Posted: Jul 31, 2006 08:03 pm EDT
Remember the awesome space conference in LA past May? This week, the co-sponsor of that event will be at it again. National Space Society is co-sponsoring the 9th International Mars Society Conference to be held August 3-6 2006 in Washington DC - and ExWeb will be there! Highlights of this conference will feature bigwig speakers such as Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator, Scott Horowitz, NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems, and Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of SpaceX.

Additionally, conference attendees will be able to participate in the 2006 Mars Blitz, learn more about the upcoming 2007 4-month mission at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, attend the 2nd Annual Advanced Spacesuit Symposium and a special track session on Risk and Exploration, and view a special screening of the documentary The Mars Underground.

2006 Mars Blitz

On Thursday, August 3, conference attendees will have the opportunity to meet with Congressional offices on Capitol Hill to voice their views on NASAs future space exploration plans as part of the 2006 Mars Blitz.

"This will be an unprecedented event for the space advocacy community. We could literally have Mars Society members on every floor of every Congressional office building at the same time expressing their support for the human exploration of Mars," says Chris Carberry, Political Director of the Mars Society. "We need to make sure Congress continues to support the Vision for Space Exploration and that human Mars exploration continues to be one of the primary goals of that plan."

The society is calling YOU to participate:

"Even if you have never spoken to a politician before, Even if you hate politics, Even if you are nervous about speaking to a Congressional office, WE NEED YOUR HELP. If you are coming to the Mars Society conference in August, please help us blitz the Hill. We hope this will be the biggest single-day space advocacy trip to Congress in history."

Conference participants will be heading up to Capital Hill to speak Congressional offices in support of the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). Specifically, Mars Society members will ask that NASA pursue an integrated Moon-Mars plan that will emphasize common hardware for missions to the Moon and Mars; accelerate the VSE schedule; and to make use of in-situ resource utilization on the Moon and Mars.

The Mars Society will also be asking for a Hubble Space Telescope repair mission.

2007 FMARS 4-Month Mission - Call for Volunteers

In May of 2007, the Mars Society will launch its first extended duration simulated mission at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) on Canadas Devon Island, 900 miles from the North Pole. During the next four months, the crew will conduct a sustained program of field exploration in geology, microbiology, and paleontology, just as an actual team of explorers would on the Red Planet, while operating under many Mars mission constraints.

Participation in the crew, the Mission Support Group, the Remote Science Team, and the Engineering Team will be open to volunteers from around the world. A formal call for volunteers, as well as an extensive discussion of the plan for the mission, will be presented at the conference.

Risk and Exploration

This year's Conference will also feature a track on Risk and Exploration, a key aspect of Mars exploration, featuring individuals who have successfully managed risk and reward from a number of different disciplines. Confirmed speakers include a seven summit climber (Francis Slakey) and Colin Bryant, venture capitalist recently featured in the Washington Post, and interested in entreprenurial space companies.

A welcome reception Thursday evening is followed directly by a special screening of the documentary, The Mars Underground, depicting the future human exploration of Mars, and current day space advocates working to achieve that goal.

On Friday night there will be a tour of DC Nightlife hosted by Yuris Night, the World Space Party, and on Saturday a Night Banquet is in the works.

The Mars Society is a private international grassroots organization dedicated to furthering the case for human exploration of Mars. Since its founding in 1998, The Mars Societys strong commitment to both outreach and research has put it at the forefront of Mars exploration proponents, with 7000 members in 40 countries. The organization currently operates multiple world class research facilities which investigate many technical and human factors associated with human space exploration. Significant political and public outreach has led to several hundred meetings with U.S. congressional offices, and has otherwise reached hundreds of millions of people through various media outlets.

The International Mars Society Conference will take place from August 3-6, 2006 at the LEnfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C. Featured speakers include Dr. Michael Griffin (NASA Administrator), Dr. Scott Horowitz (NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems), Elon Musk (CEO and Founder of Space X), Eric Anderson (Space Adventures), Scott Hubbard (Former Director of NASA Ames Research Center; Carl Sagan Chair at the SETI Institute), Andy Thomas (4-time Shuttle Astronaut), Brian Chase (NASA, Associate Administrator for Legislative Affairs), Chris McKay (NASA Ames Research Center), Penelope J. Boston (Complex Systems), Linda Robeck Fuhrman (Draper Laboratory), Robert D. Braun (Georgia Institute of Technology), George Whitesides (National Space Society), Colin H. Bryant (Paladin Capital Group), Matt Mountain (Director of the Space Telescope Science institute), Francis Slakey (Mountain Climber) and Robert Zubrin (Pioneer Astronautics, The Mars Society).

Draper Labs of Cambridge, Massachusetts and the National Space Society sponsor the conference.





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