The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 1 In This Issue Spring 2009 - Volume 1, Issue 2 Succeeding in Troubled Times Interview with Dr. Steve Squyres - Publisher By Chris Carberry...... 3 February, 2009 The Mars Society by Chris Carberry...... 12 The Case for Mars 2009 Headquarters 11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit A It is time to tie the Mars Program to URC Update Lakewood, CO 80215 USA human exploration by Kevin F. Sloan...... 14 www.MarsSociety.org by Chris McKay, NASA Ames ...... 4 "The Search For Intelligent Life" The Mars Society Digital Outreach Art by Marilynn Flynn/ President...... Robert Zubrin By Patricia Czarnik, Tharsis Artworks ...... 15 Treasurer...... Gary Fisher Director of Membership ...... 6 Secretary...... Sara Spector Biosphere M Executive Director...... Chris Carberry Getting to Mars will take A Measure of Humanity Accounts Receivable Director leadership, a lot of leadership By Bruno D.V. Marino PhD...... 16 ...... Patt Czarnik by Michael Simpson, President, Webmaster...... Alex Kirk A Cold Dry Cradle, Part 1 Director, Public Relations ...Kevin Sloan International Space University ...... 7 by Gregory Benford and Elisabeth Director of Membership .....Patt Czarnik Finding New Communication Malartre ...... 18 Director, International Relations ...... Artemis Westenberg Canali by Miles O'Brien ...... 8 Cover: "Martian Sand Ripples" Readers' Forum - Funding Mars © Jim Plaxco, The Mars Quarterly Editor-in-Chief...... Susan Holden Martin By Jason Romanik ...... 11 www.marsartgallery.com [email protected] Art Director ...... Keith Keplinger, Keplinger Designs, Inc. Contributing Editors ...... Chris Carberry, Artemis Westenberg, Josh Grimm, From the Flight Deck Blake Ortner, Byron Wiedeman, Gus Scheerbaum, Jean Lagarde, Joseph Webster, Kevin Sloan, In these uncertain economic times, TMQ, from a variety of well-known and Patt Czarnik, Alex Kirk many of us in the Mars community are emerging artists. A Note to Readers focused on mitigating the effects of Our next issue, scheduled for release The views expressed in articles are downsizing, restrained budgets, and on July 1, will be presented in both the authors’ and not necessarily those program cuts. This issue has several digital and print formats. Print copies of The Mars Quarterly, or The Mars on point articles, stressing the will be available to all 2009 convention Society. Authors may have business importance of remaining focused on attendees, and will include a special relationships with the companies or agencies they discuss. delivering the humans to Mars insert of an entirely new image created message in every way we can. by artist Greg Martin. You can see Reproduction Also in this issue, is an article by more of Greg's work at: The Mars Quarterly is published Bruno D.V. Marino, PhD, a former http://gallery.artofgregmartin.com/. If quarterly by The Mars Society, Researcher in the Earth and Planetary you have not already done so, please Lakewood, Colorado, USA. Volume 1, Issue 2; copyright 2009 The Mars Science Department at Harvard, and register for the 12th Annual Interna- Society. Nothing herein contained former Director of Science and tional Mars Society Convention today. may be reproduced or transmitted in Research at the Biosphere II project, If you would like to take part in the any form or by any means, electronic with Columbia University, in Arizona in debate on the latest controversies or mechanical, including photocopy, the 1990s. Dr. Marino proposes the affecting the progress of humans to recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written creation of Biosphere M - a project that Mars, or share your views on a specific permission of The Mars Society. would contribute important ecosystem Mars project, please send us your data toward the construction of a comments. All submissions will be Advertisers send email to tmq- sustained human settlement on Mars considered for inclusion in our new [email protected]. Address and beyond. We hope to hear from Dr. Readers' Forum. This issue we feature letters, general inquiries, or send member dues or charitable donations Marino in future issues of TMQ the thoughts of Jason Romanik, a to The Mars Society, PO Box 1312, Big regarding this exciting project. space entrepreneur. Piney, WY 83113, USA. Please include We thank artists Jim Plaxco and On to Mars! your full name, address, and daytime Marilynn Flynn for their inspirational phone number. The Mars Society is a and provocative images that appear in Susan Holden Martin, Editor 501(c)(3) organization. this issue of TMQ. Look for more [email protected] space art images in future issues of The Mars Quarterly 2 Volume 1, Issue 2 Succeeding in Troubled Times

By Chris Carberry The last few months have been quite in which they could invest. months prior to the event, we already remarkable. In the United States, we The Mars Society is trying new ways have one of the best lists of plenary inaugurated a new President; a U.S. to get this message out and to expand speakers that we have ever had and our Airways pilot successfully landed his our organization. We have started an programming is extremely diverse. plane in the Hudson River; and world- ambitious advertising campaign which We hope to bring in new audiences wide governments have continued to will place advertising in such magazines with programs such as "Exploration: An pour sums of money that would have as Astronomy, Science News, and the Historical Perspective:" which will seemed unfathomable a year ago. AOPA magazine, Pilot. We are making compare and contrast the history of In the midst of these events, a team full use of such online mediums as terrestrial exploration with the of scientists from NASA and other Facebook; and we are going to challenges of space exploration. We institutions announced that they had examine new ways to use video games will look at the impact of art and space detected methane in the Martian and digital animation to promote our exploration as well as the impact that atmosphere. While evidence had been cause. In addition, we will soon be media can have to promote (or released in the past that suggested asking our members to send in short obstruct) exploration. And, unlike most methane, this evidence was the most videos to explain why they joined The conferences, we will not be confined to comprehensive yet presented. As most Mars Society and why they support our conference venue hoping that of the people reading TMQ already government officials find their way to know, the source of this methane is our event. On the contrary - we plan to either geological in origin or is a visit some of these officials in the "Great byproduct of life. Either way, this is a 2009 Mars Blitz." remarkable discovery. This comes just Have you ever wanted to make a on the heals of the Mars Phoenix direct statement in front of Congress in Lander uncovering water ice just inches support of humans to Mars? Here is from the surface of the Martian polar your chance. At the Mars Society regions. Every closer look at Mars Convention, we will be sending at least seems to create a thousand compelling 150 convention goers up to Capitol Hill questions. The need for a continuation to meet with their members of of our successful robotic mission to Congress and their staff on the Mars and a vastly accelerated timetable afternoon of July 30, 2009. To make for sending humans to Mars have never this activity the colossal success that been greater. we hope it will be, we need your help. However, as Dr. Chris McKay alludes If you are coming to the Convention, to in his article “The Case for Mars please sign up for the Blitz as well. 2009”, we cannot assume that Mars will Even if you are not coming to the remain on the on the top of NASA's Convention and can spare some time agenda. Despite the remarkable on Thursday afternoon, July 30, 2009, success, other agendas and other please join us on Capitol Hill. For those destinations may be gaining Have you ever wanted to make a of you who can't come to the momentum. This isn't inherently a bad direct statement in front of Congress Convention, we hope that you will set circumstance - Earth science and in support of humans to Mars? up meetings with the members of observation of planets and Moons Here is your chance... Congress in your congressional beyond Mars is certainly important - districts. And while we are up on the but we must make sure that Mars humans to Mars. Over the next few Hill on July 30th, we hope that you will remains the primary objective of human months, The Mars Society intends to make phone calls and send email and and robotic missions in this century. increase its advocacy efforts through faxes to your members of Congress in It is time to make a bold statement. the use of a variety of multimedia support of a destination driven human We hear our elected officials grasping channels. space program. for ways to stimulate the economy - to This summer, we have another Despite the gloomy economic inspire society. I realize that I am opportunity to make a powerful situation, The Mars Society is on the preaching to the converted here, but statement at The Mars Society move. If we want humans to Mars to we must let the decision makers know Convention which will be just a few happen, we can't sit back and hope why we must invest in Mars exploration miles from Washington, D.C. I must circumstances will move in our favor by and why it could very well be one of say, I am getting pumped about the themselves - we must be the force of the greatest stimulators to our society 2009 Mars Society Convention. Four change. JOIN US!

