sufficiently outrageous that it outraged a lot of people. A lot of people. People in Congress -- people in the President's own party -- Neil Armstrong, who's been a total recluse for the past, you know, 40 years -- came out and said, "I can't accept this!" This guy has never said anything. Okay? Um…he came out and said it.

Now…we were…true to form…basically first to denounce this policy. First. I am proud to say. Okay. First to denounce the Augustine policy -- the Augustine board was created -- John Holdren appointed the Augustine, appointed members of the Augustine commission, and they reported to him. He told them when they gave him the answers he wanted. Okay.

This thing with the flexible path? What's that?? Flexible path. Let me tell you something, I worked for Norm Augustine at Martin Marietta Company. And he did not believe in the flexible path then. He did not believe in having programs have no schedules. He did not believe in programs having no specific goals. This is not Norm Augustine's management philosophy in anything that he actually cares about.

So to say that this is the program that the Space Shuttle -- that the space program should adopt: no concrete objectives, no concrete goals, "work on interesting things and let us know when you are ready to do something"…okay…sure…"we'll just give you money and you don't have to do anything, by any particular time." No. This is a put up job. I denounced it in Space News as a Path to Nowhere when they were basically enunciating it, and then of course when the administration came out with it as their policy.

But now, we have allies. We have allies precisely because the policy is so bad. Okay…ah. They have outraged so many people, and that has created flux in the situation. If they had just come out with something that was half bad -- we would have been left isolated. The…a lot of people would have said, "I guess that's okay, that' not too bad, let's move on…" but no, it's been too crazy.

So we have first the Senate committee and now the full Senate -- dominated, almost 60 percent by members of the President's own party -- pass, okay, a…authorization bill that…completely contradicts the administration's policy. Says, "No! It is wrong! We are not doing it!" Okay…ah…now…unfortunately…okay, it compromises. Because...well, you know, "they're saying we get nothing, we'd like something, something is better than nothing…and we're willing to compromise."

But still, they've got a bill in there with money to develop heavy lift. We have to get that to pass. Okay. We have to deliver this defeat, okay, to the Obama administration, and, ah, let them know what the score is. That they can't just take a major American institution -- that, even more than an institution -- a symbol, of a great American value. The pioneer spirit.

You know…we went to bat for Hubble against Sean O'Keefe. And it wasn't just that he was willing to destroy 4 billion dollars worth of the tax payer's property -- which was criminal -- but, that he was, undermining -- abandoning -- two or three critical things. One, NASA as an organization committed to the exploration of the Universe, when they're abandoning their premiere instrument, their premiere project. Abandoning NASA as an embodiment of the pioneer spirit. --I mean, after all, how's NASA ever going to the moon or Mars if it is afraid of ever going to Hubble? "This is too risky for us." I mean, this was the explicit reason: it is too risky for us. Literally, the excuse was: fear. And to say this is the level of timidity at the leadership that was accepted -- the philosophy -- of an organization which is supposed to be committed to exploration. Okay? And then that takes you to the broader issue -- well, two broader issues: which is, the value of the search for Truth and the commitment to…Courage.

Courage is a virtue. Okay? It's one of the four classical virtues. Justice, courage, wisdom, moderation. Those are the four virtues. Christians add faith, hope, and charity. But these are the four virtues of the Ancient Greeks. And this -- Courage -- is a fundamental virtue. It is a virtue, without which, none of the other virtues are operable. It is arguably the most important virtue. Okay…it does no good to be Just, if you lack the courage to do Justice. It does no good to be wise, if you lack the courage to do what you know you should do. And so forth. --He was willing to abandon that.

And then finally -- Hubble -- it is not just a scientific achievement, it is a symbol, of humanity's commitment, to the search for Truth. It is in a sense the most noble artifact of the 20th Century. It is for us what the Gothic cathedrals were…to…the people of the high Medieval ages, to symbolize their most highest ideals and the aspirations of that civilization. This is the greatest thing for us. You know, people five hundred years from now are not gonna look at our paintings from this period of time -- Jackson Pollack -- I tend to doubt very much they will think very much of our popular music. And they won't care at all about our various geo-political struggles among nations -- most of which will no longer exist, in their current forms. But they will look at Hubble, and the images it brought back of the Universe, and say, "These people were noble." --And he was going to abandon that.

And similarly, NASA, as the human space flight program -- as an institution -- is not merely what it does…okay…because frankly, except for Apollo and Hubble it hasn't done that much. Okay. But…it's…it is what it stands for in terms of defining who we are. It's about who we are. Okay? That's what it is. That's why Americans support NASA -- fundamentally -- it's not the weather satellites…it's not the reconnaissance satellites…it's to some extent -- they do like getting back the images of the Mars Rovers and things…and they are curious about some of the answers we're getting, and they're hopeful about opening up a new frontier in space, yes…but ultimately it is about who we are.

Yes, we do this because this is who we are -- and frankly, this is who we have to be if we are ever going to open the space frontier. So, what you had here, was, an attack on not just NASA but on the American identity. The identity of the pioneers of a frontier. Okay. The…um -- so it's got to be repelled. With, losses to the enemy. So this is the immediate crisis. I think we can win it. We won Hubble -- we were the first people to stand up for Hubble, except for astronomers. "Oh you're astronomers, of course you want a stupid telescope." Okay…we were the ones who said, "okay, there are issues here that go way beyond the issues of Mikulski's district."

This is about who NASA is -- this is about who America is. And this is about -- this is not just about -- you know, Ares 1. I don't care about Ares 1. You know, frankly I was never that enthusiastic about it -- I thought Orion was oversized…it should have been sized down to fit on an Atlas Five, which we have. And so on…you can make all sorts of criticisms like this -- but ultimately, they didn't say that…they didn't rationalize or try to improve Giffin's argument…they just said, "This is not who we are." Okay. Umm…well…it's got to be who we are…we've need to win this.

We've got to do what we've done on several occasions in the past -- which is to take the trouble and go and meet with Congressmen in their home offices…and this is entirely possible to do…and talk to them about this. The bottom line is…NASA needs to have a goal…a goal that is proximate enough to give meaning to its activity…that goal should be Humans to Mars. And the first and most critical -- ah, piece of technology that needs to be developed, that is, heavy-lift. Okay. The, the, the -- and, and the Senate bill has the money to do it. So, bottom line is, we want you to support that. We go in there and give briefings to Congressmen and they ask us, "What do you want us to do?" --That is what we want you to do. That's what we would like them to do now.

We'd like them to go further -- sure. We'd like them to be champions for our vision -- okay, of course…this country needs to set its sights on Mars…we need to embrace the challenge that has been staring us in the face since 1973 and which we have largely shirked. Okay. We need to do that. Okay, we -- I mean look, we have everything we have because of our predecessors who had the guts to come across an ocean and build a civilization in the wilderness. A Grand Civilization. Which, not only includes a continental nation committed to liberty -- and, whose bayonets have held up the sky for liberty around the world for the past half-century -- but, a place that tens or hundreds of millions of people have come to realize liberty for themselves. A place which has demonstrated liberty to the world, so that its fundamental values have been emulated around the world -- and laid out the future for humanity in that respect. A place whose inventors have created the modern world -- because -- it is a place that embraces challenges in all areas, okay, a county that was responsible for inventing electricity, and the telegraph,and the telephone -- and I might add, two inventors who came from Ohio: Thomas Edison, who was born here, and of course the Wright brothers, who gave us flight, and gave us motion pictures, and all kind of things -- and, furthermore, made the statement that: progress is good, and, that there are no barriers, to a people who embrace challenge in this way -- and are wiling to not accept that things are impossible. Okay. Flying. Flying into the air, flying to the moon.

We chose Dayton because as different as the Wright brother's accomplishment is from the Saturn Five they were both at least in one sense completely emblematic of the same thing -- I mean, human flight, realizing an age old dream, reaching for the moon. They were two things which were considered emblematic of what was impossible. They were age old expressions of what was an impossible thing. Okay. And one was invented here, the other was piloted by a guy born here. But -- this is the values we've got to defend, okay; this is…the message that counts.

And..you know…we are not that many people, but, um, all great things start as little things, all great movements start as small movements. Okay, and, it is…the advocates of ideas -- which are not generally accepted -- who are those who move humanity forward. Those people who are content with the world as it is, leave the world as it is.

So we have a critical role, as small as it is, as modest as our financial resources might be -- we nevertheless represent an idea, which is coming to be as powerful a dream as humans flying in the air once was. The -- not just the Freedom of the skies, the Freedom of the Universe. The Freedom of a society fundamentally without limits. That is not limited to one planet -- that has before it this enormous prospect of an infinite universe of worlds. The Beichman Group is going to give their results in January -- my guess is they'll report hundreds of planets. These won't be Earth-like yet because they're too close to their sun -- but a year later, when they've had more time and the planets can go longer periods, there'll be more and more and more. We live in an infinite universe of worlds -- and, the ability to show then, that these are attainable…that…ah, that they are not an infinite universe which is out of reach, but an infinite universe which is fundamentally within reach.

This is ultimately what the significance of Mars is: that we do not live in a limited universe of limited resources where human aspirations need to limited to conform to such limits, and various regulatory authorities need to be empowered to enforce the acceptance of such limits, and so forth; but rather: we live in a world of infinite possibilities, where, rather than human existence needing to be preserved by suppressing human aspirations and humanFreedom, rather human existence can be enhanced to the greatest by endowing as many people as possible with Freedom and the skills and education required to use it. And ultimately everything hinges on this. Everything. The issue here is -- I've commented on this in the past, but I just need to restate it. This thing is more important than Mars colonies, as such -- as important as they may be. This thing is about the general view of the future people now have. And the general view of the future that the people now have will determine their actions not in the future -- but today.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing that the sons and daughters of Chinese peasants are going to college and becoming scientists and engineers? The person who says, it is -- that there are limited resources in the world, says that is bad. That development of countries like China and Egypt should be surpressed -- "because these people are going to be as rich as us, they'll be as educated, they'll have automobiles and they're going to use resources and oil and all this stuff and we've got to do everything we can to screw them up. Okay. So they do not get what we have." Okay. On the other hand…if you believe, that, the resources accessible to humanity are determined only by our creativity then you say it is a wonderful thing that the sons and daughters of Chinese peasants are becoming scientists and engineers. Okay. Because right now, America with four percent of the world's population, is creating half of the inventions in the world. And -- as honorable as that may be, and as proud as an American I may be of that fact -- that is not a good thing, that is a bad thing.

