The Mars Society is an international space advocacy non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars.

The Society was formally established in August 1998, when over 700 delegates – astronomers, scientists, engineers, astronauts, entrepreneurs, educators, students, and space enthusiasts – attended a weekend of talks and presentations from leading Mars exploration advocates.

Members of the Society are from all walks of life, and all actively work to promote the ideals of space exploration and the opportunities for exploring Mars.

* the Mars Society Analogue Pressurized Rover – a competition to design a pressurized rover vehicle that could be used on Mars that was won by the Michigan Mars Rover Team.

* the Mars Gravity Biosatellite-a program to design, build, and launch a satellite rotated to artificially provide partial gravity of 0. 38g, equivalent to that of Mars, and hosting a small population of mice, to study the health effects of partial gravity, as opposed to zero gravity ; this originated as a Mars Society initiative and is now supported by the YourNameIntoSpace web portal

* the Mars balloon mission ARCHIMEDES, due to launch in 2018 ( conducted by the German Chapter of Mars Society )

The current board of directors of the Mars Society includes Robert Zubrin ( chairman ), James Heiser, and Declan O ' Donnell.

Notable former members of the board of directors or steering committee of the Mars Society include Kim Stanley Robinson, Michael D. Griffin, Christopher McKay, and Pascal Lee.

The Mars Society has chapters in countries around the world.

Some accomplishments of Mars Society chapters are listed below:

Mars Society of Canada:

* hosted the Third International Mars Society Convention in 2000 ( Toronto )

Northern California Chapter of the Mars Society:

* hosted the Fourth International Mars Society Convention in 2001 ( Stanford University )

* raised over $ 100, 000 for the Mars Society hosting a fundraiser banquet with James Cameron, May 5, 2001

Dallas Chapter of the Mars Society:

Puget Sound ( Seattle ) Chapter of the Mars Society:

* Website development for the Mars Society in the early days, helped set up chapters. marssociety. org and initial task force websites.

The ASF ( Österreichisches Weltraum Forum, OeWF ) is a national network for aerospace and space enthusiasts, being the Austrian chapter of the Mars Society.

* 2001 – Mars Odyssey is launched.

Dressed in a striking costume, his hair dyed red, Bowie launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars — Ronson, Bolder and Woodmansey — at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth on 10 February 1972.

The Deep Space series was continued by the Deep Space 2 probes, which were launched in January 1999 on Mars Polar Lander and were intended to strike the surface of Mars.

* 1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched.

* 1973 – Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.

* 2003 – The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission.

However, when they were finally launched to Mars, the Viking probes still searched ( unsuccessfully ) for extant life there.

* Mars probe program, a series of unmanned craft launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s

Odyssey was launched April 7, 2001 on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and reached Mars orbit on October 24, 2001, at 2: 30 a. m. UTC ( October 23, 7: 30 p. m. PDT, 10: 30 p. m. EDT ).

* 1971 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70 % of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars.

Zubrin's alternative to this " Battlestar Galactica " mission strategy ( dubbed so by its detractors for the large, nuclear powered spaceships that supposedly resembled the science-fiction spaceship of the same name ) involved a longer surface stay, a faster flight-path in the form of a conjunction class mission, in-situ resource utilization and craft launched directly from the surface of Earth to Mars as opposed to be being assembled in orbit or by a space-based drydock.

Some 26 months after the Earth Return Vehicle is originally launched from Earth, a second vehicle, the " Mars Habitat Unit ", would be launched on a 6-month long low energy transfer trajectory to Mars, and would carry a crew of four astronauts ( the minimum number required so that the team can be split in two without leaving anyone alone ).

The Mariner program was a program conducted by the American space agency NASA in conjunction with Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) that launched a series of robotic interplanetary probes designed to investigate Mars, Venus and Mercury from 1962 to 1973.

Its sister ship, Mariner 4, launched on November 28, 1964, was the first successful flyby of the planet Mars and gave the first glimpse of Mars at close range.

Its identical sister craft, Mariner 9, was launched in May 1971 and became the first artificial satellite of Mars.

Mariner 4 ( together with Mariner 3 known as Mariner-Mars 1964 ) was the fourth in a series of spacecraft, launched on November 28, 1964, intended for planetary exploration in a flyby mode and performed the first successful flyby of the planet Mars, returning the first pictures of the Martian surface.

* What Mad Universe ( 1949 ) by Fredric Brown depicts an alternate history where humans discovered anti-gravity in 1903 and launched a war to conquer Mars, which is inhabited by creatures with a culture equal to that of Earth, but militarily weaker.

* In Mass Effect ( 2007 ), an expedition launched by the European Space Agency discovers an ancient cache of advanced technology leftover from an alien race known as the Protheans ( The capitol of Mars is called " Lowell city " probably named after Percival Lowell who fueled the believe in possibility of alien structures on Mars ).

During the Word of Blake's jihad against the rest of the Inner Sphere the mercenary command Wolf's Dragoons launched a failed assault on Mars which resulted in the nuclear scouring of their base planet of Outreach.

* the Mars Analog Research Station Program ( MARS ) – analogues of possible future Mars habitation units, located in Mars-like environments.

Zubrin recounts the origins and progress of the Mars Society's Mars Analog Research Station project, including a variety of perils, both mundane and adventurous, that were overcome in establishing the first analog Mars habitat on Devon Island in the high Arctic.

This is a collection of fifteen selected non-fiction entries that had been published in Analog magazine over the years ; it includes five articles authored or co-authored by Zubrin, including " The Hypersonic Skyhook ", " Mars Direct: A Proposal for the Rapid Exploration and Colonization of the Red Planet " ( co-authored with David A. Baker ), " Colonizing the Outer Solar System ", " Terraforming Mars " ( co-authored with Christopher McKay ), and " The Magnetic Sail ".

* Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition, an expedition to Norway's Svalbard archipelago in 2006 to test equipment for a future Mars mission

The third station, the European Mars Analog Research Station or EuroMARS was funded and built in the early 2002.

The fourth station, the Australia Mars Analog Research Station / MARS Oz is currently in the planning stages and it will be deployed to the selected research site ( S 30 ° 18 ' 13. 91 " E 139 ° 26 ' 39. 55 ") east of the Arkaroola Sanctury, which itself is roughly north of Adelaide, South Australia.

** About the Mars Analog Research Program

* Mars Analog Research and Technology Experiment FAQ

* Mars Analog Research Station Program

The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station ( FMARS ) is the first of two simulated Mars habitats ( or Mars Analog Research Stations ) established and maintained by the Mars Society.

The FMARS project is one of four stations originally planned by the Mars Society as part of the Mars Analog Research Station Program.

Stations to be built in Europe ( European Mars Analog Research Station / EuroMARS ) and Australia ( Australia Mars Analog Research Station / MARS-Oz ) have not progressed beyond the planning stages.