The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 3 The Case for Mars 2009

It is time to tie the Mars Program to human exploration by Chris McKay, NASA Ames

The NASA Mars Program is at a carbonates that were expected based science. Many have argued that the turning point. Three factors converge on theories of a thick early prime targets for astrobiology are now to force a re-thinking of this program. atmosphere have not been found. the organic-rich worlds of the Saturn The first factor is the delay and cost There is scattered evidence for liquid System. Why scratch around on Mars overrun of the Mars Science water throughout Martian history but for organics when they are being Laboratory mission. The second, and the conditions may have been too ejected into space in an ice stream related, factor is the realization that salty or too acidic for life. No evidence from Enceladus? the cost of future missions is going be for organics has been forthcoming. Does this analysis suggest that the ever higher as larger, more capable, Furthermore, during this same decade Mars Program is over and that Mars missions must be considered. Mars it became clear that meteorite will recede into being just one of missions have moved into the cost exchange between Mars and Earth many targets for planetary missions? category of the 'flagship' missions to could have The answer to the Outer Solar System. The third resulted in life on Mars is a unique this question is and, in a way unexpected factor is that both planets yes, if the criteria the worlds of the Outer Solar System, sharing a target for human is purely science - especially Titan and Enceladus, now common origin. exploration. It is astrobiology or compete with Mars as the primary The report of the only world for planetary. target for Astrobiology. The search for methane on Mars Mars only a second genesis of life in our Solar has sparked which we can retains a special System may still drive missions but astrobiological imagine sustained place, and the these missions may not be to Mars. interest but these human activity. justification for a The Mars Program was created in results are well-funded the late 90's as enthusiasm for the puzzling because they are at odds with separate program, when human search for life beyond the Earth was at our understanding of atmospheric exploration is considered. Mars is a historic high. This interest was driven chemistry and Mars' level of activity. unique target for human exploration. It by the discovery of planets around Taken all together the exploration of is the only world for which we can other stars, the spacecraft data of the Mars over the decade since the start imagine sustained human activity. A early history of the universe and the of the Mars program has not vigorous program of robotic Hubble images of distant nebula and strengthened our hope that life might exploration is needed to determine if galaxies, and by the announcement of have been present, and in fact has Mars is a world in which humans can possible signs of life in the Martian diminished it. live and work and to prepare for meteorite ALH84001. While the To advance our understanding of human exploration. Orbiters, rovers, evidence for life in the Martian Mars will require ever more capable drills, and sample return missions are meteorite was subsequently and hence expensive missions. The all needed to prepare for human discounted it was compelling enough cost and schedule overruns of MSL exploration. to generate a statement by the US illustrate the challenge of ever larger Although human exploration of President as to the importance of the rovers. Deep drills to follow up on the Mars is decades away, the robotic search for life on other worlds. Given Phoenix mission will also be costly. A precursors need to continue now. For this background NASA created the few low-cost 'niche' missions to Mars example, it might require several Mars Program to benefit from this such as the Maven aeronomy mission sample return missions to address interest and be responsive to it. can still do useful science but larger issues related to soil toxicity, planetary The Mars Program has been a and more costly missions are going to protection, back contamination, and success. The orbiters, the rovers, and be required. Ultimately sample return site selection before human explorer the Phoenix Lander have expanded missions will be needed setting a new set foot on Mars. And rover and our knowledge of Mars even if they level of cost and complexity. orbital missions are needed to prepare have not provided much additional As Mars missions become more for sample return. There is no time to evidence supporting the possibility of costly they enter the cost realm of the lose. life at the present or in the past. flagship missions to the Outer Solar I conclude that Mars should Indeed, the data from these missions System. As Mars missions come to continue to be a special target for suggests that Mars has a surface compete with Outer Solar System robotic exploration precisely because covered largely by un-weathered missions in terms of cost, they must it will be the scene of extensive basaltic rocks. The massive also compete in terms of astrobiology human exploration in the future.

The Mars Quarterly 4 Volume 1, Issue 2

Digital Outreach

By Patricia Czarnik, Director of Membership

In this issue I want to talk about ago asking them to create a Facebook the Pace for Space: Mars Now, on digital outreach. In the past month we page for their chapter. Several Facebook. The goal is to collect have initiated a drive for a significant chapters have responded and a big 100,000 signatures of people in presence on Facebook. To date we "Thank You" to all who responded to support of Humans to Mars Now. Our have pages for: the call. We need more. If your target date for getting the 100,000 chapter hasn't created one yet and signatures is the 20th of July 2009. • The Mars Society you would like to take responsibility The petition will be presented to • The Mars Society Cause for this task, please let me and President Obama's administration • The Mars Project - Lucinda know. For those members during the Great Mars Blitz at this Six Degrees of Separation who do not have a chapter in their year's convention at the University of • The Mars Quarterly area, don't let that stop you from Maryland, College Park, July 30 - • Robert Zubrin fan page creating a Facebook page for your August 2, 2009). Even if you can't • Several individual Chapter pages country, city or region. This is a great attend the convention, you can way to connect with other locals and participate in the Blitz. More I want to thank Lucinda Weisbach get something started. If you want to convention information at: for taking the lead on this and bringing get more involved on Facebook , http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/C us into the 21st century. Thanks also contact Lucinda onventions/2009 to Jason Romanik for his contributions [email protected] and when on The Mars Project - Six Degrees of you do create a Facebook page, As always I look forward to your Separation. Facebook not only gives please be sure to invite Lucinda comments and suggestions about us an opportunity to get The Mars Weisbach and Patricia Czarnik to join. membership and chapters. Hope you Society more recognition, but will also This will give us notification of all TMS are having a great spring! help us to reach the 18-35 year old efforts on Facebook and we can add a demographic, a group that we NEED if link to the page on the Mars Society Contact Patt Czarnik via email at: we are going to see humans on Mars Chapter webpage. [email protected] in our lifetime. I sent out a request to Very shortly we will be adding a all chapter contacts about a month petition drive, 100K Want to Change

http://www.marssociety.org/portal/purchaseList#convention

The Mars Quarterly 6 Volume 1, Issue 2 Getting to Mars will take leadership, a lot of leadership

by Michael Simpson, President, International Space University

The root of that leadership will be foundation for planetary exploration and competitions. A mission-planning education. Amidst the debates over may be the most important. exercise based on the pattern of the school budgets, curricula, Ultimately, the critical decisions that very successful Model United Nations infrastructure, access and will make possible the goal of humans experiences could be particularly performance standards, it is easy to reaching Mars with will be policy instructive and motivating for high forget that at its most basic, education choices involving at least as many school age students. is a form of leadership. The word non-technical people as technical. • Sponsor teacher development itself is derived from the concept of Although curricula in social studies, opportunities at both Mars Society leading someone into new literature, and languages are often facilities and elsewhere. The more opportunities through knowledge and very tightly scheduled by educational comfortable teachers become with the love of knowledge. authorities, conversations with using the underlying concepts and Although classroom facts, the more they will integrate Higher Education Rare is the teacher teachers in these material important to the future of will be the source disciplines are Mars exploration into the examples of those of science or math likely to reveal they use in their classrooms. graduates who who doesn’t welcome places where we • Support a teacher resource feature can join our a well informed can contribute on the Mars Society website where teams and creatively. Below the best practices for teaching about forward our work volunteer to speak are a few ideas and with Mars-focused material is immediately, the to a class... that could form made available. most important the basis of worksite for us is likely to be the synergy between the Mars Society, its In all of this effort keep in mind a primary and secondary schools that members, and local schools. few reasonable and attainable goals. precede it. While professionals will guide much • Work with local teachers to develop • We can help make education better of the evolution of education in our questions and problems in math and in partnership with classroom local communities, there remains science that use Mars and the teachers. much that we can and should do to challenge of getting there as • We can create simple, ensure that the case for Mars provides examples. straightforward tools that can bring both an inspiration and an exciting • Develop a list of research projects the Mars exploration message into a challenge for learners of every age. for social studies and literature classes wide range of classrooms. First and foremost among the tasks that invite students to look at the • By so doing we not only make our that fall to us is the investment of human experience of Mars. One term objectives better known, we help lead time. paper done early in a high school a new generation toward participation Rare is the teacher of science or career could affect a student's course in the next pulse of human math who doesn't welcome a well for a lifetime. For each of these topics exploration. informed volunteer to speak to a class a teacher's guide could be prepared as • We can make the link between about practical applications of well as a briefing sheet including a different kinds of subjects as we show technical skills. These presentations starting bibliography. that math has shaped history and enliven textbook material and hold out • Make use of the Society's history has shaped science and that to the promise to students that there is international reach to generate brief be able to communicate about all of both life and career opportunity discussions of Mars in many them is to prepare for the greatest beyond the hard work of learning. languages as tools for foreign adventure of the 21st Century. They also provide us with the chance language classes. to demonstrate the quantitative rigor • Ensure the presence of an "essential So how do we get all this done? behind the assertion that the goal of collection on Mars" in school libraries, Pick an idea or create one of your travel to Mars is attainable, so that the teachers and students who own. Implement it. Keep the Mars sustainable, and worth the effort. work with us on projects have the Society informed. Count on others to There is also much to do beyond tools they need close at hand. do the same. the science and math classroom. In • Develop in-school experiences It will take leadership: a lot of fact it is both beyond that classroom ranging from fully designed leadership; especially yours. and in support of it that the real work experiments with supporting of enhancing the educational equipment to assemblies, simulations,

