The Mars Society is pleased to announce that it will be holding its 26th Annual International Mars Society Convention on October 5-8, 2023 at the same location as last year’s highly-attended event – Arizona State University in Tempe! The four-day international forum will bring together key scientists, commercial space executives, policymakers, members of the media, government representatives, and space advocates to discuss the leading issues of the day related to Mars, space exploration, technology advances, as well as political-economic developments… READ MORE >
Topic Area: The Mars Society
After the most competitive System Acceptance Review in University Rover Challenge (URC) history, a record 37 teams from 10 countries will compete at the URC2023 Finals, scheduled to be held June 1-3, 2023 at the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah! 104 teams (also a record) began the year competing for a coveted invitation to the URC Finals. Teams submitted both written reports as well as video demonstrations of their rovers, which were scored by URC’s… READ MORE >
Crew 275 – ISAE-Supaero (France) Crew Commander: Jeremy RabineauExecutive Officer / Crew Engineer: Quentin RoyerCrew Journalist: Marie DelarocheHealth & Safety Officer: Corentin SenauxCrew Botanist: Adrien TisonCrew Scientist: Alice ChapironCrew Astronomer: Alexandre Vinas Introduction Crew 275’s rotation on the MDRS campus marks the 10thh time that students from ISAE-Supaero perform research in this station. We are very proud of the progress made between Crew 151, when two Supaero students joined an existing crew, and today: a fully student-run crew, conducting research over… READ MORE >
We’re glad to announce that members of Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) Crew 269, led by their commander Dr. Kristine L. Ferrone, are set to appear on the next episode of the Mars Society’s Red Planet Live (RPL) podcast, scheduled for Tuesday, March 21st (5:00 pm PT / 8:00 pm ET). A monthly one-hour video podcast hosted by Ashton Zeth, RPL brings together the people instrumental in planning for the exploration and eventual settlement of the red planet, covering a… READ MORE >
By Jen Carver-Hunter, Veteran Educator, NASA Spaceward Bound Utah Spaceward Bound Utah (SWB) is a NASA-funded program at the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah. The purpose of SWB is to inspire future space explorers by providing a Mars analog experience for classroom teachers. Each SWB cohort brings together a group of 6-8 educators with varied professional experience from Utah, across the country, and even internationally. The most recent SWB cohort, Crew 271, spent an engaging,… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is sad to announce that long-time member and head & co-founder of the organization’s San Diego chapter Gerry Williams passed away on Friday, February 17th. An advocate of human spaceflight, Gerry was active in support of the goal of humans to Mars for decades in southern California, organizing chapter events, including a monthly Mars Movie Night, along with San Diego Vintage Sci-Fi and other film screenings at his studio and on location. As part of this, he… READ MORE >
It is with excitement that the Mars Society announces the promotion of Dr. Shannon Rupert from her long-time role as Director of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah, the world’s largest and longest-running Mars analog facility, to the newly created role of Senior Director of Analog Research for the Mars Society. In this new role, Dr. Rupert will oversee a new Remote Science Team that will support the MDRS analog crews and will lead our efforts to… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Sarah Milkovich of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be joining our one-hour Red Planet Live (RPL) video podcast with our new host Ashton Zeth on Tuesday, January 17, 2023 (5pm PST) to discuss current Mars robotic exploration as well as several Earth science projects she’s involved in for NASA. As a planetary geologist and systems engineer at JPL, Dr. Milkovich works on the Mars Perseverance Rover and with the Applied Earth Science Disasters program. She specializes in the science operations of robotic spacecraft,… READ MORE >
A new paper published by Andrew Terhorst & Jason A. Dowling in a leading science journal, Space: Science & Technology, cites our Mars Desert Research Station (Utah) as having published the second most peer-reviewed papers of any analog station around the world (with Mars-500 coming in first place) and with the MDRS facility having the most varied types of research. “The Mars-500 missions and the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) analogue generated the most peer-reviewed research publications (151 and 123 publications, respectively)…. READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce a number of opportunities to participate as part of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) Mission Support and/or Management Teams. There are plenty of opportunities to participate at MDRS other than as a crew member. If you would like to get involved in any capacity, or if any of the volunteer positions listed here interest you, please contact us. We would be delighted to have you join us. Remember, most of these volunteer… READ MORE >
Happy holidays from the Mars Society! We’d like to take a moment to celebrate our past year’s accomplishments and talk about our plans for 2023. We began the year by announcing the new Mars Society Ambassador Program. Over the course of this year, we have added over 50 Ambassadors from around the world. Led by Dr. James Melton, the Mars Society Ambassador program is meant to ramp up our outreach efforts as we work to inform, engage and inspire the… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Sarah Milkovich of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be joining our one-hour Red Planet Live (RPL) video podcast (hosted by Ashton Zeth) on Tuesday, January 17, 2023 (5pm PST) to discuss current Mars exploration as well as several Earth science projects she’s involved in for NASA. As a planetary geologist and systems engineer at JPL, Dr. Milkovich currently works on the Mars Perseverance Rover and with the Applied Earth Science Disasters… READ MORE >