Human progress is being slowed down by the fact that most of the world -- the potential -- of most of those people to make contributions to progress is limited, by their lack of development, and by their lack of freedom. And -- the…it would be a great thing for us -- just imagine all the progress there could be, and the advance of the human condition there could be -- if all these people all over the world who are now unable to contribute to progress, because of their circumstances, were.

So, at that point you say, "Well, we're friends with the Chinese. We don't need to go to war over oil -- or try to wreck their economy, or them viewing us as trying to wreck their economy. This goes both ways by the way…I mean, these views, they become global. If everyone believes that resources are limited -- you have a world in which every Nation is the enemy of every Nation, every race of every race, and ultimately every person of every person. Every new baby born in the world is a new enemy because it's going to eat something you want to eat. Okay…its a world of hate, and tyranny, and ultimately its a world of war.

If, on the other hand, people understand, that, wealth is not something that exists in the ground -- it's something that's created with our minds. That human beings fundamentally are not destroyers but creators…then, every nation is ultimately the friend of every nation, and every race of every race…and ever new person born into the world is not a threat but a new friend.

And this is the mental framework which will determine whether we make the 21st Century the greatest era of human progress or a century of hell. That's the choice before humanity, our specific role…is to use, the Mars Project, to demonstrate, once again, the virtue of humanity. Thank you.

I think I'll close it…if you have questions for me I'll just hang out in the lobby. Thanks for coming, see you all in Dallas next year.

Buzz Aldrin Reaffirms MARS TO STAY!

2010-06-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

Buzz Aldrin gave an interview to Vanity Fair in which he emphasized the 'Mars to Stay' initiative, excerpts:

BUZZ: I’m convinced that sending people to Mars is so expensive that if you go once and bring the people back and then go again and bring the people back, we’re eventually going to run out of money. But what if we send people the first time and they don’t come back? What if they stay there?

SCREWBALL INTERVIEWER: Then you’ve got a bunch of astronauts on Mars going, “Hello? Can I get a little help here? What the fuck?”

BUZZ: But then we send six more people, and now we’ve got twelve. It’d be between three and four times cheaper to send people there and then leave them there.

CRIMINALLY UNINTELLIGENT INTERVIEWER: Do we tell them that in advance? Or do we just wait and spring it on them after they’ve landed?

BUZZ: DID the Pilgrims on the Mayflower sit around Plymouth Rock waiting for a return trip? They came here to settle. And that’s what we should be doing on Mars. When you go to Mars, you need to have made the decision that you’re there permanently. The more people we have there, the more it can become a sustaining environment. Except for very rare exceptions, the people who go to Mars shouldn’t be coming back. Once you get on the surface, you’re there.

SHIT-FOR-BRAINED INTERVIEWER: You’re talking about building a colony?

BUZZ: Exactly! Every twenty-six months, there’s a window of going to Mars that may last for about a month or so. It just so happens that there’s an opportunity to put a habitat on Mars in the fall of 2022. So we put a habitat there and you check it out for a year or so, and it’s unmanned. Then in the spring of 2025, I send a crew and they stay for a year and a half, and then I bring them back. I send another crew in ‘27 and then I bring them back. I send another crew there in ‘29, and they stay. And then in ‘31 I send six more people, three to one of the moons of Mars and three directly to Mars, and now I’ve got nine people there. I can add six every twenty-six months.

Read More http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/06/buzz-aldrin-is-not-all-that-impressed-with-walking-on-the-moon.html#ixzz0rtidtxfy

More about the 'Mars to Stay' initiative can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_to_Stay

Volunteers Wanted for Mars Simulation Hab

2010-06-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hundreds have gone and if you are one of those seasoned previous crew participants, know that we are always looking for new mission support members to assist and advise the new crews in session at the MDRS. We have about as many veteran Marsonauts from MDRS and FMARS combined as there are veteran and active astronauts.  

Don’t miss out on a chance to be part of the future, as serving as a crew member of the MDRS is a great way to show your dedication to space missions. Engineer Diego Urbina who was a part of MDRS Crew 88 (Jan. 2010) was selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) as one of only two simulation astronauts chosen for the Mars500 Mars simulation mission of the ESA and Roscosmos. His new Mars mission will begin on the 3rd of June 2010 in Moscow.   So who knows where participating in the Mars Desert Research Station simulations will lead you…

Download the application details below. Deadline for submission of applications is September 15, 2010. The review process begins August 15, and therefore early applications are encouraged. Join one of the world's longest running and most successful space simulation projects!

Good luck and on to Mars!

Click HERE to download application information.

Curiosity and Cameron

2010-05-02T13:03:00.000-07:00

"I think any kind of exploration should always try to acquire the highest level of imaging. That's how you engage people -- you can put them there, give them the sense they're standing there on the surface of Mars."

For obvious reasons the pro-active visionary heroics of Oscar-winning director James Cameron have become a running theme on this blog. The director of "Avatar" and many other sci-fi flicks, "Titanic," and technologically demanding undersea documentaries, is now helping NASA develop a high-resolution 3D camera for the next Mars rover, SUV-sized Curiosity, due to launch in 2011.

Remember the beautiful Mars imagery NASA’s Mars rover, Spirit, captured during its journey to the Red Planet? Now imagine high-definition color 3D video from the surface of Mars at eye-level, in motion, at walking pace: sunrises and sunsets, stars after midnight, vistas stretching for miles.

Zoom lenses will allow for "cinematic video sequences in 3-D on the surface."

“The fixed focal length [cameras] we just delivered will do almost all of the science we originally proposed. But they cannot provide a wide field of view with comparable eye stereo. With the zoom [cameras], we’ll be able to take cinematic video sequences in 3D on the surface of Mars. This will give our public engagement co-investigator, James Cameron, tools similar to those he used on his recent 3D motion picture projects,” said Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems, Inc, the company which developed the Mastcams.

“[NASA Administrator Bolden] actually was really open to the idea. Our first meeting went very well. It’s a very ambitious mission. It’s a very exciting mission. (The scientists are) going to answer a lot of really important questions about the previous and potential future habitability of Mars.”

"We so desperately need not to blow it," Cameron said of the first opportunity in decades to consider moving human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Cameron has lamented that space exploration stalled -- because of political compromises -- after the Apollo moon landings. Rather than being a jumping off point to future great adventures, the space shuttle and International Space Station ultimately "formed a closed-loop ecosystem for self-justification."

Now, the agency has a chance to move beyond that and chase mankind's "greatest adventure" -- landing humans on Mars.

"Where does the money come from? From working people, with mortgages and kids who need braces. Why do they give the money? Because they share the dream." They need reasons to stay engaged: from telling them the ways space exploration has provided them with tools that improve their daily lives to helping them to be more interactively involved in the missions.

NASA's focus has been on hardware instead of people, partly because the agency shields its people from the public. Instead, in an era when American kids and adults need inspiration, NASA needs to do a better job of selling its astronauts and scientists as heroic people.

"Our children live in a world without heroes," he said. "Your kids need something to dream about. We need this challenge to bring us together." I think that any kind of exploration should always try to acquire the highest level of imaging. That’s how you engage people — you can put them there, give them the sense that they’re standing there on the surface of Mars."

"The [1997] Sojourner Rover became a character to millions of people, a protagonist in a story. How long is it going to survive, could it perform its mission? It wasn't anthropomorphic in any way, there was absolutely no emotion in a little solar powered machine that was being commanded from eighty million miles away, and yet people thought of it as a character. The reason we thought of it as a character is that it represented us in a way. It was our consciousness moving that vehicle around on the surface of Mars. It's our collective consciousness -- focused down to that little machine - that put it there. So it was a celebration of who and what we are. It takes our entire collective consciousness and projects it there - to that point in time and space. That's what the Sojourner Rover did."   

"I was involved in a private company that was going to try to land two rovers on the Moon. That collapsed in the dot com crash - they ran out of money. I'm loosely involved with people who are going to be doing future robotic missions to Mars. I'm involved in terms of imaging, and of how imaging might be improved in terms of story telling. I've been very interested in the Humans to Mars movement --the 'Mars Underground' -- and I've donea tremendous amount of personal research for a novel, a miniseries, and a 3-D film."

Mars is real, non-threatening, a living character with which humanity must become familiar and comfortable. Stay tuned for a forthcoming post explicitly about Cameron's Mars film work, yet again.

(Obama:)

2010-04-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

"Now, I understand that some believe that we should attempt a return to the surface of the Moon first, as previously planned,” he said. “But I just have to say pretty bluntly here: We’ve been there before. Buzz [Aldrin] has been there. There’s a lot more of space to explore, and a lot more to learn when we do; we should set our sights on points beyond, to the near Earth asteroids and reach for Mars."

Mars Society Response:
"As the first milestone in his allegedly daring program of exploration, Obama called for sending a crew to a near Earth asteroid by 2025.

Such a flight is achievable. To do an asteroid mission, all that is required is a launch vehicle such as the Ares 5, a crew capsule (such as the Orion), and a habitation module similar to that employed on the space station. Had Obama not canceled the Ares 5, we could have used it to perform an asteroid mission by 2016. But the President, while calling for such a flight, actually is terminating the programs that would make it possible.

From a technical point of view, we are much closer today to being able to send humans to Mars than we were to being able to send men to the moon in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy made his speech committing us to that goal - and we were there eight years later. With Kennedy-like commitment, we could have astronauts on the Red Planet within a decade. Yet Obama chose to set that goal for the 2040s, a timeline so hazy as to not require him to actually do anything to realize it. The American people want and deserve a space program that really is going somewhere. To offer that, Obama needs to stop the fakery. That means a program whose effort will commence not in some future administration, but in his own; one whose goal is not Mars in our dreams, but Mars in our time."

