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Mars Society & EU-INTERACT Cooperate on Climate Research at FMARS

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (EU-INTERACT) to use the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) on Devon Island in northern Canada, approximately 900 miles from the North Pole, as one of the network’s field stations. FMARS is a unique Mars analog research station established by the Mars Society in July 2000 to serve as a key element in support of various studies of technologies, strategies, architectural design and human factors involved in proposed human missions to the Red...

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Mars Society Launches Effort to Conduct One-Year Mission in the Canadian High Arctic

Monday, 20 May 2013

The Mars Society announced today that it is initiating an effort to conduct a one-year simulated human Mars exploration mission in the Canadian high Arctic at its Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS). Situated at 75 degrees north, roughly 900 miles from the North Pole, FMARS is located adjacent to a 20 kilometer meteor impact crater in the midst of a polar desert that is known to represent one of the most Mars-like environments on Earth. By conducting a Mars surface mission simulation at FMARS of the same duration as is needed for an actual expedition to the Red Planet, the Mars Society will take a major step forward towards learning how humans can most effectively explore the new interplanetary frontier.

The Mars Society plan, called Mars Arctic 365 (MA365), is divided into two phases. Scheduled to commence this July, the first phase will accomplish the refit of FMARS and enhance the facility’s equipment, enabling it to support an effective one-year mission, which...

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Opinion: ‘Yes, No and Careful’ to Dennis Tito’s Bold Mars Expedition

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

Now that the initial public reaction to Dennis Tito’s press release about his Inspiration Mars plan has died down, it’s time to take a good look at the nuts and bolts of this idea. In case you missed it, Tito and a group of aerospace manufactures and NASA scientists are proposing to send two people on a 1.4 year Mars flyby in 2018, using a combination of off-the-shelf hardware but with some needed development.

The detailed work, presented in a paper to IEEE Aerospace conference in March, shows that these people are serious, and have spotted an unusual (these 1.4-year solutions only appear every 15 years) opportunity for a remarkable adventure. It’s early days, of course, but I have mixed feelings about the mission as it stands. On the...

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TasMars Features on Sunrise Program

Sunday, 10 February 2013

The Australasian TasMars expedition is now coming to an end after a highly successful two week mission. Crew members included California based Australian engineer David Willson and Melbourne engineer Emma Braegen. The expedition included a report on Channel 7's Sunrise Program 'Mission to Mars', which may be viewed online here.

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TasMars Mission Commences

Monday, 28 January 2013

MSA wishes the greatest success to the TasMars expedition, which has just commenced at the Mars Desert research Station. The TasMars crew is the 123rd to work at MDRS and includes members of Mars Society Australia and Mars Society New Zealand with colleagues from NASA Ames Research Centre.

Crew commander is MSA director David Willson, he is joined by Emma and engineer from Melbourne, Melanine Newfield, a biologist from New Zealand, and Dr Jennifer Blank, a geologist from NASA ARC. Other researchers will visit the crew during their two week stay.

The TasMars mission is a follow on to the very successful KiwiMars mission in 2012. Like KiwiMars, it has a joint Australian-NZ crew with additional participation from crew members from the US. The...

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