The following is the final summary report of Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) Crew 269 (The Aerospace Corporation). A full review of the 2022-23 MDRS field season and crew activities will be presented at the 26th Annual International Mars Society Convention next year. The Aerospace Corporation Demo-1 Crew 269 Commander (CDR): Dr. Kristine Ferrone Executive Officer (XO): Allison Taylor Health & Safety Officer (HSO): Barbara Braun Crew Engineer (ENG): Ashley Kowalski Green Hab Officer (GHO): Matthew Eby Technology Officer (TECH): Trevor Jahn Crew 269… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Ashton Zeth will be serving as the new host of its video podcast, Red Planet Live (RPL), beginning in January 2023. The show will focus on a wide variety of topics, including Mars and space exploration, STEM education, technology, women in science, and much more, with exciting and open discussions involving experts in these respective fields. A Washington resident with experience in SaaS sales, strategic communications, business development, and public speaking, Ms…. READ MORE >
The Mars Society is calling for volunteers for a mission to reactivate its Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS). The FMARS is located on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic 900 miles from the North Pole in one of the most Mars-like environments on Earth. Since the early 2000’s, Mars mission simulations there have unmatched value in helping humans prepare to explore the Red Planet. The last mission to FMARS took place in the summer of 2017. The Mars Society… READ MORE >
Today is Giving Tuesday, an international day of charitable gifting occurring on the Tuesday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday (November 29th). As the world’s largest and most influential space advocacy group dedicated to humans-to-Mars, the Mars Society continues to lead the way in educating the public, the media, and government representatives on the benefits of exploring the Red Planet and creating a permanent human presence there. We invite you to watch a special video message from our executive director James… READ MORE >
MDRS Crew 268 was an all-woman multi-national mission sponsored by the Mars Society. Planning for this mission commenced in 2020, so we were excited to arrive at the Mars Desert Research Station on November 13th and begin the journey. Some crew members have had their sights set on MDRS as early as 2012! CrewCommander: Dr. Jennifer Hesterman (United States)Executive Officer/Scientist: Jas Purewal (United Kingdom)Health and Safety Officer: Elizabeth Balga (United States)Biologist & Greenhab Officer: Caitlyn Hubric (United States)Engineer: Judith Marcos… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is seeking applications from qualified people for onsite management positions at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, the largest and longest-running Mars analog facility in the world. The station is set amid some of the most spectacular landscapes you will ever see, and researchers come from all over the world to participate in our analog research & educational programs here. We are presently taking applications for Station Managers beginning immediately. You must be able to… READ MORE >
We are looking for two individuals who can serve as Chapter Coordinators for the Mars Society’s global network of chapters. One person would focus on U.S. chapters (and would need to be based in the U.S.), while the second person would cover our international chapters (outside the U.S.) and can be based anywhere. To learn more about the Mars Society’s chapters, both in the U.S. and international, we invite you to visit chapters.marssociety.org. Priority will be given to current chapter leadership… READ MORE >
Mars Society Australia (MSA), in conjunction with the Andy Thomas Foundation, led a public workshop recently at the Australian Space Discovery Centre in Adelaide to discuss plans for establishing the Mars Arkaroola Research Station (MARS) in Australia. Speakers included Prof. Caroline McMillen, the Chief Scientist for South Australia, as well as industry and space agency representatives. Also joining in virtually were Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin, discussing the vision of humans-to-Mars, and Mars Desert Research Station Director Dr. Shannon… READ MORE >
This past week, the Mars Society convened its annual international convention for the 25th year in a row, and the first time in-person since prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. The theme of this year’s event was “Searching for Life with Heavy Lift”, which was meant to encourage out-of-the-box thinking of presenters and attendees to develop new systems that take advantage of the increased payload capacity that is coming with NASA’s SLS and SpaceX’s Starship. We worked with the excellent team… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that a 10-person delegation from a leading Mongolian space advocacy group called MarsV will attend this year’s Saturday evening banquet (October 22nd) at the 25th Annual International Mars Society Convention at Arizona State University in Tempe. Led by Erdenebold Sukhbaatar, a 39-year-old graduate of Harvard Law, former Mongolian military officer, and author-translator, MarsV is a highly influential organization with some three thousand members, including corporate and bank presidents, prominent cultural figures, political party… READ MORE >
Celebrating its 25th Annual International Convention at Arizona State University in Tempe October 20-23, the Mars Society will be hosting, both in-person and virtually, a large contingent of senior representatives from NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), discussing the latest news about exploring Mars, planning for a human mission to the Red Planet, and much more. Leading off the NASA-JPL involvement at the four-day conference will be Dr. Jim Bell, an Arizona State University professor and a planetary scientist involved… READ MORE >
We invite you to join us for a rocking good time at MARS Rocks! on Friday, Oct. 21st (7-10 pm MST) in Phoenix! Open to the general public and free for all Mars Society ASU convention attendees, this special three-hour music event will include performances by Tedbaby, Revolushn and Jason Achilles. Enjoy a variety of space tunes in an intimate, live music setting (+21) at Last Exit Live located in the historic warehouse district of downtown Phoenix. Organized as part… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Michael Edmonds, Senior Vice President for Strategy, Marketing, and Sales at Blue Origin, will give an update about the company and its plans for space on Saturday, October 22nd at 7:00 pm MST during the 25th Annual International Mars Society Convention at Arizona State University (Tempe). Founded in 2000 by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin is a private space company developing vehicles and technologies that dramatically improve access to space for… READ MORE >