Over the summer months, the pace of work on the vehicle - slowed almost to a halt over the last three months - has picked up again. The main thing holding up construction was and still is lack of workers, paid or voluntary. The project manager, Graham Mann, has been trying to find new workers in both categories. Recently three new people have committed to work on the project, and it is hoped they can help move forward on the steel frame construction and engine refurbishment. A second holdup has been a lack of construction drawings which the fabricators can use in the factory. Although detailed plans for the whole machine exist, they are AutoCAD files on computer and have needed realisation as practical construction drawings with notes for the factory workers.
Recently MSA engineer David Willson has been producing such drawings, which have already greatly aided construction on the front cabin assembly (see photo below, right). Meanwhile work on other, less visible parts of...
MSA is pleased to announce a major achievement by David Willson, MSA member and director, and also manager of the Mars-Oz project, in his hobby of scratch building rocket engines. Along with several work colleagues, David successfully test fired the rocket engine four times at a location 30 minutes drive from Hobart in Tasmania. Some 15 people came to the event and it was filmed as part of a documentary by MSA Western Australian member and film maker, Chris Dickinson. A paper on David's rocket engine will be a feature at 
Registration is now open for the sixth annual Australian Mars Exploration Conference (AMEC 2006), to be held in Melbourne in October of this year at the Victoria Space Science Education Centre (VSSEC). You may register online using our secure registration form, or by downloading and faxing in a registration form (pdf).