Zubrin, an aerospace engineer, is president of the Mars Society and author of "The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must." A link to the article may be found at http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/04/19/2010-04-19_obamas_failure_to_launch.html

The Mars Society is the only major space advocacy organization that has been willing to take a stand and expose the go-nowhere space policy for what it is. Help us tell truth to power. Help us save America's human spaceflight program. Donate to the Mars Society. Come to the August 5-8 conference. Join the Mars Society.

www.marssociety.org

Burt Rutan on "Forefront Manned Exploration"

2010-04-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

Burt Rutan is an American aerospace engineer famous for his design of the sub-orbital spaceplane SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004 for becoming the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space twice within a two week period. He has four aircraft on display in the National Air and Space Museum. These are a few of his thoughts regarding space policy:

My basic concern is that the real value of NASA's contributions that America realized in the 60s and early 70s is now being completely discarded. How can we rationalize a surrender of our preeminence in human spaceflight? In my mind, the important NASA accomplishments are twofold: 1) The technical breakthroughs achieved by basic research (not by Development programs like Constellation) and 2) The Forefront Manned Exploration that provided the inspiration for our youth to plan careers in engineering/science and that established the U.S. as the world leader in technology.

In short, it is a good idea indeed for the commercial community to compete to re-supply the ISS and to bring about space access for the public to enjoy. I applaud the efforts of SpaceX, Virgin and Orbital in that regard and feel these activities should have been done at least two decades ago. However, I do not see the commercial companies taking Americans to Mars or to the moons of Saturn within my lifetime and I doubt if they will take the true Research risks (technical and financial) to fly new concepts that have low confidence of return on investment. Even NASA, regarded as our prime Research agency has not recently shown a willingness to fly true Research concepts.

For years I have stated that a NASA return-to-moon effort must include true Research content, i.e. testing new concepts needed to enable forefront Exploration beyond the moon. The current Ares/Orion does not do that. While I have been critical of Constellation for that reason, I do not think that NASA should 'give up' on manned spaceflight, just that they should be doing it while meeting the 1) or 2) criteria above.

Some have guessed that my recent comments are based on my overall displeasure with the Obama Administration. They are not; however it does seem that the best technical minds in U.S. industry are still striving to find HOW America can continue to be "exceptional", while the Administration does not want America to BE "exceptional".

Burt Rutan
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2010/02/burt-rutan-sets-the-record-str.html

Going Nowhere: Give NASA the Destination MARS!

2010-04-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

From an essay in the Spring 2010 print edition of "The New Atlantis," an article titled Going Nowhere by Robert Zubrin, President of the International Mars Society:

"The shuttle-era record is [not] impressive; it resulted in no new technologies of importance and reached no new destinations — despite the fact that the agency’s budget for the past twenty years has been approximately the same, in inflation-adjusted dollars, as that which it enjoyed during the Apollo period. In the Apollo Mode, NASA’s efforts are focused and directed; in the Shuttle Mode, the space agency’s efforts are random and entropic, shuffling along without a purpose, always buffeted by political winds.

Without the guidance supplied by a driving mission, under the new Obama space policy, another ten years and more than a hundred billion dollars will be spent by NASA’s human spaceflight program without achieving anything significant. We may take part in another twenty flights to low-Earth orbit, but there is no new world there to explore. Together with the Russians, we have already flown there some three hundred times over the past half-century. Spending a king’s ransom to raise that total to three hundred twenty hardly seems worthwhile.

But it must be remembered that NASA’s average annual budget from 1961 to 1973, during the years when the agency flew all the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab missions, as well as scores of lunar and interplanetary probes, was about $19.7 billion (converted to today’s dollars). That figure is very close to NASA’s current budget.

Mars is the closest world that truly has the resources needed for human settlement. For our generation and those that will follow, Mars is the New World.

Four decades of stagnation in space is enough. If any progress is to be made, a course must be set. Leadership is required. President Obama should reject the timid proposal his administration floated in February, which would mark the end of the American human spaceflight program, and should instead take the side of audacity and hope — by committing NASA to reach for Mars in our time."

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/going-nowhere

Note the Destination Boring People Advocate...Isaac Asimov debate at the Hayden Planetarium (thanks to Landmark Pictures)

2010-03-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

Factual corrections to points made by Paul Spudis: eight week round-trip missions to NEAs have been proposed (see earlier posts on this blog); most asteroids rotate at very, very low speeds; most do not have "co-orbiting clouds of debris;" resources will be collected at asteroids and processed in artificial 'gravitational' environments at LEO. These are exciting, solvable engineering challenges. Solvable.

Bob Zubrin:
"From a technical point of view, we're much closer today to sending humans to Mars than we were to sending men to the Moon in 1961. […] While there are resources on the moon there are vastly more on Mars. There're continent sized regions on Mars that are 60% water in the soil. There's complex geological history which has created mineral ore. There's carbon, which is necessary for life and for plastics. There's nitrogen. There's a twenty four hour day. [...] The reason why it is important to do something as hard as exploring and ultimately settling Mars, is because of what it would do for opening up and creating the prospect of a human future with an open frontier rather than a limited frontier of a world of limited resources, in which choices are becoming ever closer and smaller and freedom is ever more limited."

Steve Squyres:

"As far as robots versus humans despite the fact that I am a robot guy, you can't send humans out to explore the solar system soon enough -- for me. As an example, what our magnificent robots have accomplished for six years on Mars -- Paul is a geologist -- Paul and I could've done it in about a week. Okay? So robots fall far short of what you can do with humans. […] I firmly believe the best exploration and the most inspiring exploration can only be done by humans. [...] Asteroids have very low gravity so you don't have to go down into a gravity well and come back out again. There are asteroids that are incredibly rich in carbon, there are asteroids that are incredibly rich in metalic minerals: iron, nickel, and all sorts of trace elements. So everything Paul Spudis is talking about on the moon, you can get it better on an asteroid. Asteroids are an incredibly rich source of raw materials. [...] There's a lot more to mine on asteroids than there is on the moon."

If Lunar advocates were at a bar they'd drink alone. Soda. After having attended several space-related conferences each year for over a decade, one characteristic of moon-first advocates which has been unfailingly predictable: they are boring as hell.

The full debate may be viewed here, thanks to Landmark Pictures:

http://www.landmarkny.com/marssociety/

_2010 International Mars Society Convention Poster Designed by Former Ogilvy and Mather Art Director Mike Neal

2010-03-01T03:41:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Mike Neal! Easily the coolest design for any space-related event in the last 10 years; exceptional artists by nature want to see humans on Mars.

Mike Neal is a design and architectural writer currently completing his MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York City as part of the inaugural class of its graduate design criticism program. He was born and raised in Southern California, where he worked for many years, first as a graphic designer, then as an art director for the Los Angeles office of the worldwide branding and advertising agency, Ogilvy and Mather.

As part of his critical studies, Mike has focused on examining the fields of space architecture. His graduate thesis deals specifically with the historical links to Modernist design theory in relation to current planning and design that would accompany the first human explorers to Mars. For first hand research Mike served as the journalist and executive officer for the Mars Society’s 84th crew at MDRS.

The concept for Mike’s design for the Society’s upcoming convention was initially inspired by a quote by architect and designer, Buckminster Fuller, who decades ago had tried to pioneer a design/science revolution. Always a challenger of the status quo, Fuller was particularly scrutinizing of the language we use to describe our universe; he once noted, “If you still use the terms up and down, you’re still thinking in terms from the dark ages.” Fuller argued instead there was only “in”, towards the Earth’s gravitational center, and “out,” towards space.

This idea is translated in the convention poster in the constantly shifting perception of orientation of both space and time. Up and down—in and out—are in a state of flux between the gravitational centers of blue Earth and vermillion Mars, as ground and sky interchange. The conventions theme also changes though maintaining its intent; “Reaching Higher,” as the Wright brother’s did in their first flight, and continuing on that trajectory to the “Higher Reaching” goal of Mars.

Astronauts with Personality -- Please!! ...Following the Mars Society Convention 2010: STURGISSSSS!!

2010-02-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

Immediately after the Mars Society Convention we're going to Sturgis to party, drink hell and shoot machine guns -- depending upon how much money we have left after whiskey. If you don't have a bike -- no problem. You can rent from a Harley dealer in Ohio or on the way. We're camping along the side of the road. Basically, this is a balls reenforcement project for Men who are WORKING HARD to see humans on Mars in their lifetime. If you want to go incognito that can be arranged (for example, if you are James Cameron)...no women invited. They will meet us in Sturgis.

Rebels only.

It's not personal, #ItsNotYouItsDefinitelyUs. If you're tired of marriage to or dating a passive characterless ass-kissing academic limp-dicked system-worm give him a few days riding under the stars to Sturgis. We're ramping testosterone among advocates of Humans to Mars. It's become a requirement of our passionless world. This is an unsanctioned event without supervision very intentionally fatal to betas. Have bail ready.

http://www.sturgis.com/

Update: get a motorcycle license now from your local Harley dealer following a two day lesson for less than $200.

Since artists interested in promoting 'humans to Mars' are of any gender, it is encouraged that women either form a girls-trip to Sturgis or meet us there. In theory it would be possible to meet periodically along the way, but, that would be unlikely. Impossible, in fact. If you look like Angelina Jolie you could try, but it still won't help.

Google Search:
"Masculate" 14,900 results.
"Emasculate" 309,000. This is part of the problem.

(If you show up with anything other than a Harley or KTM 950 Adventure you'll be disinvited. No exceptions. That includes you and your bullshit Triumph Angelina.)

Oh God I love this blog!

James Cameron...Lone Voice in the Wilderness

2010-02-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

James Cameron, the writer and director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," served on the NASA Advisory Council from 2003 to 2005, and has led 6 deep ocean expeditions. He is currently a co-investigator on the Mars Science Laboratory Mastcam team and a lifetime member of the Mars Society. (This commentary also appeared in the February 5 edition of the Washington Post.)

Rockets Run on Dreams

What do rockets burn for fuel? Money. Money that is contributed by working families who have mortgages and children who need braces. And why do the American people support our efforts in space? Because they still believe, to some extent or another, in that shining dream of exploring other worlds. So it could be said that rockets really run on dreams.

