As the world’s largest space advocacy group dedicated to humans-to-Mars, the Mars Society has been bringing together for years leading scientists, commercial space executives, and government policymakers to discuss the latest news about exploring Mars and plans for a human mission to the Red Planet, as well as topics involving space exploration, science, and technology.
For the last two years, due to the pandemic, the organization’s international conference has been virtual only, resulting in a significant online audience. This year, the Mars Society leadership announced a return to its usual in-person convention, to be held Thursday-Sunday, October 20-23, 2022 at Arizona State University in Tempe (outside Phoenix).
In addition to being the first in-person event since 2019, the organization will also be marking its 25th year of convening the International Mars Society Convention, with exciting plenary talks, panel discussions, and public debates, as well as its special Saturday evening banquet.
Some of the key speakers will include:
- Pamela Melroy, NASA Deputy Administrator & Former Astronaut
- Peter Beck, Founder, CEO, & Chief Engineer, Rocket Lab
- Dr. Ezinne Uzo-Okoro, White House Assistant Director for Space Policy
- Dr. Marcia Rieke, Principal Investigator, James Webb Space Telescope, & Professor, Univ. of Arizona
- Dr. Albert Haldemann, Mars Chief Engineer, ESA
- Dr. Vandi Verma, NASA Chief Engineer, Robotics Operations, Perseverance Rover Mission
- Dylan Taylor, CEO, Voyager Space Holdings
- Dr. Jingnan Guo, Researcher, University of Science & Technology of China
- Dr. James Green, Former NASA Chief Scientist
- Maria Antonietta Perino, Director, Space Economy Exploration & Int’l Network, Thales Alenia Space
- Dr. Kris Zacny, Vice President, Exploration Systems, Honeybee Robotics
- Maraia Tanner, Founder, Star Harbor Academy (Colorado)
- Dr. Joe Michalski, Planetary Scientist, University of Hong Kong
- Dr. Robert Zubrin, Founder & President, The Mars Society
The four-day global conference will also feature a face off of the six finalists of the Telerobotic Mars Expedition Design Competition, whose teams were challenged to design a robotic flotilla that could be carried out using a human-class Mars surface lander with a 10-ton payload capacity, allowing the maximum possible science return while doing the most to prepare for human Mars missions to follow.
The Mars Society will also be convening a special panel discussion about its first recently concluded cohort of a groundbreaking educational program – “International Mission to Mars“, an engineering design class and competition for high school students from around the world. The initiative is modeled on the approach taken in engineering design courses at some of the world’s leading universities.
In addition to the usual convention programming, the organization will be convening a public panel discussion about “The Search for Life on Mars” with Dr. Steve Brenner, Jan Spacek, Dr. Robert Zubrin, and Dr. James Green, to be held – free of charge – at ASU (Tempe) on Thursday, October 20th (7pm MST). Online registration (via Eventbrite) is required.
For additional details about the 2022 International Mars Society Convention, including online registration, virtual viewing options, the preliminary program itinerary, and volunteering and sponsorship opportunities, please visit our web site – www.marssociety.org.