The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 7 Finding New Communication Canali

by Miles O'Brien

Editor’s note: Adapted from a Of course we have been curious some condos after all. So much for all speech delivered at JPL on January about this since cavemen looked at the the Martian fun. You could almost hear 2009, as they celebrated the fifth night sky - and said "ugh" - or when Percival from the grave: "Curse you, anniversary of the Mars Exploration they saw the spaceship land and the Mariner!!!" Rovers (Still Going…). little green men build Stonehenge. But before we could get too I always look forward to my visits to I hear there may be another depressed about our aloneness in the Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It Stonehenge underwater in Lake solar system, we had some astronauts is truly our gateway to the universe; Michigan. Alien SCUBA divers? Who on the moon to entertain us. one of the smartest (and most fun) knew? And then before too long, Mars places on our planet. Disneyland for While we're on the subject of water came into focus as it never had before. Nerds nestled in the hills of La Canada, and Mars - it is worth talking about the In1976, the Viking Landers arrived on California. origins of our modern fascination with the surface and the crowd went wild. It Mars is my second favorite planet the Red Planet. It all begins with water - was Mars in vivid color (do not adjust (gotta root for the home sphere first!) specifically Giovanni Schiaparelli and your set - it really is kinda sepia there, and the folks at JPL have made me feel the canali that he wrote about. ladies and gentlemen…) as if I have been there. How cool is He meant natural channels, but in Viking did not find smoking gun that? I salute them for the outstanding, this case something was gained in the proof of life on the Red Planet. Nor did far-flung, vicarious ride these past 40 translation and people assumed he was it find any guns, for that matter. years or so. talking about canals - which implies But seriously, the data were kind of It's easy to take some sort of ambiguous and even today, as I for granted that Martian Corps of understand it, scientists are not we are now Engineers. speaking with one voice on this (as awash in amazing No one took the they normally do). high resolution, ball further and Oh, did I hear you say scientists panoramic, ran harder with disagree at times? microscopic, that than the blue- Fast forward twenty years (now that three dimensional blooded is what I call a gap! Let's not do that images shot on astronomer again!) and Pathfinder: who could have the surface - or in Percival Lowell. predicted that one? orbit - at Mars. (You don't hear The Internet as a mass medium was What we have about many boys new. Google was just a glint in Sergei Photo courtesy of Miles O'Brien from the CNN Collection found is a place Miles O'Brien (right) and Matt being named and Larry's eyes - and there was that looks an Golombek, Chief Scientist of the Mars Percival these Pathfinder on Mars - with JPL awful lot like Pathfinder Mission, covering the 2004 days, do you?). uploading pictures on the web almost home (if you are Spirit rover landing at JPL (for CNN). Lowell was as fast as they got into the hands of the from New convinced the science team. How cool was that? Mexico) and I think that is part of the canals were built by smart beings who Millions of hits later, the first global appeal. Looking at the Eagle crater, a were running out of water. Internet event was born. Mars was human being can imagine being there This, of course, begat HG Wells War ready for its close-ups. in hiking boots. of the Worlds …which begat Edgar The missions that have followed It is truly a transformative Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury and, have either built on this connection - or experience. And when you consider all ultimately, Marvin the Martian and built on the suspense because they the proof we now have that this place Robinson Crusoe on Mars among other didn't make it. Each time we return to was once warm and wet, you cannot pop-culture oddities. Mars we learn something new and see help but look at those images and And for a long time there was something cool - like those "blueberry" wonder about our place in the nothing to stop the Martian train from spheres that had to be formed by universe. How close we are to learning rolling down the tracks. Then in 1964, water. Or, more recently, we touched if we have some company? the folks at JPL launched a series of and tasted ice. And each time we share How great is it to be alive at this time spacecraft called Mariner. in a journey to the very edge of what is - when we just might learn the answer Scan line by scan line, the "faxes" possible. to that question? We are fortunate to from Mars gave us a whole new view The Mars Rover team took the live among people who know how to of the Red Planet, and as it turned out, Pathfinder philosophy one step further - get an answer. it was not a good place to find or build allowing all of us to see every image

The Mars Quarterly 8 Volume 1, Issue 2 the scientists see. Remarkable. Nothing nothing thing. In many cases nearly an making this connection is not the like that has ever happened in the entire career of hard work hinges on strong suit for most scientists. But for history science as far as I know. the success of six-minute plunge into whatever reason, JPL's Martians have No wonder Opportunity and Spirit an alien atmosphere. been blessed with some great are so beloved and so much a part of Let's face it; this is as exciting as communicators over the years - from our pop culture. They are literally and science can be. Sadly, we weren't there Sagan to Squyres. figuratively - rock stars. The mission for the serendipitous moments when So I bet your thinking if all this is so, ranks number one on the public researchers stumbled onto Teflon or why there isn't more coverage in the awareness scale - in TV we call it a Q- Velcro or Post-It Notes - and said, no Mainstream Media of these great rating. If I had Opportunity's "Q", I'd still doubt, "Eureka!" (before calling a patent interplanetary adventures? You know be at CNN. lawyer). the whiney refrain: in the good old I think the thread that connects But we are there when the Martians days, it was different. The coverage Schiaparelli and Lowell to Opportunity of La Canada see and hear the verdict was longer, better and deeper. The and Spirit is the quest for life outside from their unforgiving destination; reporters were enthused - almost out planet. The science teams and when the all-in bet pays off - or not. In cheerleaders - and the whole world those of us in the media (I guess I am my (former) business, we call this good was watching! (Oh, and the women now technically a recovering journalist) TV. It has all the best elements of a were more beautiful, the kids smarter have done a good job setting the bar good story arc: suspense, reality, and the beer tasted better too!). on what might or might not be found possible smoldering holes - everything So what has happened to the media? on Mars. but a vote to see who gets booted off Why do we seem more interested in There are not many people left who the island - or a caustic critique by Britney Spears than Tony Spear? are expecting to see Marvin the Simon Cowell (although both could be How the hell should I know? I just Martian or the ruins of an ancient incorporated into future mission plans). got canned! civilization on Mars (even though some Steve Squyres and I did a special No seriously, a lot of this has to do people are still fixated on that old "face" when the Phoenix landed. I gave all with NASA's "no Buck Rogers - no image captured by Viking and due praise to the gods of orbital bucks" philosophy. You may not like it, completely debunked by Mars Global mechanics when I learned the Earth but there is probably some truth in that Surveyor). Received Time of the landing was near theory. Regardless of its merits, it I guess I can now safely share with the end of an hour when people in US remains the coin of the realm for the you an expression we use in the time zones would be awake. And so I foreseeable future. And there is no newsroom: "never let the facts get in sold CNN on the notion of an hour-long doubt sending humans into the the way of a good story" Or, special on Mars that culminated with vacuum creates a vacuum for those alternatively: "this story is too good to the landing. It included some recorded who design and launch robots into check out." pieces, a look at some of the most space. But my sense is people would be interesting images from the various It is simply hard to compete with pretty excited if you found a fossil. missions over the past 30 years and, of those operations in Houston and Matter of fact we have empirical proof course, frequent cuts to the control Florida. There is too much money there of that given the DEFCON 1 media room live camera as the team endured - and too many fights over how the cluster - er- "event" surrounding the the hellish final minutes of the long trip money should be spent. Alan Hills 84001 meteorite to the Fourth Rock. Shuttle launch coverage has announcement. It really was a nail biter - and even degenerated into little more than a It's not exactly what SETI's Jill Tarter better - as Phoenix fell to Mars we had deathwatch for the astronauts and the has in mind as she soldiers on in her data the whole way. And then came the space savvy press corps seems eagerly daunting effort to make Contact, but eruption: we could not have poised to pounce on the next gaffe. microbes on Mars would be enough to storyboarded an hour any better than The fact that CNN wiped out its lure people away from American Idol that. The ratings were huge and the entire (ahem, highly decorated) science for a while. I hope. audience was global (and as the CNN and technology unit (including yours I think the moral of this is because signal radiates out in to the void at the truly) should tell you a lot about where we are among the living, we are speed of light, eventually universal, I things stand right now in the generally interested in other living suspect). mainstream media. things. And this brings me to the other But the story was really not so much We are talking about plate tectonics great narrative that plays out among about a robot on Mars as it was the here. The world is shifting beneath the the "Martians" who make Disneyland humans who made it happen. media's feet. Once upon a time, we had for Nerds tick: it really is their story as So the human adventure of doing all healthy newspapers in this country - well. of this is a great connection between soon we will have nothing to line the I often wonder if the engineers and the people smart and talented enough birdcage or wrap the fish. scientists who stage interplanetary to make these missions a reality and So what's the advice? Plastics! Oh space missions are big gamblers those of us who only get a day pass to sorry, there's a reference that carbon- because what they do is such an all or Disneyland for Nerds. Let's be honest: dates me. Let me reboot: The advice is