The exploration of space is the grandest adventure challenging the human race. As a filmmaker I have celebrated this greatest of dreams in my movies and documentaries, and I remain as passionate about the discoveries ahead as I was when I was a kid. So it was with some trepidation that I waited for the NASA budget to be unveiled this week. I was concerned that amid the nation's fiscal crises, space exploration would fall off the priority to-do list. But the new NASA budget reveals a pathway to a bright future of exploration in the coming years. It simply reflects the deep changes and hard decisions necessary to accomplish that goal.

Last year President Obama instructed the Augustine commission to report on the likely prognosis for NASA's exploration activities. After months of study, the conclusions the panel released last October were gloomy. The Constellation program, implemented in XXX and designed to put humans back on the moon by 2020, could not possibly succeed within that timeframe or for the budgeted amount, it reported.

In response, the president and NASA have crafted a bold plan that truly makes possible this nation's dreams for space. Their plan calls for the full embrace of commercial solutions for transporting astronauts to low Earth orbit after the space shuttle is retired next year. This frees NASA to do what it does best: deep space exploration, both robotic and human. By selecting commercial solutions for transportation to the International Space Station, NASA is empowering American free enterprise to do what it does best: to develop technology quickly and efficiently in a competitive environment.

As Peter Diamandis, chairman of the nonprofit X-Prize foundation, said in a recent blog, "The U.S. government doesn't build your computers, nor do you fly aboard a U.S. Government-owned and -operated airline. Private industry routinely takes technologies pioneered by the government and turns them into cheap, reliable and robust industries." When the shuttle is finally retired after more than three decades of service, the United States will be dependent on the Russian Soyuz to get our astronauts to the International Space Station, at a cost of $50 million per person. But under the new NASA plan, private industry will take over this capability within a few years, much more quickly than Constellation would have, and at a competitive price.

The money saved will be plowed into research and development of robotic explorers that will act as precursors and technology demonstrators, paving the way for human exploration of the moon, asteroids and Mars. Additional funding has been committed to the development of advanced propulsion technology, which can bring down the cost of spaceflight. And the space station's lifespan will be extended several years, which in turn will increase the science yield and satisfy our international partners. This international cooperative effort is important as a model for how future large-scale missions will be organized and funded. In addition, money is being made available to both Earth and planetary science, which can help us understand climate change on our own world and the alien processes at work on some of the other worlds in our solar system.

Over the past 15 years, I have gotten to know a lot of people at NASA while working on projects to advance space and ocean exploration. I've found that many, if not most, started as starry-eyed childhood dreamers. Maybe they loved science-fiction stories, with their promise of alien worlds, or maybe they were geeks like me, peering through a telescope in the back yard until their moms yelled again for them to come inside, "it's a school night!" They grew up to become engineers, brilliant planetary scientists and steely-eyed missile men, who collectively have pushed our human presence out to the moon and our robotic presence not just to Mars but to the outer reaches of the solar system. I applaud President Obama's bold decision for NASA to focus on building a space exploration program that can drive innovation and provide inspiration for the world. This is the path that can make our dreams in space a reality.

What the Hell Happened to Our Space Program?? Can you imagine the Right Stuff generating these fucking headlines??

2010-02-14T16:46:00.000-08:00

ONN: NASA Scientists Plan to Approach Girl by 2018

"Our backup plan: using the Hubble Space Telescope to take high-resolution photos of her and then masturbating furiously while hating ourselves for it."

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/nasa_scientists_plan_to_approach

NASA Launches David Bowie Concept Mission

"These new suits are veneered with a protective silver lamé to complement the multicolored lightning bolts emblazoned across the helmets' sun visors. They've also been updated with several improved components to ensure the team is completely safe when it's time to leave the capsule—if they dare."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nasa_launches_david_bowie_concept

NASA Is An Industrial Subsidy In Disguise

I grew up with the romantic notion that NASA is not merely a government agency, but an organization dedicated to bravely propelling the human race forward into a glorious future of scientific advancement and discovery [...but...] NASA exists largely to provide an economic boost to the American aerospace industry, particularly Boeing. NASA gets away with this thinly veiled pork-barrel politicking, the piece contended, by distracting the public with "bread-and-circus" space missions that emphasize thrills over genuinely useful scientific discovery.>

Consider the hoopla surrounding John Glenn's return flight to space. He got a ticker-tape parade and front-page coverage, but what did science actually gain? ...it's time we started making NASA accountable for its wasteful, PR-driven expenditures.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/34138

NASA Baffled by Failure of Straw Shuttle

$68 billion straw space shuttle [... ] "It was nice and crisp and dry," Toshikima said. "Which is the best condition for straw headed away from the earth's gravitational pull." The Explorer 2, like its predecessor, was headed for the sun, where it was to be the first spacecraft to land on a star. "We'd hoped to bring back and study sun rock," Toshikima said."

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/50100

NASA Announces Plan to Bring Wi-Fi to Its Headquarters by 2017

An ambitious mission to make Houston's Johnson Space Center wireless-Internet capable within one decade. We are not content to rest on our laurels. It may seem like an impossible task, but if we commit all of our focus, technology, and resources, we can get Wi-Fi into NASA's offices and research labs within our generation." Griffin was confident that NASA's estimated $655 million plan to install a wireless broadband router by 2017 could reap huge benefits for the entire space agency.

NASA has suffered from a public credibility crisis in recent years due to perceived incompetence, a failed mission to Mars, the damaged and dormant Hubble telescope, and its inability to procure a long enough USB cable to reach all the way over to engineer William Chen's cubicle. But NASA officials argue that a secure high-speed line could prevent disasters such as a 2005 incident in which an employee attempting to download the movie trailer forCheaper by the Dozen 2 crashed the Mission Control Center mainframe computer for two weeks.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nasa_announces_plan_to_bring_wi_fi

NASA Embarks on Epic Delay

The unprecedented delay has reportedly brought together the nation's foremost aerospace engineers, whose combined efforts have already added 18 months of rescheduled meetings to the daring mission. "Delays of this magnitude were once the stuff of science fiction," Scolese told reporters during a noon press conference Monday that actually started around 3:15 p.m. "But now, thanks to a number of long-overdue technological advances, this historic delay will stretch the very limits of what humankind can push back indefinitely."

"Never before has man dared to fall behind on such a sweeping scale," said Brenda Win, head administrator of the newly established delay-management team, which is expected to be named sometime next month or maybe the month after. "A postponement like this only happens once in a lifetime. This will be the series of setbacks you'll tell your grandchildren about."

"When we have finally finished here, the universe will see there is no end to what man can entangle in red tape," Scolese wrote in the stirring statement. "Even as we speak, our top people are dragging their feet on what will become the longest and most profound delay in the planet's history."

"Mark my words: In our lifetime, NASA will delay putting a man on Mars," Scolese continued. "Well, maybe not in my lifetime. I'm almost 50."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nasa_embarks_on_epic_delay

Vows to Put Man on Moon Before It Disappears At End of Month

The president went on to propose the construction of a lunar capsule that could land on a concave surface.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33010

NASA Delays Shuttle Launch Out of Sheer Habit

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/34817

NASA To Send Earth Into Space

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/35905

People Living On The Moon

"Golden throne so tourists can have their pictures taken as the Moon King."

http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/people_living_on_the_moon

Scientists Ask Congress To Fund $50 Billion Science Thing

I have always said that science is more important than it is unimportant," Committee chairman Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) said. "And it's essential we stay ahead of China, Japan, and Germany in science. We are ahead in space, with the NASA rockets going to other planets, so we should be ahead in science too."

"Now, I'm no science major, but if I'm being told by a group of people that the protons, neutrons, and electrons need unifying, then I think we owe it to the American people to go in and unify them," Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) said. "After all, isn't a message of unity what we want to send to our children?"

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/scientists_ask_congress_to_fund_50

Conspiracy Theorist Convinces Neil Armstrong Moon Landing Was Faked

According to Armstrong, he was forced to reconsider every single detail of the monumental journey after watching a few persuasive YouTube videos, and reading several blog posts on conspiracy theorist Ralph Coleman's website, OmissionControl.org. "This is all just common sense, people," he added. "It's the moon. You can't land on the moon."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/conspiracy_theorist_convinces_neil

NASA Announces Plan To Launch $700 Million Into Space

fficials at the Kennedy Space Center announced Tuesday that they have set Aug. 6 as the date for launching $700 million from the Denarius IVspacecraft, the largest and most expensive mission to date in NASA's unmanned monetary-ejection program. "This is an exciting opportunity to study the effect of a hard-vacuum, zero-gravity environment on $50 and $100 bills," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who noted that prior Project Denarius missions only studied space's effect on fives and singles.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/47977

New York Times Favors MARS FIRST!! $&%# the $*&@ Moon!

2010-02-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

In its lead editorial February 9, the New York Times called on the Obama administration to make human missions to Mars the goal of the American human spaceflight program. A complete discussion of the current political situation and potential initiatives for dealing with it will be held at the 13th international Mars society convention, August 5-8, 2010, Dayton Mariott, Dayton, Ohio. Registration for the conference is now open at www.marssociety.org.

Commenting on the administration’s new space policy released February 2, the Times said:

A New Space Program

February 8, 2010

President Obama has called for scrapping NASA’s once-ambitious program to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020 as a first step toward reaching Mars. That effort, begun by former President George W. Bush, is behind schedule and its technology increasingly outdated.

Mr. Obama is instead calling on NASA to develop “game-changing” technologies to make long-distance space travel cheaper and faster, a prerequisite for reaching beyond the Moon to nearby asteroids or Mars. To save money and free the agency for more ambitious journeys, the plan also calls for transferring NASA’s more routine operations — carrying astronauts to the International Space Station — to private businesses.

If done right, the president’s strategy could pay off handsomely. If not, it could be the start of a long, slow decline from the nation’s pre-eminent position as a space-faring power. We are particularly concerned that the White House has not identified a clear goal — Mars is our choice — or set even a notional deadline for getting there. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Congress need to keep the effort focused and adequately financed.

The most controversial element of the president’s plan is his proposal to scrap NASA’s mostly Moon-related technology programs that have been working to develop two new rockets, a new space capsule, a lunar landing capsule and systems for living on the lunar surface. Those efforts have been slowed by budgetary and technical problems. And at the current rate, the Moon landing would likely not occur until well after 2030. The technologies that looked reasonable when NASA first started in 2005 have already begun to look dated.

