Dallas Mars Society

 ”President Obama: Set the Course for Mars”

The failure of the Augustine Commission to provide the Obama administration with a worthy objective for the American human spaceflight program threatens to leave NASA rudderless. Under these conditions, those who believe that the space program needs a real goal - and that goal should be humans to Mars - need to step forward. For this reason, the Mars Society is launching an international petition campaign, calling on President Obama to set the course for Mars. The petition is open to all to sign, regardless of age or nationality, because the question of whether NASA succeeds in doing what it can and should do to open the space frontier is a matter of vital concern to all humankind.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon. In the 40 years since, no human has gone farther. Four decades of stagnation in human spaceflight is more than enough. We do not need a fifth. It is time for the people to speak. Sign the petition. Spread the petition. Post links to it on every website you can. Let the voice of the future be heard.

The petition can be found at www.HumansToMars.org

There were 15 persons in attendance.

The Dallas Mars society welcomed Klingons from IKV Melota (http://www.ikvmelota.org/) to the November meeting. We were very impressed with IKV Melota’s interest, intelligence, and knowledge which led to stimulating and very interesting conversations about Mars and space. We extend a special thanks to IKV Melota for joining the meeting.

Thanks also to Tom for preparing and bringing a preliminary proposal for the Dallas Mars Society to host the 2011 Mars Society national convention in the DFW area. The proposal was very professional and well thought through. We discussed potential venues for the convention and advertising. At the next meeting, the group agreed to discuss the 2011 convention further and vote on whether to propose to host the convention.

The group also discussed the upcoming Perry Middle School project. The Mars Society Dallas chapter and the National Space Society Dallas chapter both plan to donate $125 to cover the $250 cost to repair Perry’s space station moc-up module. The repairs will occur after the first of the year and the repaired space station-moc up will be displayed during Perry’s space station week in March.

We also discussed the Mars rover Spirit which currently has a problem with one of its wheels http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotlight/20091210a.html. Curtis brought a copy of a news article on NASA/JPL-Caltech and Microsoft’s Be a Martian. This exciting and fun website allows anyone to participate in Mars research and help improve Martian maps.

Due to the holidays, we will not be meeting in December. Our next meeting will be held in January.

There were 9 members in attendance at the meeting.

The meeting opened with a discussion of the group’s current budget and plans to use some of the budget to support Perry Middle School’s upcoming space station week.  The chapter and the National Space Society Dallas chapter both plan to donate $125 to cover the $250 cost to repair Perry’s space station moc-up module. The group discussed how best to provide the funds to Perry.

The group also discussed the possibility of designing and building a simulated space walk or a simulated mars landscape with an interactive rover.  Don brought a sketch of a simulated space walk to share with the group.  Curtis mentioned he would forward a contact for Perry middle school to Don so that Don could share his idea with Perry.

The group discussed other activities the group could do such as a possible tour at Armadillo Aerospace, a trip to the Fort Worth Museum of Science, and a trip to McDonald Observatory.  Also discussed was the prospect of hosting the next Mars convention.  The group plans to discuss these activities further at the next meeting.

A meeting will be held in November.  No meeting will be held in December due to the holiday.

The group discussed the NSS Christmas party which will be held at Carol’s house this year.  Curtis mentioned he would forward the party details to the group.

There were 10 members at our September meeting.

The discussions opened with a report on the royalty from t-shirt sales at the Mars Society convention. 39 out of 41 t-shirts sold at the conference. We recieved a royalty from the Zazzle order. The group was pleased at the quality of the t-shirts which were ordered from Zazzle custom t-shirts.

A new case of Dr. Zubrin’s book The Case for Mars was received this month. The books will be given to new members and educational events.

The group discussed Perry Middle school’s space station week which is coming up in March of next year. Last year the Dallas Mars Society, the Dallas chapter of NSS, and Bent Tree Bible Fellowship church supported the design and construction of a moc-up walk in space station and a moc-up of mars with a remote control rover. Perry applied for a grant to expand the design for next year but the grant was not awarded.

