The Mars Society is excited to announce that Howard Hu, the Orion Program Director at NASA, will be a plenary speaker at the 27th Annual International Mars Society Convention, taking place at the University of Washington from August 8-11, 2024. Hu will discuss “NASA’s Artemis plans for returning to the Moon and beyond”. As the leader of the Orion Program, Mr. Hu oversees the development of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which is designed for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. He… READ MORE >
Topic Area: Lunar Exploration
Calling all Mars and space advocates! Mark your calendars for the 2024 International Mars Society Convention, taking place Thursday, August 8th through Sunday, August 11th at the University of Washington campus (The HUB) in Seattle. This annual event, now in its 27th year, remains the premier global gathering focused on Mars exploration, human settlement planning, and cutting-edge space-related topics. The convention will bring together a diverse array of experts including scientists, engineers, aerospace executives, policymakers, journalists, and space enthusiasts to discuss humanity’s… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is excited and honored to welcome back to its Red Planet Live (RPL) podcast Leonard David, a veteran journalist with over 50 years of experience covering space-related news stories for a variety of media sources, including Space.com, The Financial Times, Foreign Policy, Astronomy, Space News, Sky & Telescope and his own blog, Inside Outer Space. Scheduled for a live one-hour broadcast on Tuesday, March 19th at 5:00 pm PT / 8:00 pm ET, Leonard will join our… READ MORE >
Former NASA Chief Scientist Dr. James Green will join Red Planet Live host Ashton Zeth on Tuesday, April 18th (5:00 pm PT / 8:00 pm ET) for a one-hour discussion about exploring Mars and the solar system, a return to the Moon via the Artemis program, the search for life, and much more. Dr. Green worked at the U.S. space agency for 42 years before retiring in December 2022. During his long career at NASA, he held the position of Chief Scientist and was… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Maria Antonietta Perino, Thales Alenia Space Italia’s Director of Space Economy Exploration & International Network, will be making a virtual presentation entitled “Exploration: From LEO to the Moon and Mars” during the 24th Annual International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for October 14-17. Ms. Perino joined Thales Alenia Space Italia in 1986, where she has been responsible for the major programs related to Moon and Mars exploration for the Italian Space Agency and… READ MORE >
The 23rd Annual International Mars Society Convention, an online virtual event involving some of the world’s top leaders and experts on Mars and space exploration, begins tomorrow (Oct. 15th) and runs through Sunday (Oct. 18th). With 150 speakers and over 5,000 people registered to attend, the four day global conference will bring together key scientists, commercial space executives, government policymakers and space advocates to discuss the latest scientific developments and challenges related to the exploration of Mars and the eventual… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is very pleased to announce that Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator, will be joining us virtually during the 23rd Annual International Mars Society Convention on Saturday, October 17th at 10:00 am PST (1:00 pm EST, 18:00 GMT) to give an update on “NASA’s plans for the Moon and Mars.” Mr. Bridenstine assumed the leadership of NASA in April 2018 and quickly launched an initiative to renew lunar exploration via the Artemis program, with plans to land the first… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to welcome Yonatan Winetraub, Co-Founder of SpaceIL, a $100 million Israeli non-profit organization that attempted to land Beresheet, the first private interplanetary robotic mission, on the Moon in April 2019, as a virtual speaker during the 23rd Annual International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for October 15-18. Established in 2011, SpaceIL was founded to answer the international challenge presented by Google Lunar XPRIZE – to build, launch and land an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon. In… READ MORE >
By Dr. Robert Zubrin, The Space Review, July 6, 2020 The following memo was sent by the author to NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine and Scott Pace, executive secretary of the National Space Council, on June 30, 2020. A mission equivalent to Apollo 8—call it “Artemis 8”—could be done, potentially as soon as this year, using Dragon, Falcon Heavy, and Falcon 9. The basic plan is to launch a crew to low Earth orbit in Dragon using a Falcon 9. Then… READ MORE >
By Robert Zubrin & Homer Hickam, Washington Post, 06.22.20 The success last month of the SpaceX Dragon’s flight to the International Space Station was the first time in nearly a decade that Americans traveled into space aboard an American vehicle launched from U.S. soil. That is important, but we think the flight actually means even more. This commercially developed spacecraft has given our nation the means to carry crews to the moon — and perhaps beyond — much faster and cheaper than has… READ MORE >
On behalf of myself and the Mars Society, I’d like to take the occasion of Buzz Aldrin’s 90th birthday to thank him for his heroic role in piloting the first human landing on the Moon and for all the work he has done since then to make sure that occasion wasn’t only the epic achievement of its time, but indeed, “a giant leap for all mankind.” Happy birthday Buzz! We look forward to honoring your 100th with the first “small… READ MORE >