A lunar expedition would be of some value in learning how to live on the Martian surface but would not help us learn how to descend through Mars’ very different atmosphere or use that planet’s atmospheric resources effectively. Nor would it yield a rich trove of new scientific information or find new solutions for the difficulties of traveling deeper into space.

The president’s proposal calls for developing new technologies to make long-distance space travel possible: orbiting depots that could refuel rockets in space, lessening the weight they would have to carry from the ground; life-support systems that could operate indefinitely without resupply from Earth; new engines, propellants and materials for heavy-lift rockets; and advanced propulsion systems that could enable astronauts to reach Mars in a matter of weeks instead of roughly a year using chemical rockets.

Leaping to new generations of technology is inherently hard and NASA’s efforts may not bear fruit in any useful time period. To increase the odds of success, Congress may want to hold the agency’s feet to the fire and require that a specified percentage of its budget be devoted to technology development.

The idea of hiring private companies to ferry astronauts and cargo to the space station is also risky and based on little more than faith that the commercial sector may be able to move faster and more cheaply than NASA. The fledgling companies have yet to prove their expertise, and the bigger companies often deliver late and overbudget.

If they fail or fall behind schedule, NASA would have to rely on Russia or other foreign countries to take its astronauts and cargoes aloft. That is a risk worth taking. It has relied on the Russians before when NASA’s shuttle fleet was grounded for extensive repairs. It would seem too expensive for NASA to compete with a new rocket designed to reach low-Earth orbit — far better to accelerate development of a heavier-lift rocket needed for voyages beyond, as NASA now intends.

The new plan for long-distance space travel also needs clear goals and at least aspirational deadlines that can help drive technology development and make it clear to the world that the United States is not retiring from space exploration but rather is pushing toward the hardest goal within plausible reach.

We believe the target should be Mars — the planet most like Earth and of greatest scientific interest.

Many experts prefer a flexible path that would have astronauts first travel to intermediate destinations: a circle around the Moon to show the world that we can still do it; a trip to distant points where huge telescopes will be deployed and may need servicing; a visit to an asteroid, the kind of object we may some day need to deflect lest it collide with Earth. That makes sense to us so long as the goal of reaching Mars remains at the forefront.

At this point, the administration’s plans to reorient NASA are only a proposal that requires Congressional approval to proceed. Already many legislators from states that profit from the current NASA program are voicing opposition. Less self-interested colleagues ought to embrace the notion of a truly ambitious space program with clear goals that stir all Americans’ imaginations and challenge this country’s scientists to think far beyond the Moon.

http://nyti.ms/cNdUmQ

Wikipedia Article on "Mars to Stay" one-way Mars mission plans and a new Twitter hashtag: #UpUrsCowards! >: P

2010-01-18T17:42:00.000-08:00

An article on "Mars to Stay" one-way Mars missions for pioneering settlers has been published live on Wikipedia. Of course you are welcome to edit and improve the post, please do so here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_to_Stay

Advancing one-way mission architectures as possible, pragmatic, and even ideal serves to make the eventual settlement of Mars that much more conceivable when only traditional round-trip research missions are proposed. We need to create an institutional culture at NASA which considers long-term multi-decade pioneering missions by married child-bearing couples as the norm in long-distance space travel. The days of Flags-and-Footprints followed by regression into multi-decade lulls in further human exploration are over. The tremendous resources humanity has to allocated to NASA for space exploration are not intended to catapult a select few into a lifetime of black-tie dinners and annual speaking retreats on Maui. The purpose of human space exploration is to develop space-based resources, increase our understanding of nature, and settle the solar system. Traitors return to Earth.
___________

(On a separate note: for those of you following this blog anonymously you show up as followers under certain settings of Google's Profile ID. Hope you find such a bug humorous. Actually, there is a new Twitter hashtag which will enable you to track posts to this blog, created just for you: #UpUrsCowards )

Marsipan, The British Mars Exploration Programme: "As we know, Mars exploration needs funds, even if it's low budget!"

2009-12-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

Keeping things light-hearted and fun Nikolay Moustakov's clever, endearing stop-motion series Marsipan expands upon our theme of humanizing Mars through art. The pilot episode for this clever series of videos and "pubcasts" was selected for The British Council Short Film Showcase and also screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival 2005. Nikolay most recently worked as a storyboard artist on Fantastic Mr. Fox and owns his own production company, Earthly Delights Films, with which he and co-creator Liz Rosenthal are developing a slate of animation and live action projects. Marsipan leads the way in exploring Mars and beyond, bringing to you the search for life on the Red Planet in monthly videos showing "what is really happening on Mars for you to watch for free!"

Be sure to check out Marsipan's super clever -- very, very well developed -- website for the British Mars Exploration Programme. For instance, this is the dialogue of the "countdown" spoken by the Flight Director when his image is clicked upon (in Marsipan HQ's Mission Control; written and voiced by Nathaniel Tapley):

"Right, right, I'm bored with ordinary countdowns...so...today I'm going to have a poem...ten is the fingers on your hands...nine for the planets in the solar system, on each of which you might land although we prefer Mars...eight of you will leave us when the booster rockets burn...seven at least we expect to return...six are the tanks of coolant upon your outer-shell....five is the number which need to operate efficiently to stop you from being burnt to hell...the other is a back-up its there for your own safety...four...is what Mars is from the sun, fourth...three...is...a number...its two higher than one...two hands we are using to wave you goodbye...one is the single-minded belief that you will fly to Mars. Well, not fly so much as be flown, but I -- so blast off! You cosmic sentry! And try not to burn up...in...reentry. Godspeed."

Take that "3 2 1" NASA! Would that more engineers took such liberties with their Muses!

Explore Mars further via the British Mars Exploration Programme here: http://www.marsipan.co.uk

"Martians beware! Marsipan, The British Mars Exploration Program is sending its space probes in your direction! Here is British engineering at its best, exploring Mars like nobody else."

"NASA spends billions and can only show you a pile of rocks, or a computer animated reconstruction. Is there life on Mars? Of course there is and our monthly missions can prove it! Come in and see for yourself."

Archived "Pubcasts" of Marsipan missions by the "Greater British Space Empire" may also be viewed on this YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MarsipanTV

Thank you Nikolay and Liz for making Mars so fun, human, and accessible!

Dr. Robert Zubrin Places Lunar Water in Perspective

2009-12-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

"While going to the Moon may represent a more interesting activity for NASA's human spaceflight program than flying up and down repeatedly to low Earth orbit, it is nevertheless not the right goal [...] Mars, because of its richness in resources, - containing not only plentiful supplies of water, but carbon, nitrogen, and all the other substances needed for life and industry as well - is the nearest place where humans can settle"

For the coming age of space exploration, Mars compares to the Moon as North America compared to Greenland in the previous age of maritime exploration. Greenland was closer to Europe, and Europeans reached it first, but it was too barren to sustain substantial permanent settlement. In contrast, North America was a place where a new branch of human civilization could be born. The Moon is a barren island in the ocean of space; Mars is a New World. Mars is where the challenge is, it is where the science is, it is where the future is. That is why Mars should be our goal."

Dr. Zubrin's full statement may be found on the Mars Society's website:
http://www.marssociety.org/portal/ZubrinStatementLCROSS/

James Cameron: The Last Hope for Hollywood

2009-10-05T19:03:00.000-07:00

James Cameron personally attended the International Mars Society Conference in 1999. He delivered the Keynote Address then spent the entire weekend moving from panel to panel with his camera crew, sitting in the audience alongside other attendees while taking extensive notes on a yellow legal pad with a ball point pen. That was before laptops and only a year and a half after the release of his record blockbuster "Titanic." It was a bold dramatic meaningful appearance which said: I care about Humans-to-Mars; I want to get this right.

For the next two years he continued to send teams of videographers to record every presentation. Then, two purely idiotic movies were released -- "Red Planet," "Mission to Mars" -- and Cameron wisely decided to shelve his project until the cultural debris settled. Periodically interviewers will ask, "What about Mars?" The most important consistent reply he provides with confidence is: "I have done the research. I know Mars. When the time is right it will happen."

James Cameron has not only laid the foundation for making one of the most important films about Mars in our generation, for a time he even sat on NASA's Advisory Council - a panel of experts and advisers appointed by the agency's administrator. He remains on the science team for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory. The Mars Science Laboratory, known as Curiosity, is a NASA rover scheduled to be launched between October and December of 2011. One can only hope this window of opportunity is not corrupted by competition from less informed directors, once again.

"I've been very interested in the Humans to Mars movement—the 'Mars Underground'—and I've done a tremendous amount of personal research for a novel, a miniseries, and a 3-D film."

These very rough drafts of Mars mission equipment were created by Digital Domain nearly ten years ago to accompany Cameron's Keynote Address. Although they were of high-quality for CG at that time, he nevertheless apologized for not being able to bring final renders. The point of showing these images though was to demonstrate his support for Mars Direct and in particular humans to Mars; Cameron wanted to show fellow space enthusiasts he could be relied upon to "get the facts right" and -- that this is important. (As an aside, during his keynote the name for Factual Fiction was conceived: if we could get the facts right a "New Mars" in the public's imagination might lead to a rethinking of humans to Mars.)

"Exploration is not a luxury we can't afford; it's a necessity we can't afford to lose. Pushing farther into the unknown is our greatest endeavor as a civilization and our deepest responsibility to future generations." Near-term, realistic -- without aliens, laser, or guns -- someday James Cameron will change the way we think about Mars. No doubt there are many right now saying, "Come on Cameron!"

The follow are excerpts from his Mars Society keynote address:

"People are always saying ... we need to solve our problems right here on Earth before we go spending money out in space. It makes me want to vomit frankly. [applause!]

Check back in five hundred or a thousand years. People will still be talking about all the problems that need to be solved. We are never going to reach some utopian plateau where everything is solved so we can then, with lordly confidence, look around us for worlds to conquer as some kind of hobby. Not spreading ourselves outward into the solar system now, when we have the capability to do so, is one of the problems we have to be solving right here on Earth. [more applause]

We are really at a turning point. Go forward, or go back. By stopping, by stagnating, we go back. I look around at the turn of the millennium and see a prosperous, powerful, technologically unparalleled society which, collectively, has no purpose but to feather its own nest. It is a goal-less, rudderless society, dedicated to increasing security and creature comforts.