The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 9 this: it's the Internet (stupid). Seriously, what you, in a sense, started in 1997 with the Pathfinder web-aganza - has grown at a Moore's OFFICIAL MEMBERSHIP AND DONATION FORM Law pace. Today - bloggers, Tweeters, Contact Information Facebookers, random folks ranting with a DV camera and a Mac can (and do) Name ______compete with a globally deployed standing army of journalists with all Address ______their satellite trucks, camera crews, producers, reporters, anchors, makeup City ______artists, caterers, entourages and fluffers State/Province ______Zip ______(although the latter may have gotten the shaft - due to the hard times). Country ______There are interested people out there but the mainstream media may no Email ______longer be the best way to reach them. The media landscape just looks a lot Contribution Information different than it did during those news Please check the amount of your contribution. conferences in the sixties and All donations of $1000 or more pay your dues for life! seventies. So listen up Martian Nation: __ Visionary ...... $5000 __ Explorer...... $2000 whatever you do, don't stop! Don't __ Benefactor...... $1000 __ Enthusiast ...... $500 stop exploring of course - but also __ Friend ...... $200 __ Donor ...... $100 don't stop thinking of new ways to speak directly to your audience. I have __ Other donation ...... $______seen the future - and it tweets I’m donating $100 or more, please send an autographed copy of: (although by the time you read this, __ The Case for Mars __ Entering Space Twitter might be ancient history). But whatever the e-muse of the moment, __ Mars on Earth __ First Landing (a novel) my teenage kids are part of a __ The Holy Land (satire) __ Energy Victory generation that insists on the two-way __ On to Mars 1 __ On to Mars 2 transaction on most everything they do __ Mars Songs CD __ NEW! How to Live on Mars on line. If they can't be part of the adventure - they are outta there. Don't Membership Information complain - you started it! Indeed, the Martians of La Canada Please add to or upgrade my membership as follows: seem to relish in allowing the world to (Please check the appropriate membership level) look over their shoulders as they work. __ Regular Membership: __ 1 year ...... $50 __ 3 years ...$100 Takes some big stones to be that __ Senior Membership: __ 1 year ...... $25 __ 3 years .....$50 transparent. But it is, after all, about exploration - about sharing the "Eureka" __ Student Membership: __ 1 year ...... $25 __ 3 years .....$50 moment and finding new ways to __ Family Membership: __ 1 year .....$100 __ 3 years ...$200 engage the world in the quest for the answer to the Big Question. Payment Information It is important to always think of what is just over the horizon - whatever Total Amount (Membership + Donation) ...... $ ______planet you inhabit. The worst thing that __ Personal Check or Credit Card __ Visa __ M/C __ Amex could happen is frustration. Those of us who care about this great adventure Credit Card # ______must never stop seeking new channels (or are they canali?) to tell the story. Expiration Date ______What would Percival say if we did? Name on Card ______Miles O’Brien is a freelance journalist Signature ______living in New York City. For nearly 17 years he covered the space program Fax this form to 307-459-0922, or Donate online at for CNN. He can be reached at www.MarsSociety.org [email protected].

The Mars Quarterly 10 Volume 1, Issue 2 Readers’ Forum Funding Mars

by Jason Romanik, Entrepreneur

A manned mission to Mars is a giant their wallets are deep and the mission giving are forgotten quickly. puzzle of problems and solutions. would not be jeopardized because What if governments are busy using Currently there are thousands if not there was no funds. But with the tax dollars elsewhere and no tens of thousands of eager engineers positive of government sponsorship, billionaire want to put their fortunes at and scientist who are ready to solve comes the negative. Bureaucracy and risk? A fundraising campaign the assortment of technical difficulties political haggling would inflate the designed to generate excitement and associated with traveling to the Red price tag considerably, sacrificing invoke the imagination could inspire Planet. However, the larger obstacle public opinion. And tax dollars will average Joe and Jane to make that few are looking at is that of require oversight and unnecessary individual contributions. Habitat for financing. The biggest hurdle for a regulation. So while the government's Humanity raised $127 billion within Mars Mission is a financial hurdle. money bucket is full, there is a lot of months of Hurricane Katrina and $75 How much money will be needed? baggage attached to it. billion was raised in private donations Where will it To avoid to help victims of India's 2004 tsunami. come from? political hassles, In both instances people's emotions Because this is Who has the ability a pioneering led to an outpouring of financial our first [manned] to pick up the tab entrepreneur support. If the public became trip to Mars, the for a successful might be able to emotional about a Mars Mission, estimated cost to find a billionaire wallets would open up and their set foot on the expedition to Mars? or two to finance excitement would move mountains red planet is a low cost and build rockets. A mission to constantly debated and fluctuates journey. Private money would be another planet would turn into our depending on mission demands. At innovative, efficient and could take generation's legacy. With the high end of the spectrum is calculated risk, all of which are campaigning, marketing and NASA's "Mars Semi Direct" mission, paramount for a successful voyage. advertising one man or a small group punching the cash register at a Another advantage would be the of men could trigger an emotional whopping $55 billion. At the bottom spectacle of the trip. In 1969, one reaction and there would be enough end is the "One Man One Way" billion people either watched the lunar money and energy to send a whole mission proposed by Jim McLane. landing on TV or listened to it on the colony to Mars. Price tag: $5 billion. Dr. Robert radio, more than one-quarter of the Above are three trees that bare the Zubrin's popular "Mars Direct" mission earth's population. Today that would fruit of financing for a manned mission retails for $20 billion. While the price translate into two billion viewers. A to Mars. Because of their advantages range is great, all efficient missions private company funded by a and disadvantages, one source might requiring 4-6 crew members to stay 2- billionaire could leverage the mission not be sufficient. Maybe the first 4 months on the Martian surface will using corporate sponsorship and successful mission plan will be the fall in the $15-25 billion range. advertising before, during and after brain child of a private entrepreneur Who has the ability to pick up the the mission. While the mission's price who has the ability to tap all three tab for a successful expedition to probably wouldn't be covered by financial wells during the various Mars? sponsorship alone, the cost would be stages of planning, developing and First and foremost is government. slashed considerably. On the down implementation. There is an A-list of four governments side, there are only a handful of We have the technical know how with the wallet and ambition to billionaires who have enough money and money is floating out there accomplish this mighty feet single to invest in a Mars Mission and rich waiting to be utilized. So whoever handedly, US, Russia, China, and people like to stay rich. However if a dreams big, has courage, and believes India. There is a B-list of 20 or so bright, energetic, pioneering individual nothing is impossible, will conquer the countries who would contribute to a could prove that a man's legacy is funding hurdle of Mars. collective effort, France and England more important than his money, he among the notable. The advantage to would have his financing. History Jason can be reached at: government financing, whether it's remembers the contributions of great [email protected] one government or a consortium, is men, while rich men who die without

The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 11 Interview with Dr. Steve Squyres

by Chris Carberry February, 2009

Carberry: Can you give a little failed rather spectacularly and it was Squyres: No. The background on Spirit and Opportunity? clearly a huge setback for the program. White House did Where did this concept come from? Also, it turns out that all launch not consult with us Squyres: I began to realize that much opportunities are not created equal. at all concerning the Vision for Space of the science I was interested in on Some are more favorable than others - Exploration at the time it was Mars was very difficult to do from orbit especially for surface missions that use announced. We were very, very, very and we could accomplish it much solar power. A combination of factors focused on operating our rovers. As better if we had some capability down about the amount of mass you can you recall, the announcement of the on the surface. I think from my deliver at what time of year - for the Vision for Space Exploration came background in geology - I was a vehicle to survive. The 2003 launch between the landing of Spirit and geology major as an undergraduate - I opportunity was the best one for a Opportunity. We had one rover - one liked the idea of reading the story that solar powered rover for I think 21 brand new vehicle on the surface of rocks had to tell us. We couldn't do years. It was a unique launch Mars. We had another one bearing that kind of science from orbit. Then, opportunity in that respect. So a down on the planet and about to land. in 1987 I began working on trying to number of factors conspired to make We were just up to our eyeballs in what bring about a mission of that sort. that a good time to do this. we were doing. So, the White House There was a period of ten years of didn't ask for our input at all in the writing a series of proposals to NASA. Carberry: I'll hazard to guess that you planning of VSE. All of them of varying sophistication never dreamed that these rovers would and quality, but each one of them last for 5 years. At the start of the Carberry: Starting a new clock right rejected in turn for various reasons. It mission, what did you think the longest now, what would like to accomplish if wasn't until 1997, on our fourth try, possible lifespan for these rovers you have another few years of when we brought a proposal to NASA would have been? operation from the rovers? Are there to provide a science payload for, at that Squyres: Realistically speaking - and other major discoveries that you think time, a single rover that was going to not saying what I'd say was these rovers are capable of making? go to Mars in 2001. There was another theoretically possible - but realistically, I Squyres: Absolutely. However, since series of events, some of which I am was looking for six months. Nothing we are at year five, we have to sure you are familiar with: the loss of close to five years. If anyone says that understand that they could drop dead the Mars Polar Lander and the loss of they thought they would last for five tomorrow. Every day is a gift at this the Mars Climate Orbiter. And a series years, they are lying. point. I had no expectations of the of events resulted in our program vehicles lasting any longer than they being cancelled and brought back to Carberry: What would you say was the have. We'll take whatever we can get. life three times in about three years. most exciting and significant discovery For Spirit, we have these two features That third resurrection became Spirit you made? Was it the water evidence? called "von Braun" and "Goddard." For and Opportunity. In the summer of Squyres: I think the most significant Opportunity, we hope to get to 2000, NASA decided to fly two rovers. and exciting discoveries were clearly Endeavor Crater. Endeavor Crater is Both would be identical to each other, the ones related to water. In the case very far away - probably double the using a landing system that was based of Opportunity it was ground water and total mileage that we have on the on the successful Mars Pathfinder surface waters. In the case of Spirit, it vehicle so far. It is more than ten mission. They looked very much like was the hydrothermal systems, but in kilometers away. It is a wonderful the rovers we had designed a long both cases it is related to water - it is target - a huge crater - 20 kilometers in time before, but redesigned to fit with the most scientifically exciting. diameter. The thing that makes it most the Pathfinder landing system - and interesting is the materials comprising that is essentially when they became Carberry: The success of these rovers the rim of the crater, which appears to Spirit and Opportunity. came at a very unique time in the be very different from anything either space program as well. It was not long rover has seen before. But it's very Carberry: Was there anything in after the Columbia accident. With the difficult to predict how long it will take particular that happened in 2000 that success of the rovers (one prior to VSE to get there. tipped the balance? announcement), do you think this Squyres: I think it was several things. influenced the decision making process Carberry: I have read quotes from you In part, I think it was in response to the on VSE and did the White House on the old question of people vs. failures. We had two missions that consult you at all? robots. You have been quoted as