We talked about the possibility of providing some of the chapter’s funding to support expansion of the design for next year. We talked about expanding on the moc-up of mars and potentially providing another rover which the kids could maneuver through obstacles. We plan to make a decision on donation at next month’s meeting.

We also talked about a new company which has opened up in North Richland Hills called The Astronaut Training Center. Kurt mentioned he would swing by there to learn more about what they offer.

We plan to print some more handouts describing the Mars society local chapter to distribute at events. Cost for printing the handouts will be reimbursed from the treasurey.

We also talked about the Augustine commission and the Summary Report of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans. The summary report has been released and is at NASA’s website Here

We had a good meeting on August 30th, with 11 people in attendance, including our two drop in Korean guests!  And thanks to Tom and Ian for coming by again!

We went over the Mars Society convention, with us selling 38 out of 41 T-shirts, yielding $950 total sales.  We’ll be looking forward to a September report from Dan on how much we netted and what our bank account balance is.

The Mars Blitz went well, including April giving the literal elevator talk to her Representative, Chet Edwards (D-17th) in person.  We probably provided a welcome break from the throngs of pros and cons lobbyists on health care that were going through the halls.

I talked with Pat Czarnik about the Dallas Chapter being the official T-shirt provider for next year’s convention, and her reply was ’sure, but we need to give first dibs to the hosting chapter, but if they don’t want to, you can do it’  this would be good since this means that we could get pre-orders at registration.

Speaking of which, the next convention is in Dayton Ohio.  Looking forward to a good side trip to the Air Force Museum!  And Pat dropped some pretty good hints that Dallas might be the logical place for the 2011 convention…..a topic for thought…

The Tempo3 artificial gravity demonstrator is going forward with a balloon drop demo plan, but there may be other possbilities….

The Perry Middle School wants us and NSS back for next year, and we talked about possibly making a donation towards their station mockup.

And Dr. Cho and his co-worker Mr. Kwan (?) dropped in to talk about their new special rare earth compound of high temperature alloy for space applications..their talk certainly a first for our local chapter.

There was much talk about the Augustine commission and their upcoming report…as of this writing it sounds pessimistic but not terrible…basically that Man to Mars is the only logical ultimate goal for human space flight, but there is not the money to get there directly.  The recommendations coming out seem to be leaning towards eaither moon first or a ‘flexible’ plan that means cruising the inner solar system but not actually landing anywhere, with stretchouts to accomodate budget realities.  I’m sure we’ll have a better understanding by Sept 27, our next meeting…..

See you all then!

Kurt

There were 10 persons in attendance. The group welcomed guests Tom and Ean. The group was delighted that April was able to attend as well.

The group discussed the Mars conference at the University of Maryland on July 30 - Aug 2nd. More information about the conference can be found at: http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2009/. Several members are planning to attend. The group created t-shirts to sell at the convention.

April applied for membership on the Mars Society steering committee. Steering committee member elections will be made at the convention.

The group discussed the possibility of pursuing funding so that more members are able to attend future conventions.

Kurt and April reported on the gifted girls conference held at SMU in April. More on the conference can be found at: http://smu.edu/education/gsi/giftedgirlsconference.asp. The Dallas Mars society donated copies of Robert Zubrin’s book “The Case for Mars” to the conference. The conference was followed by a tour of SpaceX (www.spacex.com) at the McGregor, Texas location.

The group discussed handing out flyers at upcoming Frontiers of Flight museum (http://www.flightmuseum.com/) events.

The group also discussed FMARS 2009. FMARS 2009 (Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station) is a habitat which enables simulation of mars missions (www.fmars2009.org).

Minutes from our May meeting:

There were 6 members in attendance at the meeting.

The meeting opened with a discussion of mars Spirit rover which is currently stuck in soft terrain on mars.  Regular Spirit updates can be found at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s spirit update website at:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_spiritAll.html

The group additionally discussed the Human Space Flight Plans Commitee chaired by Norman Augustine.  As described by NASA at:

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jun/HQ_09-123_Augustine_Review_Members.html

“The panel will examine ongoing and planned NASA development activities
and potential alternatives in order to present options for advancing a safe
innovative, affordable and sustainable human space flight program following
the space shuttle’s retirement.”  The commitee’s results are expected later
this year.