Our children are raised in a world without heroes. [!!!!!!!!!!]

They are led to believe that heroism consists of throwing a football the furthest, getting the most hangtime during a slam dunk, or selling the most movie tickets with your looks and boyish charm. This is not heroism, and these are not valid tests of our mettle as an intelligent race.

Young kids need something to dream about, something to measure their value system against. They live in a sea of mind-numbing inputs, a point-and-shoot videogame world where it is hip to not care, where death and violence have no meaning, where leaders are morally bankrupt, and where the scientific quest for understanding is sooo not cool.

Going to Mars is not a luxury we can't afford ... it is a necessity we can't afford to be without."

AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory
http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/cameron_why_mars_825.html

Bold "Can Do" Engineers vs Timid Lowbrow Cowards

2009-10-05T04:37:00.000-07:00

"MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. LOW WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG HOURS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS. SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOUR AND RECOGNITION IN EVENT OF SUCCESS."

(ad proactively taken out by Shackleton in London papers)

Bizarre lunar scientists -- academics who have NEVER cut metal, much less designed human-rated missions -- take it upon themselves to advocate "testing Marian hardware on the moon, first." This is cowardly and unacceptable.

It is astonishing lunar scientists -- some of whom actually refer to the moon as a "planet" -- are quick to declare the utility of Martian ISRU "practice" on the moon, effectively misleading the public into thinking Lunar architectures are applicable to Martian missions.

Pause should be taken when funds for other NASA programs (such as far-side L2 radio telescopes and robotic missions to Europa) are squandered in this bizarre angle to the Mars/Moon debate; an entire Mars base can be chilled in vacuum chambers at Ames for 1/1,000th the cost of Mars simulation on the moon. This would be safer, provide greater testing opportunities, and release funding for many other beautiful endeavors NASA ought to pursue in addition to Martian settlement.

We will settle Mars and the rest of our solar system without lunar overhead, without lunar rovers, without lunar habs, lunar SBSP, lunar greenhouses, lunar life support, lunar recycling, lunar space elevators...or any lunar nonsense. Mars is the only location in our solar system with enough native resources to support a thriving society of initially ten to twenty, then tens of thousands, then finally hundreds of millions. (For Martian settlement there is no need to transport elements and basic resources from Earth as would need to be done for even mere lunar "research facilities".)

Settlement of Mars will start when -- and only when -- human beings like us (you, friendly reader) decide humans must settle Mars. Not for profit, not for resources, not even for science -- but to settle Mars. Permanently.

A lunar "colony" dependent upon the scientific literacy of an American president does not qualify humanity as spacefaring. The moon will never have a kindergarten, and, being only two days from Maui, will always be susceptible to abandonment and closure. Apart from a few bored and boring grad students dreaming of surfing on Earth, odd tourists out for a gosh and golly stroll, and robot repairpersons with family in Houston, humans will never return the moon. NEVER.

THE PROBLEM WITH 'MOON FIRST' LIES IN THE PERSONALITIES OF MOON FIRST ADVOCATES

Personality infuses most engineering solutions. There ought to be a term for the personality component of engineering. Two engineers can reach the same goal but through different means, simply because of decisions which can only be ascribed to individual personalities. Engineers may even advocate slightly different goals attainable with the same tools, etc., for no other reason than ultimately their personalities. One engineer might be risk-adverse, another impatient with bureaucrats and overseers; one may favor small steps, another bold insightful leaps-of-confidence...each may even achieve the same results, possibly within the same cost and risk parameters, but, through very, very different means...reflective of their individual personalities.

For example, given the task of driving across the country "as soon as possible" two engineers might accomplish this in very different ways: one might map the trip by hand using a florescent highlighter, call ahead to make hotel reservations, even plan restaurant stops days in advance. He or she may create a multi-page itinerary in triplicate, backed up online, and programmed into an audio GPS device. All of course pre-approved by someone else. Another engineer might just toss some clothes, a laptop, and an iPhone in the car and take off -- assuming gas stations and hotels will be there when needed. The first person takes three weeks to plan the trip, the other arrives in three days.

No objectively quantifiable mathematical formulas involved -- each trip is almost entirely a reflection of personality. There ought to be useful, working terms to describe this phenomenon: an engineer's own personal sense of adventure and courage affecting engineering solutions.

Psychology plays an especially important role in mission planning. Moon First advocates succumb to a 1950s fantasy of "If in Space then a Base." This combines with "Closer is Safer" to create a vortex from which lowbrow unambitious engineers seem unable to escape. Lunar advocates dismiss "Mars-In-My-Lifetime" as exhibiting an unwarranted sense of "entitlement." Instead they are proud to conceive of Moon First missions as "realistic, pragmatic, small steps" not dependent upon "exciting" public support. Each side sincerely wants humanity to become a spacefaring species..."as soon as possible." (Institutional and cultural inertia -- such as job security and personal reputation -- affects advocates on both sides.)

Those on the side of Mars First contend that a Mars mission must be conceived of as a Settlement Mission, from the start: with a 180 day transit there can be no "Flags and Footprints" mission to Mars. The end goal of settling Mars is not to engender public "excitement about space" but: to settle Mars. To go to Mars -- we must go to Mars. Now.

Once we go, we should stay. As former Lunar Astronaut Buzz Aldrin -- now a vocal Mars First advocate of "Mars to Stay" -- has said, "They need to go there more with the psychology of knowing that you are a pioneering settler and you don't look forward to going back home again after a couple a years. At age 30, they are given an opportunity. If they accept, then we train them, at age 35, we send them. At age 65, who knows what advances have taken place. They can retire there, or maybe we can bring them back." The full article may be read at Universe Today: http://www.universetoday.com/2008/10/23/aldrin-mars-pioneers-should-not-return-to-earth/

Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works -- Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs -- was the most successful, intellectually ambitious, courageous team of engineers ever assembled. Kelly understood the psychological component of engineering solutions.

Unfortunately academia does not teach proactive alpha action -- in fact, the type of people who are attracted to and thrive in academia are repulsed by alphas, afraid of action, and would much rather teach formulas and testable procedures than the Personality of Competence.

Fortunately Kelly wrote an autobiography to contextualize Skunk Works principles for posterity. The basic operating rules of a Skunk Works are:

1. The Skunk Works manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. He should report to a division president or higher.

2. Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry.

3. The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people (10 percent to 25 percent compared to the so-called normal systems).

4. A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided.

5. There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly.

6. There must be a monthly cost review covering not only what has been spent and committed but also projected costs to the conclusion of the program. Don’t have the books ninety days late and don’t surprise the customer with sudden overruns.

7. The contractor must be delegated and must assume more than normal responsibility to get good vendor bids for subcontract work on the project. Commercial bid procedures are very often better than military ones.

8. The inspection system as currently used by ADP, which has been approved by both the Air Force and Navy, meets the intent of existing military requirements and should be used on new projects. Push more basic inspection responsibility back to subcontractors and vendors. Don’t duplicate so much inspection.

9. The contractor must be delegated the authority to test his final product in flight. He can and must test it in the initial stages. If he doesn’t, he rapidly loses his competency to design other vehicles.

10. The specifications applying to the hardware must be agreed to in advance of contracting. The ADP practice of having a specification section stating clearly which important military specification items will not knowingly be complied with and reasons therefore is highly recommended.

11. Funding a program must be timely so that the contractor doesn’t have to keep running to the bank to support government projects.

12. There must be a mutual trust between the military project organization and the contractor, with very close cooperation and liaison on a day-to-day basis. This cuts down misunderstanding and correspondence to an absolute minimum.

13. Access by outsiders to the project and its personnel must be strictly controlled by appropriate security measures.

14. Because only a few people will be used in engineering and most other areas, ways must be provided to reward good performance by pay not based on the number of personnel supervised.

“The Skunk Works" wrote Kelly Johnson, "is a concentration of a few good people solving problems far in advance – and at a fraction of the cost – of other groups in the aircraft industry by applying the simplest, most straightforward methods possible to develop and produce new projects. All it is really is the application of common sense to some pretty tough problems.”

A PDF of Chapter 16 from Kelly's autobiography -- the section in which he writes explicitly about Skunk Works -- may be downloaded here:

http://www.titlesequences.com/mac/resources/docs/lets_start_skunkin.pdf

Mars advocates are bored to tears with small-minded cowards telling them "if we were just less ambitious" we would already be (languishing) on the moon; or "if we didn't try to get the public excited about space" we would recognize the small pragmatic steps necessary to become spacefaring as a species. There is NOTHING pragmatic about spending another fifty years and hundreds of billions of dollars going no where but LEO/Luna. Especially to satisfy the worries of those who succumb to lowbrow "If in Space then a closer base" fallacies.

THE MOON IS A SIREN'S CALL!

How to Silence "Moon First" Advocates

2009-09-30T01:36:00.000-07:00

Don't let the beer and pizza throw you off...this will happen before we return to the moon:

Without using or investing in the overhead of lunar hardware three entrepreneurs in twin Dragon Puffs connected by a Bigalow hab/radiation-shelter will spend a month drinking beer, eating cold pizza, and watching YouTube while floating to a Near Earth Asteroid. Upon arrival, since they are not unimaginative NASA bureaucrats, risk-adverse academics, or scientifically illiterate politicians they will toss the protocol for collecting regolith samples to the solar wind. Instead they will spend a week stuffing every nook and crevice of their craft with regolith, sorted or not, while inflating massive canisters filled with a slurry of volatiles and PGMs set to drift slowly on their own way to L1.