The Mars Quarterly 12 Volume 1, Issue 2 being a strong advocate for the need to perchlorate at the time. That was a missions in the 2016 - 2018 time frame send humans. What would you say are surprise to just about everybody. As far that are being formulated right now. the strengths and weaknesses of as the ice in large quantities close to One that comes to mind is ExoMars. robots and humans in Mars the surface, to me and many other ExoMars is a European rover mission exploration? scientists that wasn't a surprise at all. that is in the works right now and is Squyres: The strength of robots is that There was some very compelling supposed to launch in 2016. There is a they are very inexpensive in evidence from the gamma-ray lot of interest in doing an orbiter that comparison to humans and they don't spectrometer and the neutron detector would follow up on the very interesting want to come back home again. on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft that data concerning methane in the there was ice not far from the surface Martian atmosphere. And then of Carberry: And you don't have to feed in very, very high concentrations. The course there is the Holy Grail: a sample them … motivation for sending Phoenix to that return mission - going down to the Squyres: That makes them a lot easier landing site was the high probability of Martian surface and collecting samples to deal with than humans, but they are finding ice close to the surface. I even and bringing them back to Earth. That far less capable. They're less capable of know planetary scientists who are is something that we have wanted to exploring. They're less capable of experts on Martian ice who - even do for a very long time and still want to improvising and responding to before Phoenix set down - predicted do. discoveries. They are less capable of that the retro rockets would expose ice inspiring future generations of beneath the vehicle. Carberry: Do you think there is the explorers. That's an important part of political will to do that in the near what we do. Common sense dictates Carberry: Going back to Spirit and future? that a sound Mars program is going to Opportunity, do you think it is a good Squyres: It's hard to say. It depends on involve both robots and humans. It will model for future missions? With Mars the level of funding for the Mars be more focused on robots early and Science Lander they are obviously Exploration Program. The current more on humans later, but there will be using elements, but have essentially funding doesn't support sample return plenty of opportunity for humans and invented a whole new rover. Do you in the near future or the more distant robots to work together on Mars. think that was a wise choice? Do you future, but with a modest funding Humans on Mars will certainly have think it would have been cheaper to increase, I think it is possible. robots to do things on their behalf. send a few more of the Spirit/Opportunity class rovers to Carberry: Since the ExoMars is a Carberry: If you were to send people, Mars? collaboration with Europe and there is where would you send them? Squyres: Spirit and Opportunity are talk of additional collaborative Squyres: That's a very difficult utterly incapable of doing the science missions, do you see this as the trend - question. It depends on too may that MSL will be doing. MSL is going rather than mounting our own factors that I can't really guess. For to drill centimeters into rock, extract independent missions we will opt for example, to what extent is your powder, bring it into the vehicle and collaborations with ESA or others? mission architecture going to depend search for organics with extraordinary And, do you think this is the correct on in situ recourse utilization as sensitivity. These are things that Spirit course to follow? opposed to just bringing everything and Opportunity aren't event remotely Squyres: I think it makes sense to pool with you. That will make a big capable of doing, so if you want to test our resources to maximize the science difference. You want to go to a place the hypothesis that there are [organic] return. Sample return is a great where the scientific explorers are going molecules on Mars, Spirit and example of that. Sample return will be to find the best science. Where that Opportunity are not the right vehicles very expensive and difficult for any one may be now may be very much for that. Mars is an incredibly diverse space agency to pull off. If several different from where that might be after planet and we've only been to two sites space agencies or a couple could MSL flies. If I had to pick a site today, with Spirit and Opportunity and I think coordinate their activities and pool their I'd pick a site, but we've got a lot to there are many other sites to bring that resources, then common sense says, learn before we're going to be picking vehicle to, but the Mars budget is very ‘yeah, it's going to be easier to get the sites. We should pick a site on the limited so we have to take what we can job done’. The hard part is pulling off basis of all the knowledge that we have get. the coordination. NASA works very at the time. differently than ESA. NASA is a single Carberry: On that topic, we obviously national space agency and ESA is a Carberry: What are your thoughts on have MSL scheduled for 2011 and the whole bunch of nations cooperating the discoveries that the Phoenix Lander MAVEN mission in 2013, and not a lot together. ESA has its own system for has made? The perchlorate and the solidly planned beyond that. What is selecting missions and certifying them. water ice being so close to the surface? the future of the Mars program and Their schedule for developing missions Squyres: The perchlorate was a what are the main challenges that you is different from ours, and since the surprise to me. I think most Martian see? planning processes are so different in scientists had never heard of Squyres: There are a series of the two, getting the two agencies to

The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 13 work effectively together can be many, many dedicated, hard working challenging, but it can be done. The space reporters. People whose job it is URC Update Cassini-Huygens mission is a to report what is going on in space - by Kevin F. Sloan spectacular example of that. Cassini- what is going on Mars. But the Huygens was a collaboration with the gatekeepers of these stories are the An international field of 10 college European Space Agency, and both editors and the people who make teams is hard at work programming Cassini and Huygens were spectacular editorial decisions about what content microcontrollers, welding frames, and successes. It is a model of how these gets before the American public and testing motor controllers in types of collaboration can be done. what content doesn't. And it is really preparation for the 2009 University those editors, those gatekeepers, which Rover Challenge (URC). All sights will Carberry: Moving back to policy, do exert the most control over what we be set on Oregon State University, you have any sense of where the new hear about and what stories get told. who pulled out a close win in 2008 administration is going with regards to Their job is to get eyeballs on websites over the rest of the field, led by the NASA? I realize that this is a difficult and get eyeballs on commercial time University of Nevada, Reno, and York question since a lot of the pieces have on TV, and in all those newspapers, etc. University. But it's not just the other not fallen into place yet. We need to work within the confines of rovers that teams will face threats Squyres: I don't have a sense of where that process. from. The southern Utah desert is the Obama administration will move well known for its oppressive heat in with regards to NASA. We don't yet Carberry: On a related note, what the summer, and as teams discovered know who the new NASA administrator would you see as the best way for the last year, can even muster up is going to be. I think it will be an Mars community to work more closely, incredible winds that seemingly make administrator who will begin the more in unison, to help promote the the legendary dust storms on Mars process of articulating clearly the goal? As you know, the various parts look like a calm, still day. administration's space policy, but for of the community, whether it's The The 2009 URC will take place May now we just wait. Mars Society, the planetary science 28-30, 2009 at the Mars Desert community, or even the human space Research Station, Utah. Be sure to Carberry: What do you think the space program, haven't always worked watch The Mars Society website and and Mars community can do to effectively together to achieve shared newsletter during that period for stimulate more interest not only with goals - for various reasons. stories, photos and videos from the the administration and Congress, but Squyres: I think it is very important for field, detailing all of the action! also in the general public? the Mars advocacy community to work Squyres: The best way to stimulate very effectively with the community of interest in the general public is to be scientists and engineers who actually doing good stuff on Mars. Flying good carry out these missions. There is missions - making exciting discoveries obviously considerable overlap - and conveying those discoveries and between the two groups, but not 100 what we do so that the public percent. I think it would be very experiences the thrill of exploration and unfortunate if we have one group of discovery - what it is like to succeed in people who fly the mission and analyze exploring another world. I think that, the data, etc., and another group of as a scientist, is the best thing we can people who are the passionate possibly do. It is not as much through advocates of The Mars Society and that advocacy, as leading by example. they are independent of the activities of one another. It really, really helps in a Carberry: Perhaps it is the way we situation where resources are tight convey these discoveries. Perhaps we when a community of people who should get the message out more have a common interest speaks with effectively so people understand that one voice. So, trying to coordinate the these discoveries are important. efforts of all of those groups who have Squyres: Getting the information out is an interest in going to Mars is a very an issue. The primary way you reach important thing to do. I don't have any large numbers of people is through the recipe for that, but I don't think anyone media; whether it be through would be surprised if The Mars Society television, the Internet, newspapers, has an important role in that process. movies, you name it. There are many different ways. For all these media outlets there are gatekeepers who determine what stories get told and what stories don't get told. There are

The Mars Quarterly 14 Volume 1, Issue 2 Convention Update 12th Annual International Mars Society Convention University of Maryland, College Park Your chance to hear the latest news and research from Mars, and to join us in advancing the cause of human space exploration! CONFERENCE SPEAKERS Reporting Mars: A discussion of the Convention, we will be sending at Hear the latest news and research role of media in space exploration. least 150 convention goers up to from Mars, and join in advancing the Gaming Mars: How can video game Capitol Hill to meet with their cause of human space exploration! producers help to promote Mars members of Congress and their staff Confirmed and probable conference exploration on the afternoon of July 30, 2009. To speakers include: Private Trips to Mars? We will be make this activity a success, we need Dr. Jim Garvin (NASA) conducting a panel to discuss the your help. If you are coming to the Dr. John Mather (NASA; possibility of the private sector Convention, please sign up for the Nobel Prize winner) contributing to Mars exploration. Blitz as well. Even if you are not Dr. Steve Squyres (Cornell; Mars The Great 2009 Mars Blitz coming to the Convention and can Exploration Rovers) Have you ever wanted to make a spare some time on Thursday Don Hassler (Primary Investigator direct statement in front of Congress afternoon, July 30, 2009, please join for the RAD on the MSL) in support of humans to Mars? Here us on Capitol Hill. George Butler (Director - Roving Mars; is your chance. At the Mars Society Pumping Iron) Dr. Chris McKay (NASA) Dr. John Grunsfeld (NASA Astronaut - Tentative) Miles O'Brien (Formerly of CNN) Dr. Mike Griffin (Former NASA Administrator - Tentative) Dr. Scott "Doc" Horowitz (Former Astronaut and Associate Administrator of NASA - Tentative) Dr. Penelope Boston (New Mexico Tech) Michael Carroll (artist/author) Andrew Chaikin (historian/author) Dr. Carolyn Porco (Cassini - Tentative)