Kurt reported on SMU’s sucessful gifted girls conference held in April. Kurt presented at a break out session during the conference.  Kurt’s presentation was titled “Space Exploration and Mars” and explored human life on mars.

The group additionally discussed the upcoming Mars conference to be held at the University of Maryland on July 30 - Aug 2nd.  More information about the conference can be found at:

http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2009/

Several members of the group are expecting to attend.  The group expects to sell t-shirts and
hand out brochures at the conference.  T-shirt and brochure designs were discussed during the meeting.

Minutes from our April meeting:

There were 5 members and 2 guests in attendance.  The group welcomed guests Bob and Mitchell.

Curtis and Kris facilitated the meeting as Kurt was unable to attend.

The group discussed the upcoming Mars Society Convention to be held at the University of Maryland on July 30th through August 2nd, 2009.   The Mars Society has arranged lodging in dorms on the campus.  Alternatively, lodging is available at nearby hotels.  More information on the convention and lodging options can be found at the Mars Society national website at:  http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2009/. 

The group additionally discussed the “Phoenix Mission to Mars’ lecture by John Hoffman, Professor of Physics at the University of Texas at Dallas.  The lecture was part of the University’s Polykarp Kusch Lecture Series and was held on April 13th.  More information on Dr. Hoffman’s research can be found at http://www.utdallas.edu/news/2008/07/18-003.php.

The group expressed ongoing interest in involvement in the Mars Society’s TEMPO^3 project.  The Dallas Mars society is participating as members of the technical team.  Tom Hill, TEMPO^3 project leader, is providing updates on the project every other week on ustream at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tempo-update—the-mars-society.  Past updates are archived at this site.

The group also discussed plans to create a new brochure for the Dallas Mars Society.  Mark conveyed he is happy to put the brochure together and would like some more good words to add to the brochure.  The group discussed plans to hand out the brochure during upcoming events.

Minutes from our March meeting:

There were six members in attendance at the meeting.

The meeting opened with a discussion of DeWitt Perry Middle School’s ‘space station week’ held on March 9-13th. The Dallas Mars Society, the National Space Society (NSS) Dallas chapter and Bent Tree Bible Fellowship collaborated with Perry Middle School to construct exhibits which were displayed for the students in the library of Perry middle school during the space week.  The exhibits included a moc walk-in space station and a moc mars landscape with a remote controlled mars rover.  Construction of the exhibits began in January of 2009 and concluded in March.  Photos of the exhibits have been posted by NSS at the North Texas Space yahoo group.

NSS member Carol Johnson, author Marianne Dyson, and Dallas Mars Society president Kurt Chankaya gave presentations for the kids during the space week..  Carol spoke to the kids from inside the moc space station via teleconference while pretending to be inside the real space station.  The kids asked a lot of great questions about what it’s like to be in space.  Marianne Dyson talked to the kids about living in free fall and included several hands-on demos.  Kurt spoke on a number of topics to include travel to and the exploration of mars and why we need to explore space and mars. The week could hardly have gone better.  The whole team was pleased at the outcome.  The kids appeared inspired and motivated by both the exhibits and the presentations. 

Perry Middle School has applied for a grant to expand on the design of the exhibits next year and hopes to make space station week a yearly event.

Curtis brought a tape of Marianne Dyson’s presentation for the group to watch during the March meeting.  Thank you Curtis for bringing the tape!  The group enjoyed listening to the presentation.

The Dallas Mars Society is also assisting as members of the TEMPO^3 (Tethered Experiment for Mars interplanetary Operations Cubed) technical team.  The objective of TEMPO^3 is to demonstrate the generation of artificial gravity in space using a tether.  More on TEMPO^3 at http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/TEMPO3.  The TEMPO^3 program is in process of changing scope due to lack of funding.  Updates on TEMPO^3 can found on ustream through project leader Tom Hill’s fireside chat at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tempo-update—the-mars-society.  The Dallas Mars Society looks forward to continuing to contribute as the project evolves.