Then these three will do something truly remarkable, something which will be the:

THE SINGLE MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENT IN SPACE DURING OUR LIFETIMES

They will transfer their beer and buddies from the Dragon with a cushion base which had landed on the asteroid to the Dragon and Hab which had been hanging out in orbit a slight distance away. Following that, once the beer is safely ensconced, they will use duct-tape, velcro, and a few spare shoelaces to patch up whatever wear-and-tear the Dragon lander may have experienced. Then, just before heading for home, they will initiate the What-the-Heck-Let's-Give-It-A-Shot-Before-We-Sober-Up procedure: remotely tilt the unmanned Dragon lander with a cushion base on its side, and, as if it were an undersea craft slowly floating across a reef, drift it horizontally to one of the many massive multistory mountain sized boulders strewn across the asteroid surface. After carefully resting its landing cushion perpendicular to the boulder they will gradually apply more pressure until velocities increase from centimeters per hour to kilometers per hour and so on, gently pushing a mountain of PGMs and volatiles to L1. --Without fancy recycling systems, without special equipment, and certainly without anything associated with the moon.

Our 3 half-witted heroes will have accomplished 2 things, with or without NASA. They will always be able to buy beer and -- apart from fantasy future He3 -- no one will ever mention lunar resources again. With vast resources at L1 we will finally concentrate on Mars settlement. Dedicated Earth-based simulation of exact Martian thermal, atmospheric, and solar conditions will provide more realistic evaluation of Martian architectures than extremely expensive, unnecessarily dangerous "Martian/ISRU practice" on the moon; future construction and refueling of GEO satellites/interplanetary craft will be much more easily accomplished at L1 than on the moon.

Key points to remember:

(1) Transit to an asteroid will take between only two weeks to at most two months.

(2) An asteroid studded with enormous surface boulders can be sufficiently assayed robotically prior to the two week period astronauts would work at the asteroid.

(3) Costs are extremely low without lunar overhead, landers, etc; Delta V fuel requirements are minimal since there is no landing or relaunch (the entire operation takes place in Zero G).

(4) Extensive separation of asteroid material can take place on the boulder at L1 and LEO, leisurely, long after the retrieval mission.

(5) Once even a single PGM asteroid fragment with volatiles is at L1 discussion of Lunar resources becomes absurd.

With massive NEA resources at L1 Moon First advocates will return to arguing for a moon base "for the sake of a moon base." It will have no value other than to hinder our progress further into the solar system. If you don't like Mars, drop it -- that does not need to be part of the equation. Just work with a massive amount of profitable PGM/volatiles at L1 -- between the Earth and the moon -- and pet projects involving lunar rovers, lunar greenhouses, lunar overhead of all kinds will be seen as irrelevant.

Mars seems to be a convenient distraction, a strawman, an excuse lunar scientists use to not discuss Near Earth Asteroids.

The cool thing about this debate though is that it doesn't matter what we decide, since, for-profit mechanisms will create a L1 NEA resource depot before anyone returns to the moon -- by the sheer force of informed capital.
Once massive amounts of precious metals and volatiles are already at L1 it becomes ridiculous to speak of transporting "asteroid debris" in the lunar regolith to L1, or, constructing equipment or fuel depots on the moon. It is much, much easier in terms of equipment overhead and fuel to coast out to NEAs than to land and launch from the lunar surface -- especially for any serious amount of resources.
In the August '09 issue of Ad Astra, Denis Wingo -- who has earned admiration as a tireless advocate of entrepreneurial space exploration -- writes of a future landing expedition finding on the surface of the moon a large PGM boulder remaining from an asteroid impact. The purpose of the above Dragon Puff story is to point out that if a similar -- albeit even much larger boulder -- were found on the surface of an asteroid (they are studded with such structures) it would be much easier to transport the boulder to and use it at L1 than to engage resources for similar purposes on the moon. --Especially given that this could be done by entrepreneurs without either lunar overhead or heavy lift or even NASA approval.
If a massive PGM rock is sitting at L1 then lunar resources become irrelevant to ANYTHING we do in space, anywhere -- even, ironically, ON THE MOON. We would actually mine the piece of the asteroid at L1 for resources to be used on the moon. LOL : ) Now THAT is funny!
Eventually we will construct many of the heavier components of robotic moon-based infrared telescopes at L1...future far side L2 radio telescopes in zero G will be constructed and repaired at L1. The moon will not have an extensive permanent human presence until Mars has been definitively settled.
The moon is a Siren's Call.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090902-orion-asteroid-mission.html

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/nasas-manned-mi.html
http://www.space.com/news/061116_asteroid_nasa.html
http://www.universetoday.com/2008/05/06/nasa-considers-manned-asteroid-mission/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_Transport_Network
[graphics thanks to Nick Kaloterakis]

The Mars Foundation: "To Arrive, Survive, and Thrive"

2009-09-29T01:13:00.000-07:00

Near-term, reliant upon only contemporary technology and human ingenuity, engineers, planetary scientists, and architects work together through the Mars Foundation to create blueprints for our species to permanently settle and thrive on another planet, now.

Plans extend from first footfall to dirt covered surface habs to mountain side settlements. The ultimate goal of the project is to design, fund, and build a thriving, growing, permanent settlement on Mars. The initial goal for the Mars Homestead Project is to identify the core technologies needed for an economical, growing Mars Base built primarily with local materials. Efforts will then be focused on prototype projects of increasing sophistication. These include the selection of existing off-the-shelf equipment which could be used on Mars and the construction of prototypes of new technologies.

Below and above are images of interiors of the tubular surface living quarters and greenhouses expected to be used during the first decade of settlement.

The image below, by Phil Smith, depicts a large, open, multi-story masonry structure located deep within hillsides. Natural sunlight is directed into this area from lightpipes above. A Mars settler leans on the bamboo rail and takes in the view, which includes lush greenery and wide open spaces.

Areas of expertise include: Materials, Structures, Mechanical Systems, Architecture, Agriculture, Nutrition, Process/PSSS, Electrical Systems, I&C, Data/Telecom, EHS, IE, Mars Geology/Topography, Space Transportation, Spacesuits, Systems Integration, and many others.

Some locally derived materials have been examined for initial settlement construction. These materials include locally produced fiberglass - wound on site, metals, masonry - either for un-pressurized shelter or covered with regolith to hold the pressure, polyethylene & other polymers made from ethylene from the CO2 atmosphere, and any plant products - especially if a byproduct of food growth. The MHP team continues to evaluate these options as well as a number of potential alternatives.

If you would like to join their team or help in any way please visit The Mars Foundation's site at: http://marshome.org/

2009-09-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

"...the machine was only the place in which the human spirit, human curiosity, and human endeavor dwelt"

"It wasn’t the machine itself that we loved: the metals, the mechanisms, the scientific equipment." Joi says of the Pheonix Mars Explorer's Twitter followers, "It was the human spirit that had sent it there, so many miles from our home, not for profit or war or necessity, but simply because there was a chance to discover something we’d never known before."

Joi Weaver is a space enthusiast and copywriter for an international women's organization. She amuses her coworkers by keeping a pair of 3D glasses in her purse at all times, just in case new analglyphs are posted while she is at work. Her perspective on Mars is refreshing and contemporary. "The dream isn’t about finding aliens, or seeing ancient Martian cities, or any of the specifics from the books and stories. The dream is the Red Planet itself, that bright shining dot in the night sky, the cold barren world of shifting sands and sublimating ice. The dream doesn’t die with the discovery of fact; the dream is the power behind that discovery."

We will soon have a section of this site dedicated to serialized excerpts from on-going projects of various writers from the Mars Artists community. In the meantime, enjoy more of Joi's writing on her blog "Dreamer of Mars" and in the following:

In honor of the Mars Phoenix, now silent in the Martian winter.

The frigid wind whipped the icy sand against her helmet as she rounded the small rock outcropping. She staggered for a moment before regaining her balance and pushed forward. Her communicator crackled.
“Eagle1, you ok out there?”
She activated the transmitter, and responded.
“Everything’s fine out here, Eagle2. Just a few more metres.”
“Better hurry. They’re talking about calling you back. They don’t know if you’ll be able to stay in contact once you get there.”
“The only way they’re getting me to come back is to come after me themselves.”
The signal crackled, and faded. She assumed Williams had signed off, and pressed forward.

A glint sparkled momentarily through the dust. She squinted, and adjusted the polarization of her visor. The Martian landscape was still bare here near the poles: no-one had yet found it profitable to construct a dome this far north. Her communicator crackled again.
“Eagle1, report.”
“Eagle2, I think I’ve found the site. Gotta get closer to check.”
“Eagle1, you have been ordered to return to your vehicle and begin the return to base.”
“With all due respect, Eagle2, screw you.”
“Why is this *crackle* important to you? It’s a beatup piece of junk. Went 90 days, then a few more 2 years later, then silence. Even if you find it, it’s of no use to us. *crackle* obsolete 75 years ago.”

She could now see a small structure half buried in dust and ice. The distant sun glinted sharply off several of its surfaces. Though her suit was fully heated, she felt a chill go down her spine.

“Eagle2, my grandmother was one of the people who used the original primitive network. She loved it. She had friends all over the world. She followed the progress of this one. She used to tell me stories, about how she would get excited to see what this machine was doing each day, to look at the pictures it sent from hundreds of millions of miles away. When she told about how it was settling in to freeze in 2008, and the messages that were posted about it…she still got tears in her eyes. It meant something to her.”

A long silence settled in, and she pushed her way the last few feet. Reaching out a hand, she brushed a bit of dust from the surface, and felt an electric thrill as her gloved fingers came in contact with the ancient artifact.

“*crackle* over a machine?!”
She smiled, as she rested a hand on the cold, ancient metal. “No. It wasn’t the machine. She said the machine was only the place in which the human spirit, human curiousity, and human endeavor dwelt. Here they were, just learning to reach out to each other, but they still wanted the stars. Think of the time and learning and brilliance it took to put this here. And they flung it out into the stars, knowing it would cease, knowing it would die alone on a distant planet…and they did it anyway.”

With a click, she silenced the communicator. She would deal with Base in a minute. She caressed the metal, and smiled.

"We came back for you."

The wind whistled.

"Phoenix."

The Single Most Influential Visual Mars Artist

2009-09-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

Carter Emmart is human, check out his Facebook profile picture. Looks like a fun guy climbing out on his monkey tree. Most of us don't bother to climb, content to spend our lives waiting for permission even to live. As a space advocate with his own understanding of 'professional,' Dr. Emmart has become a legendary figure in the space advocacy community: no one has been more influential in promoting humans to Mars through art than Carter Emmart.