Special Programming In addition to updates on the Phoenix Mars Lander, Spirit, Opportunity, Mars Express, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions now exploring the Red Planet, as well as Mars Society programs, we will also be featuring some special programming. All are guaranteed to be informative and exciting! Exploration: An Historical Perspective: We will examine the history of exploration on Earth and discuss how historical lessons might be able to be applied to space ©2007 Marilynn Flynn/Tharsis Artworks exploration. "The Search For Intelligent Life" The Art of Space: What role can art Two astronauts looking for signs of intelligent life in the Capitol. play in promoting and documenting Commissioned by Hal Fulton for use on the cover of his book space exploration. "The Space Activist's Handbook". Limited edition of prints available at www.tharsisartworks.com

The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 15 Biosphere M

A Measure of Humanity by Bruno D.V. Marino PhD

The problems of large scale capable of supporting large numbers cultures as we have historically come habitation on Mars are many; of persons over long periods of time. to know them. To date, humanity has however, sustainable ecosystems for The Earth, itself a mosaic of climate not been able to consider planet Earth production of food, water and zones and biological diversity, with a view towards expedient biological diversity are critical for long represents a time evolved large scale reversal of the problems, nor term success. Notwithstanding the "natural system" present long before undertake repair of damaged stark differences between the Martian human populations expanded around ecosystems on large scales. In the and Earth natural environments, the Earth. Thrown into a world of face of the consequences of global fundamental limitations of humanities biological and material richness warming it appears that no single capability to understand ecosystems humans have successfully evolved country or any group of countries and their functions, apparent now in and exploited niches for nourishment possess the capacity to deliberately the context of global warming, and provision of all the material maintain diverse and invaluable suggest that the popular paradigm of means required for reproductive ecosystem services that provide clean going to Mars to escape planetary success. However, within the last water, food, biodiversity and materials. ecosystem failure is in itself doomed several hundred thousand years, The circumstances and the evidence to the same end. The Biosphere M modern humans have demonstrated a suggest that humanity neither has an project will explore Mars and capacity to increasingly mine and understanding of how to establish planetary colonization from a harvest Earth's resources at an new ecosystems nor of how to sustain biospheric and ecological perspective unsustainable and alarming rate with and maintain them. This "ecological across scales of time, space, unintended consequences. Moreover, uncertainty" frames a paradox in that biodiversity, biogeochemistry, knowledge of the Earth's systems that humans have thrived by technology and human culture to support humanity appears to be technologically exploiting Earth's consider pathways to Mars. Humanity insufficient to effectively sustain and resources, yet have unknowingly clearly needs time to understand its manage Earth's key resources and damaged natural ecosystems; own habitat as a means to repair Earth ecosystems. If such knowledge was humanity is not yet capable of or to enable its success on other available it has been lost to humanity. repairing nor creating such systems planets. Should humanity not be able The Biosphere M project seeks to de novo. From this perspective, to manage Earth's resources and the assemble the knowledge required to colonization of Mars or of any other consequences of uncontrolled create and repair ecosystems and thus planet presents insuperable difficulties atmospheric CO2 are realized, "global lay the groundwork to establish to saving humanity from itself. civilization" may vanish just as early sustainable ecosystems on other civilizations and cultures vanished in planets. In one sense, a measure of Biosphere M: the late Holocene. Biosphere M humanity lay in our capacity to concepts may offer insights into the understand nature on Earth and to Reverse Pioneers Fermi Paradox, the Drake Equation recreate it on other planets. Current efforts to manage the and Gaian principles. planet’s radiative skin by regulating emissions, such as the Kyoto Protocol, Pioneer Effect are nascent and from the start Introduction Over the last century, beginning excluded the Earth’s forests, oceans A familiar call to colonize Mars in with the Pioneer effect, the cumulative and biodiversity. These policy the wake of failing Earth ecosystems anthropogenic alteration of the Earth's measures, while necessary in the face or other catastrophe is based on an atmosphere by greenhouse gases and of the potential peril of climate assumption that humans can, de destruction of ecosystems has change, may not be sufficient nor offer novo, develop and create large-scale, resulted in a growing consensus that enough time to reverse conditions sustainable ecosystems on other the human race may be approaching before irreversible thresholds are planets such as Mars. While small- an irreversible threshold of change reached. Biosphere M, in one sense, is scale habitations and created caused by global warming and its an effort to engender reverse pioneers environments may sustain early consequences. Without reversal of of ecosystem damage and climate colonies, and to some extent have atmospheric CO2 concentrations and change. From another perspective, been proven, the issue of scale in surface warming Earth systems may Biosphere M is a starting point, a general presents difficulties when undergo vast reorganization, reality check on our desire to populate considering productive, self- diminishing and or extinguishing space without understanding how to sustainable and diverse ecosystems many of the societies, economies and The Mars Quarterly 16 Volume 1, Issue 2 bring nature along to sustain us. The capacity to create self sustaining focused on the requirements to set up Failure to repair our own planet and/or ecosystems suggests that planetary the basic framework for large scale to recruit sustainable biospheres on biospheres could be established long integrated ecosystems ahead of new planets might suggest that the before human habitation begins or is colonization. The Mars Society’s Mars Fermi paradox is not a paradox at all needed, offering small space Desert Research Station (MDRS), in that the absence of life in the habitations an opportunity to "seed" a located in Utah, could provide a stark universe is due to humanities inability planet. Visionary organizations, such "reality check" environment from to manage its planetary home(s). as The Mars Society, already have which to consider possibilities, Likewise, according to the Drake operating model space habitations convene working groups, broadcast equation the paucity of planets with where such possibilities could be webinars and test ideas. suitable ecological conditions for explored in a realistic setting catalyzed An understanding of the natural evolution may not be difficult to by working groups and weekly focus world we live in, the ability to care for imagine. Finally, humanities failure to themes. it and development of the capacity to prevail suggests that we have not Biosphere M will consider transfer humanity successfully to other been able to discern larger principles paradigms of planetary "plant planets represents new challenges in of Earth system organization that, for domestication" based on germplasm technology and in our thinking as a all intents and purposes, offer engineered on Earth, potentially global society. However, a failure to sustainable, self-regulatory and almost providing the carbohydrate basis for address these issues now may lead us Gaia like qualities as proposed by population growth much like the early to a planetary end game that may James Lovelock. domesticates of maize, rice, potato threaten future generations and In another sense, Biosphere M will and millet provided for Earth's first humanity itself. focus on integration of key biological complex civilizations . Biosphere M components that together could grow will require focus and participation rapidly into a recognizable and from a wide audience. Please contact Dr. Marino with a sustainable ecosystem. A framework statement of interest and ideas to of ecosystem organogenesis for Biosphere M promote the objectives of the project. Biosphere M and for Earth may be The Biosphere M project is a non- based, in part, on lessons Working Groups profit effort to enhance humanities learned/opportunities lost on large- Biosphere M working groups will be understanding of the natural world. scale biospheric experiments (e.g., organized across broad disciplines [email protected] Biosphere 2) and consideration of and, when available, by facility. One www.pem-carbon.com closed/semi-closed system theory. example might be a working group

The Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), located in Utah, could provide a stark, “reality check” environment from which to consider possibilities, convene working groups, broadcast webinars and test ideas. : KEPLINGER DESIGNS GE CREDIT IMA

The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 17 A Cold Dry Cradle

by Gregory Benford and Elisabeth Malartre © Abbenford Associates, 1997 Introduction expedition as we could. I had just version, The Martian Race. The novel In 1996, just after a NASA group about given up hope that NASA could sold well and is still in print. (The claimed to see evidence of Mars ever send a manned expedition, so I publisher wanted me listed as sole biology in a Martian meteorite, concocted a way to get it done by author, for sales, but Elisabeth fully Elisabeth Malartre and I discussed private means. wrote her half.) If you enjoy this how life might survive and advance These ideas were so stimulating, we novella, the novel will answer there. Her doctorate is in biology and wrote the novella. It was picked up questions we hadn't room for in the with her knowledge, we created as and reprinted several times, leading to cramped space. plausible a scenario for a Mars our writing the fully worked out Enjoy! Gregory Benford

