Author: James Burk

Posts by James Burk

History as a Bridge Between Worlds

By Evan Plant-Weir The scope and scale of Mars settlement is so significant that it can defy our intuitions. Generally speaking, thinking about endeavours on this scale does not come naturally to us. Especially for those that are new to the idea, it can feel detached from practical reality. The trick to shrinking this unwieldy concept down into an accessible format, is found by thinking a little bigger. We have to consider it within the broader context of history. In… READ MORE >

No, Mars is not a Hellhole [Blog]

By Evan Plant-Weir For the past few weeks, an article has been circulating throughout the Mars science and exploration community that serves as a sharp reminder of how much work remains to be done in educating the public (and apparently journalists) on the subject of the red planet. ‘Mars Is a Hellhole’ seemingly aims to characterize the objective of a long term human presence on Mars as folly. By couching scary-sounding Mars factoids within a blatantly ad hominem swipe at… READ MORE >

MarsVR Video Update 1

The MarsVR team has released their first Video Update for the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. In this video, James Burk (Director/IT, Mars Society) and Jeff Rainer (CEO MXTReality) talk about the goals for the project and answer some of the questions that have come in. We have passed four thousand dollars through the support of 46 backers who have pledged at one of the available donation levels.  MarsVR will deliver a stunning experience to schools, museums, the public and our future… READ MORE >

Beyond Luna

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

Mars Society Launches New Indiegogo Crowdfunding for MarsVR Project to Support Humans-to-Mars

The Mars Society, the world’s largest space advocacy organization dedicated to the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars, is pleased to announce its new Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for our Mars Virtual Reality (MarsVR) project. Project Goals Our project will deliver a stunning Mars experience to schools, museums, the public and our future space explorers. The goals of the project are to create a high-quality virtual reality simulation of future human exploration of the Red Planet, as a tool… READ MORE >

Mars Society Announces New Monthly Blog – Red Planet Bound

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

To Mars, For Earth

By Evan Plant-Weir The assertion “we need to protect Earth” is almost invariably met with heartfelt agreement. The fragility of our ecosystem, and the part we have to play in caring for it is well understood. Our efforts (or lack thereof) on that project are justifiably a matter of debate and political action. We have a great deal of work to do, and some of us still need convincing but for the most part we get it; it’s up to… READ MORE >

Virgin Galactic’s George Whitesides to Speak at Mars Society Convention

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that George T. Whitesides, newly-appointed Chief Space Officer of Virgin Galactic, will give a virtual plenary talk at the 23rd Annual International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for October 15-18, 2020. A ten-year veteran of Virgin Galactic, Mr. Whitesides currently spearheads the development of future technologies, including high speed point to point travel and orbital travel. In addition, he serves as the Chair of the Virgin Galactic’s Space Advisory Board. Prior to this, he… READ MORE >

Mars Colony Design Contest Presentations Now On YouTube

Presentations are now online for all ten finalists in this year’s inaugural Mars Colony Design Contest, an international competition to design a thousand-person permanent settlement on Mars. The presentations were given during the recent International Mars Society Convention in Los Angeles on October 19, 2019. Several entries, including these ten, will be included in a special print book that the Mars Society is working to publish by late this year. Dr. Robert Zubrin, Mars Society President, announced that we will… READ MORE >

Mars Society Awards Prizes to Mars Colony Design Contest Winners

The Mars Society has awarded prizes to the top five winners in this year’s inaugural Mars Colony Design Contest, an international competition to design a thousand-person permanent settlement on Mars. Held during the recent 2019 Mars Society Convention in Los Angeles, the first place prize of $10,000 was awarded to the Star City team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a rendering of which you can see to the right. “We were blown away by the quality of the one… READ MORE >

Final Convention Schedule posted online

The final convention schedule is now available online. For more details about the 2019 International Mars Society Convention, including registration for the four-day conference (October 17-20) and evening banquet, visit our convention information page…. READ MORE >

Mars Society Now Accepts Donations in Bitcoin and other Digital Currencies

The Mars Society, the world’s largest non-profit dedicated to the human exploration of Mars, is pleased to announce that it is now able to accept Bitcoin and several other types of digital currencies as donations to further our goal of future human exploration and settlement of Mars. In addition, the organization is pleased to announce that it has received a large contribution of Marscoin, a digital currency similar to Bitcoin but focused on Mars. Additional donations of Bitcoin, Marscoin, Ethereum… READ MORE >

Making the moon and Mars possible

Commentary by Dr. Robert Zubrin, Founder and President of the Mars Society Originally published in SpaceNews’ Apollo at 50 digital edition On July 20, 1989, the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, President George H.W. Bush got up on the steps of the National Air and Space Museum flanked by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins and declared that in the tradition of their great feat, he was declaring that the United States would now set its… READ MORE >

Next generation of rovers comes to Poland

To see the Red Planet up close you do not have to book an expensive flight into space. You just have to join almost 400 contestants from five continents who will come to Kielce in September to take part in the final of the international Mars robots competition, the European Rover Challenge. Apart from observing the teams’ struggles, visitors can expect a very attractive Science and Technological Show Zone as well as lectures and workshops both for younger and older… READ MORE >

Finalists Selected for Mars Colony Prize Competition

Ten teams, including entrants from the USA, Russia, Poland, France, Switzerland and Sweden, have been selected out of a field of 100 competitors as finalists in the Mars Society’s Mars Colony Prize design contest. Here is the list including links to their presentations on YouTube: Team/Organization’s Name COUNTRY CrowdSpace Russia/USA Emerging Futures LLC USA Ideacity Poland Kent Nebergall USA LET IT BE France/Switzerland MIT – Star City USA Team Bubolaq USA Team Dvaraka Sweden Wesley Stine USA Wroclaw University of… READ MORE >

Mars Society Rolls Out New Web Site

Today is the day! The Mars Society is launching its new official web site! After months of hard work by our technical volunteers led by our IT Director, James Burk, we are excited to roll out the new version of our organization’s main web site, located at: www.marssociety.org. As we are sure you will notice, visitors will have quicker and easier access to our web pages and content. To the point, navigating just got a lot simpler! In addition to… READ MORE >