No one.

An original founder of the Mars Underground while at the University of Colorado, Carter Emmart has been Director of Astrovisualization at NYC's Hayden Planetarium since the late 1990s. He has collaborated with visualization teams from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and the San Diego Supercomputer Center.

The American Natural History Museum's full dome space shows are now playing in world wide distribution. Emmart, who previously worked at NASA Ames Research Center and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, received his BA in geophysics from the University of Colorado where he was an organizer of the Case for Mars Conference series.

Realistic. Near-term. Human. If you are interested in Mars you have almost certainly seen his definitive, archetypical drawings. Created before CG -- black and white, in pencil -- they still inspire like no others. Their informed, educational, scientifically literate themes set a standard in Mars Art to which all Mars Artists in any medium aspire.

The above artwork is from the book, "Strategies for Mars: A Guide to Human Exploration", a textbook on the issues associated with the human settlement of Mars. Edited by Carol Stoker (NASA Ames Research Center) and Carter Emmart (then at the National Center for Atmospheric Reseach), this ground-breaking text draws together twenty-six individually authored chapters by noted authorities in fields considered crucial for understanding human settlement of Mars.

This book was originally suggested as an idea by the former Thomas O. Paine, NASA administrator from 1968-1970, and Chairman of the National Commission on Space, 1986. He died in 1992, leaving as his last work, a chapter for this book. His design for the Mars flag is shown on the cover being raised by his grandson.

Directed by Carter Emmart, Journey to the Stars is an engrossing, immersive theater experience created by the American Natural History Museum’s astrophysicists, scientific visualization, and media production experts with the cooperation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and more than 40 leading scientists from the United States and abroad.

Featuring extraordinary images from telescopes on the ground and in space and stunning, never-before-seen visualizations of physics-based simulations, the dazzling new Journey to the Stars launches visitors through space and time to experience the life and death of the stars in our night sky, including our own nurturing Sun. Tour familiar stellar formations, explore new celestial mysteries, and discover the fascinating, unfolding story that connects us all to the stars. Those who come along for the journey may never see the night sky in the same way again.

Journey to the Stars, narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg, premiered on July 4, 2009, in the Hayden Planetarium at the Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space. More information may be found here: http://www.amnh.org/rose/spaceshow/journey/

On your personal computer, straight from the Haden, you can also begin a personal expedition of our magical Galaxy, here: http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/universe/download/

"The Space Show," hosted by Dr. David Livingston, interviewed Carter Emmart in 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUnGYKcvTLY

And of course a collection of Carter Emmart's original drawings may be viewed here: http://spot.colorado.edu/~marscase/emmart.html

A hundred years from now Martians living in a thriving vibrant human community will ask what motivated Mars settlement. Who wrote the pictures with a thousand words? Carter Emmart.

Three Weeks Old, Fourteen Hundred Visitors

2009-09-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

From Frisco to Fermi, from Seoul to CERN, Hollywood to Bollywood...with JAXA, ESA, and every major NASA institution, contractor, and subcontractor thrown in..SpaceX included..Mars Artsists is off to a running start.

Not too shabby thanks to you!

2009-08-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

"Strange to think a single rose-pink snowflake"

To make Mars a living place, a real place, a part of our world with meaning -- the poetry of Stuart Atkinson will guide you. Heartfelt and informed, his poetry touches our human mind and soul.

If you are an artist searching new visions, let the words of an astronomer dedicated to educating the public about Mars speak to you, teach you, and share their wisdom. "It’s not science that will get the public to support a manned mission to Mars," argues Atkinson, "It’s all about life."

To bring a supposedly foreign place so close, to make it so real, approachable, and full of hope; not something to be feared but met with in wonderment, in celebration, is the work of a Mars Artist. Mars can become as familiar as the mysteries we face every day on Earth -- this is a poet's gift. This is Art in its most important, vital, human form. This is the role of Mars Artists. Our minds need passionately to eat of Stuart Atkinson's "cinnamon-dusted crust."

"I watched the Augustine meeting on NASA TV and there was pretty little passion there when you consider we're essentially talking about nothing less than mapping out the future of mankind's expansion out into space."

Hundreds of years from now humans living on Mars will wonder what we thought of their home.

They will read the poems of Stuart Atkinson.

Look Out Below…

Strange to think a single rose-pink snowflake

floating from the frigid polar sky could have been

the start. Settling on the silent ice as softly as a sigh,

pressing on the white-capped scarp just hard

enough to send a tickle of a tremor

through its gateau-like layers of rock

it shocked the sleeping stones awake,

setting them shivering and quivering just enough

to shake loose a crust of ochre-dusted snow

and send it tumbling to the world below,

blossoming into powder puffs as it scuffed

each ledge and boulder on the way,

spraying veils of flour-fine ice into the

vacuum-thin air before crumping

into the polar plain and billowing away

from the high cliff’s crumbling base…

Imagine walking in the Great Wall shadow

of that scarp; delighting in the flint-sharp polar light,

rejoicing in the silence, relishing the peace

when suddenly the ground beneath your feet

begins to quake, and looking up

you see snow flaking off the cliff. Soon rocks and grit

a thousand shades of pink and red

are falling from the sky – a dry waterfall

of icing sugar frost and pollen-fine dust,

rushing through the air to strike the ground

without a sound in a martian mare’s tail cloud

of tan and titian fines that huffs and puffs

towards you, a slow-motion Barsoomian tsunami

as weak as the beating of a faerie’s wing…

Such sights our eyes will never see,

and I cannot help but envy those who, in the future, do.

Fall further in love with Mars here:

http://astropoetry.wordpress.com/

Highlights of an Inspiring Mars Society Debate

2009-08-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

What would Zheng He do?

2009-08-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

Lunar Astronaut Buzz Aldrin came out in favor of the HEROIC "Mars to Stay" mission architecture! Thank God!!

"They need to go there more with the psychology of knowing that you are a pioneering settler and you don't look forward to go back home again after a couple a years," Aldrin said. But that's not to say they'll never return to Earth. Years down the line, there may be the opportunity for a return mission, depending on technological advancements. "At age 30, they are given an opportunity. If they accept, then we train them, at age 35, we send them. At age 65, who knows what advances have taken place. They can retire there, or maybe we can bring them back."

The full article may be read at Universe Today:

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/10/23/aldrin-mars-pioneers-should-not-return-to-earth/

Zheng He was the 13th Century HEROIC Chinese admiral of the largest expeditionary fleet assembled for hundreds of years following his time. Shortly after his death the ships which had carried him to Africa, India, and beyond were burned in their docks by a new reactionary Ming emperor. Within a hundred years Christopher Columbus had discovered America and China began its slow decline into tribute to foreign powers.

In China, 11 July is Maritime Day (中国航海日), devoted to the memory of Zheng He's first voyage. For more about Zheng He, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He

Additional free designs and their authoring files may be found here:

http://www.titlesequences.com/mac/public_downloads.html

Frustration with the Augustine Committee

2009-08-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

The Augustine Committee seems to be embracing heavy lift but oriented toward a space program of lunar missions, with Mars seen as an eventual objective in the indeterminate future. This is a serious mistake. If anyone reading this blog ever wants Mars to be explored, much less settled, in their lifetime, America must not only develop a heavy lift vehicle such as the Space X Falcon 9 Heavy, or the Ares 5, but, the program must be oriented specifically toward Mars -- not the moon. The moon is a siren call. Mars is an entirely different environment capable of supporting human civilization en mass. With a 24 hour day, vast quantities of water, and all the essential elements found on Earth, Mars offers humanity a permanent second home. Martian exploration will use aeroshells, parachutes, and on site refueling; thermal, pressure, and gravitational environments are entirely different between Mars and the Moon. Lunar equipment and procedures will not evolve into Mars missions.

Asteroid mining and Martian settlement will provide the engine humanity needs to sustain a permanently expanding frontier. Mars Direct is a low cost straightforward way to settle Mars. Now!

The Mars Society is an international organization committed to this moral imperative. Products with variations of the "Cowards Return to the Moon" theme can be purchased at cost from Factual Fiction's online store.

While such a populist theme may seem blunt, rude, or whatever, over the last decade of involvement in space advocacy we've observed a remarkably consistent dichotomy between persons involved in the space community: old political timid bureaucrats predictably favor lunar exploration, with their excuse being "safety, proximity to earth"; bold young creative entrepreneurs OVERWHELMINGLY favor Mars Direct, with their rally cry being, "LET'S GO!"

This dichotomy is so consistent, obvious, and predictable a simple biological solution to change American space policy suggests itself: testosterone replacement therapy. No kidding. It is time to view lunar exploration with disdain. Heroes go to Mars. Cowards return to the moon!!!!

Welcome to the Mars Artists Community

2009-08-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

Enough is enough: artists can make Martian exploration and settlement favorable to languishing in LEO or cowardly returning to the moon...simply by making the coolest, most cutting-edge, professional space imagery -- ENTIRELY -- Mars-centric.

The idea is to establish a model library copyrighted solely for creation of Mars imagery -- but, otherwise open to use by any contributing artist or studio. Since 3D modeling is extremely labor intensive an artists' cooperative centered upon developing Martian vehicles, habitats, and astronauts, will lower the cost of high-quality creative iterations by artists taking advantage of free Mars Only models. With a library of easily modified Mars Only models, through trial and error of creative processes, Mars Only productions will evolve to be of higher-quality, more pervasive, expressive, and cool!

This is in addition to the self-selection of artists who realize a Mars-oriented space exploration program -- NOW! -- is much more desirable than one languishing in LEO or returning to the moon. Not only will the most informed artists work on Mars-Only models -- but, they will work together for a greater cause: the promotion of Martian exploration and settlement over the bureaucratic intertia of dream-crushing Lunar/LEO bullshit.

Eventually we will have our own website, blog, and online Mars-Only library, but, in the meantime checkout MarsSociety.org and send us a message if you are interested in hearing more or contributing: Inspired@FactualFiction.com

(By the way we call the above rover "Temerity None." Tesla Experimental Motors Excursion Rover I___ T___ Yeti...or something like that.)