It seemed...that if he or some the readouts on the inside of the leg, leaning heavily on her. Together other lord did not endeavor to helmet. "Normal." His voice was thin they struggled for balance, gain that knowledge, no and strained. threatened to go over, then steadied. mariners or merchants would "Good. How do you feel?" She had long ago stopped counting ever dare to attempt it, for it is He shifted slightly, groaned. "Like how many times the 0.38 g's of Mars clear that none of them ever yesterday's blini. Light headed. My had helped them through crucial trouble themselves to sail to a right foot hurts like Hell." moments. It had proved the only place where there is not a sure Keep him talking. Can't risk shock. helpful aspect of the planet. and certain hope of profit. She kept her tone light. "That's "Whew. Made it, lover." Keep the Prince Henry the Navigator, what you get for doing cartwheels." patter going, don't alarm him. assessing the motivations for "Unh. I can't move it." "Ready? I'll walk, you hop as best you sea exploration, circa 1480 She frowned, wondering how can." difficult it was going to be to get him Like a drunken three-legged sack back into the rover. Help was more race team, they managed to stagger Part 1 than 35 klicks away, and she was slowly up the crater slope. "You will He turned with a cry of surprise, driving the only vehicle on the planet. work as a team," the instructor at falling helplessly with a silky So the two of them had to manage it mission training had said, but she slowness she would never forget. on their own. From the rover she hadn't anticipated this. Over com Piotr had caught his boot and when could contact the other two members came deep, ragged gasps. Hopping he tried to free it he managed to trip of the team, for moral support if through gravel, even in the low as well. His second yelp rang in Ann's nothing else. If she could get him gravity, was exhausting Piotr. Luckily suit com when he hit the ground and there. the rover was just on the rim, about a his ankle snapped. His right arm "Let's get you up." dozen meters away. smacked down vainly as he tried to "Awright." His slightly slurred voice Not at all like the electric dune break the fall. The impact sent worried her. They were all worn buggies used in the Apollo Lunar plumes of red dust arcing up into the down after months in this cold, raw missions, the Mars rover resembled thin atmosphere. She trotted to him land-scape and shock could be an oversized tank on wheels. It was in the long, gliding steps that covered setting in. really a mobile cabin that could keep ground best in the deep gravel and She bent over and slipped her left a crew of two out in the field for two low gravity. The dust began its lazy arm clumsily around his waist, feeling weeks. She got him into the lock and descent as she bent over Piotr and like a kid in a snowsuit. Suit to suit set the cycle sequence. No time to said, "How bad?" contact had a curiously remote feel brush off the dust; the cab inside was "Da... Felt it go. Foot..." about it, with no feedback from the hopelessly thick with the stuff She unfastened the bottom of his skin. Still, she liked hugging him, anyway. She heard the cycler finish insulated legging and ran her hands even this way. They slept together in and felt the rover's carriage shift. lightly over the ankle cuff of the thin a close embrace, ever since the Good; he had rolled out of the lock pressure suit underneath. "Suit looks launch from Earth orbit a year ago. and was lying on the floor. She hit the OK, no breaches. How's your air?" "I've got some great stuff in the pump switch and oxygen whistled The damned dust had settled on rover that'll make you feel like a new into the cabin from half a dozen his faceplate and she couldn't see man." recessed ports. him, but knew he would be checking "Good. Aieee." The chime sounded; they were He heaved himself up onto his left pressurized. She turned off her suit

The Mars Quarterly 18 Volume 1, Issue 2 oxygen, released the clamps on her precious few emergencies that blowtorch. helmet and as quickly as possible couldn't wait until after a cuppa. But Mars life had found a way to shucked her parka, leggings and As the water heated she got on the circumvent and vanquish the finally, her suit. She shivered as she AM channel and tried to reach the peroxides. Life here was widespread, stepped out into the chilly cabin: she other two back at the hab, got no subsurface microbes using the had actually been sweating on Mars - answer. They were probably deep in ubiquitous iron peroxides as their - a novel experience. A prickly itch the guts of the Return Vehicle, energy source. Within a week after washed over her face and neck and starting the final checks for the landing, some of Marc's first already she regretted their dusty approaching test fire. She left a exploratory cores had come up with entry. The usual routine was to brush heads-up on the ship's message streaks of a dark, crumbly soil-like the suits down outside with a soft system that they were coming back. layer less than a meter below the brush. Some genius from mission No way could she get any more done surface. prep with a lot of camping experience out here on her own. Anyway, Piotr Hoping to find something had thoughtfully stowed it aboard, came first, and any solo work was interesting, she set up a plastic and it quickly became one of their forbidden by their safety protocols. inflatable greenhouse dome outside prized possessions. The Martian She stared out of the forward view the habitat, spiked samples of the surface was thick with fine, rusty dust port at the pale pink hills, trying to Martian soil with water and nutrients, heavily laden with irritating assess what this accident meant to sealed them in small pressure vessels peroxides. Her skin felt like it was the mission. Maybe just a mishap, and incubated them. She could then being gently sandpapered all during no more? But Piotr still had plenty to check for any gases produced by the the long months here, especially do, preparing for their return launch. metabolism of life forms in the soil. when she was tired, as now. No, this would screw up the schedule She was essentially repeating the Fluffing her short black hair, she for sure. Her own work would get robot Viking biology program, but doffed a red Boeing cap and went shoved aside. Face it, she thought-- this time life was looking for life over to help Piotr. She upped the biology was not the imperative here directly. To avoid the embarrassing pressure to get him more oxygen and any more. She had made her big possibility of introducing her own together they gingerly peeled off his discovery. To the world, their microflora into the experiment, she insulating layers and his suit. A look expedition was already a big success- worked with the samples only at his leg confirmed her guess: -they'd found life. outside, under the cold red-stained broken ankle, swelling fast. sky. In her pressure suit and From there it was straight safety # insulating outerwear she was manual stuff: bind, medicate, worry. somewhat clumsy, and each step "I love you, even zonked on The robot searchers of years before went slowly. But finally she was painkillers," she murmured to his had fruitlessly tried to find evidence satisfied with the setup. The elevated sleeping face when she had checked of life or even fossils. But in the iron greenhouse temperatures kept the everything five times. He had peroxide desolation all traces were water from freezing and speeded up dropped off disturbingly fast. He kept erased. The tiny robots had an the results enormously. up a front of invincibility, they all did impossible task, akin to dropping a Sure enough, as in the Viking somewhat or they wouldn't be here; toy rover into Montana and expecting experiments, there was an immediate it went with the psychology. But he it to find evidence of the dinosaurs response of dry surface peroxides to had the bone-deep fatigue that came that had once tramped through its the water. A spike of oxygen. When from a hard mission relentlessly hills. Mars was bone-dry, but without that had run its course she bled off pursued. bones. Not even the algal mats some the gases and resealed the pressure She was suddenly very tired. had hoped might be preserved from vessels. And was rewarded in a few Emotional reaction, she diagnosed the ancient lake beds. days with unmistakable signs of wryly. Still, better tend to it. The noxious peroxides had a good renewed gas production. Carbon Time for a cup of tea. She looked side, though. In chem labs Earthside dioxide this time. The microscope around first for her tea cosy, carefully hydrogen peroxide was a standard then confirmed living colonies of brought from Earth as part of her disinfectant, giving the Consortium a Martian microbes. The rest, as they personal mass allowance. Nothing handy argument against those who say, was history. So why was she could've induced her to leave it said a human expedition would still restless, unsatisfied? behind-- home was where the cosy contaminate the whole planet, was. She retrieved it from a corner compromising the search for life. In # of the cooking area. Originally light closed-environment tests, the blue and cream colored, it was now peroxides scavenged up the smallest The crackle of the radio startled stained irretrievably with the red dust microbes, making it quite clear why her. "Home team here. Got your of Mars. When things got tough she the Viking landers had found no signs heads-up, Ann. How is he?" Marc sought the comfort of a proper cup of of organic chemistry. For Earth life, Bryant's crisp efficiency came over tea made in a teapot. There were Mars was like living in a chemical clearly, but she could hear the

The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 19 clipped tenor anxiety, too. and across a flood plain, then over a historic paper, the first submitted to "Stable." She quickly elaborated on bolder-strewn pass and down a Nature from another world. Barth, Piotr's symptoms, glancing at his narrow valley and across a flood Bryant, Molina & Trevinski's sleeping face. They had each taken a plain, then over a pass... "Subsurface Microbial Life on Mars" month of medical training but Marc Here, a drive back to base that described their preliminary findings: had more. She felt relieved when he proved uneventful was even pleasant. it would rank with Watson & Crick's approved of her treatment. "Got to Mars was always ready to thunk a 1952 paper nailing the structure of think what this means," he said wheel into an unseen hole or pitch DNA. That paper had opened up cell laconically. the rover down a slope of shifting biology and led to the Biological "We'll be there for supper. Extra gravel, so she kept exactly to the Century. rations, I'd say." tracks they had made on the way out, What would their discovery lead A small, very small joke. They had no matter how enticing a distant flow to? There was already a fierce celebrated each major finding with a pattern in the rocky shelves might be. bidding war for her samples. Every slightly excessive food allotment. She had seen enough of this red- major lab wanted to be the first to So far, they had not marked hued terrain to last a lifetime, crack the Martian DNA code, and disasters this way. And they were anyway. Nothing more out there for determine the relationship between having their share. a biologist to do. Martian and terran life. Her simple The first was the vent failure on the In the distance she caught sight of chemical tests --staining samples of flight out. They found they had lost a the formation she and Piotr had thin-sectioned Mars colonies under big fraction of their water reserve, dubbed the Shiprock on the way out. the microscope --had shown that the four months out from Earth, from a It looked like a huge old sailing ship, basic constituents of life --proteins, blown valve. There had been no time red layers sculpted by eons of wind. lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids -- to console themselves with food, and They'd talked about Ray Bradbury's were the same here, or at least close good reason not to. They had landed sand ships, tried to imagine enough to respond to the same bone-dry, and lived on the water skimming over the undulating chemical tests. manufactured by the Return Vehicle's landscape. The motion of the rover She used standard techniques and chem plant ever since. That accident always reminded her a little of being extracted what seemed to be DNA had set the tone for the others. on the ocean. They were sailing over from the microbes. So how similar Celebrate the triumphs, overcome the the Martian landscape on a voyage of was it to Earth style DNA? She ran disasters. discovery, a modern day Columbus some hybridization tests with the "My night to cook, too," Marc said, journey. But Columbus made three dried DNA of terran microbes she'd transparently trying to put a jovial lilt voyages to the new world without brought along. Basically, you unzip to it. "Take care, gal. Watch the road." landing on the continent. He the double-stranded DNA helix by 'discovered' America by finding heating, then mix the soup of single # islands in the Caribbean, nibbling on strands with strands of a different the edges of a continent. A sudden DNA. When the mixture is cooled Here came the heart-squeezing thought struck her: was that what down again, strands that are similar moment. She turned the startup they were doing-- finding only the enough pair up. She got just enough switch and in the sliver of time before fringes of the Mars biology? Many pairing between Martian and terran the methane-oxygen burn started in people had speculated that the microbial DNA to conclude that life the rover engine, all the possible subterranean vents were the most on both planets at least used the terrors arose. If it failed, could she fix likely places for life on this planet. same four-letter alphabet. it? Raoul and Marc could come out The frontier for her lay hundreds of That was exciting, but not in an unpressured rover and rescue meters below, out of reach. She conclusive. In other words, all DNA them, sure, but that would chew up sighed resignedly. But it had been might have to be composed of the time...and be embarrassing. She great fun, at first. same four bases just for molecular wasn't much of a mechanic, but still, structural reasons. who likes to look helpless? # But the DNA code was something Then the mixture caught and the else. DNA spells out the amino acids, rover chugged into action. Settling She slurped more tea, recalling the which then construct the cellular in, she peered out at the endless excitement of the first months. Some proteins --both the structural obstacles with the unresting of it was pure fame-rush, of course. brickwork and the busy enzymes that concentration that had gotten her on Men on Mars! (Uh, and a woman, do the cell's business. If Martian DNA this mission in the first place. To too.) They were household names spelled in the same language as on spend 550 days on Mars you wanted now, the first Mars team, sure bets Earth, it would mean unequivocally a people who found sticking to the for all the history books. Hell, they common origin for life. tracks a challenge, not boring. She might eventually eclipse Neil When she tried sequencing the followed the auto-tracker map Armstrong. Martian DNA, it came out gibberish. meticulously, down a narrow valley She was first author on a truly It looked like Earth-style DNA, but she

The Mars Quarterly 20 Volume 1, Issue 2 couldn't match it to known gene nervous and skittish but Piotr was a The planet did not die for want of sequences. It was, once again, an persistent sort and she finally realized heat or air, but of mass. With greater ambiguous result. And that was as far that this just might do both of them gravity it could have held onto the as she could go with her equipment. more good than anything in the gases its volcanoes vented, The rest would have to wait. medicine chest back in the habitat. prevented its water vapor from Assuming that life emerged only The route began to take them--or escaping into vacuum. Split from once for the two planets, where did it rather, her, since Piotr crashed again hydrogen by the sun's stinging start? If Mars cooled first, life would right after sex; this time she forgave ultraviolet, the energetic oxygen arise here while Earth was still a pool him--through familiar territory. She promptly mated with the waiting iron of hot lava. And come to Earth via had scoured the landscape within a in the rocks. The shallow gravitational the meteorite express. The Martian few days of the hab. Coming down well failed. Light hydrogen blew away meteorites with their enigmatic fossils in the Chryse basin, they got a full into the yawning vastness of empty had tantalized scientists for years. helping of Mars: chasms, flood runoff space. Had Mars been nearer the When they were first discovered, the plains, wrinkled canyons, chaotic sun, the sunlight and warmth would big question had been whether they terrain once undermined by mud simply have driven water away faster. actually contained fossils, because flows, dried beds of ancient rivers So those early life forms must have most people thought they knew that and lakes, even some mysterious big fought a slow, agonizing retreat. Mars was lifeless. Now we know potholes that must be mini-volcanoes There were eras when lakes and even about that part, at least, she thought. somehow hollowed out. Her pursuit shallow, muddy seas had hosted Organized life forms from Mars of surface fossil evidence of life had simple life --Marc's cores had seeding Earth's primitive soup of been systematic, remorseless--and uncovered plenty of ancient silted basic organic molecules would mostly a waste. plains, now compressed into quickly dominate. Martians come to Not a big surprise, really, in sedimentary rock. But no fossil harvest Earthly resources. H.G.Wells retrospect. Any hiker in the forests, nothing with a backbone, with a twist. We may yet be Martians. American west was tramping over nothing with shells or hard body Pretty heady stuff for the scientific lands where once tyrannosaurus and parts. If higher forms had basked in community, and it would change our bison had wandered, but seldom did the ancient warmth here, they had essential world view. Full anybody notice a bone sticking out of left no trace. employment time for philosophers, the ground. Ann was more The squat hab came into view in too, and even religious theorists. systematic and probed deeper in the the salmon sunset. Looking like a But deep down she realized she'd obvious places, where water had giant's drum, five meters high and wanted to find L*I*F*E, not microbes. once silted up and could have eight meters across, it stood off the The ghosts of Carl Sagan's giraffes trapped recently dead organisms. ground on sturdy metal struts. Long had shaped her expectations. Marc Algal mats, perhaps, as with the first pink and white streamers of carbon was jazzed by the discovery of big life forms on Earth. But she had dioxide and water vapor trailed from deeper layers of microbes, separated no real luck, even in a year and a half roof vents, signaling that Marc and by layers of sterile peroxide-laden of snooping into myriad canyons and Raoul were there. Inside, the two sediments in the old ocean beds. promising beds of truly ancient lakes. stacked decks had the floor space of That implied periodic episodes of a That didn't mean life wasn't a smallish condo, their home for the wet and warm climate. But so far she somewhere on the planet. A billion last two years. Not luxurious, but had not found anything other than years was a long time, enough for life they would certainly be nostalgic for the soil microbes. Even the volcanic to evolve, even if Mars had not it in the cramped quarters of the vent they had explored had no life, supported surface life for perhaps Return Vehicle they would shortly be only peroxide soil blown into it from three billion or more. boarding. the surface, like a dusty old mine She stamped her feet to help the By now the hab was familiar to shaft. And now they were about to circulation. Space heaters in the billions of Earthbound TV viewers leave and the subterranean caverns rover ran off the methane-oxy burn, and net surfers. Everyone on Earth were still unexplored. Damn! but as always, the floor was cold. had the opportunity to follow their When the outside was tens of adventures, which were beamed daily # degrees Centigrade below zero, from Ground Control and carried on gradients in the rover were steep. the evening news. Their web page After five hours Piotr was doing Mars never let you forget where you registered over a hundred million hits well, had regained his energy and were. in the week following the landing. good spirits. They even managed a She tried to envision how it must Mars had ceased to be Space and clumsy but satisfying slap and tickle have been here, billions of years ago. had become a place. when she stopped the rover for Did life give way with a grudging She told herself that she had done lunch. They weren't going to get any struggle, trying every possible all anybody reasonably could. After more privacy, not with just two weeks avenue before retreating into the finding the microbes, she had to go until the return launch. She felt diminished role of mere microbes? postulated that they used an enzyme

The Mars Quarterly www.MarsSociety.org 21 like catalase to harvest the peroxides' energy. Then she had tested it in her Photo of the Day small greenhouse set-up, found it worked. She would write that up on the half-year voyage home, squirt it Don’t forget to check the website daily for the “Photo of the Day”, usually email to an eager audience of every submitted by a crew at MDRS... biologist in the world. Heady stuff! She had data on chemical and biological toxicity of Martian substances to terrestrial biota. Another paper there, too. Plus work on the suitability of local soils to support greenhouse agriculture. Marc had even tried to grow kitchen herbs, but none of the seeds sprouted. Her long searches for fossil microbial mats in the paleoseas had turned up plenty of oddities that might bear fruit under rigorous inspection back Earthside. But she still felt she was just nibbling at the edges, but of what? Raoul and Marc climbed down out of the hab as she approached in the last slanting rays of a ruddy sunset, two chubby figures in dark parka suits. Only Raoul's slight limp distinguished them. The tracker system had alerted them, and they would have to carry Piotr in. Plus a little ceremony they had devised: salvaging water from the rover. The methane-oxygen burn made carbon dioxide, which the engine vented, and pure water. She backed the rover to the conical Return Vehicle, with its gaudy red-on-white MARS CONSORTIUM wrap-around letters, a meter high. Raoul and Marc hooked THE MARS SOCIETY is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organization with the water condensers to the input headquarters in Colorado, USA, committed to furthering the goal of the exploration lines, so the chem factory inside and settlement of the Red Planet, via broad public outreach to instill the vision of could store it. They had full tanks of pioneering Mars, support of ever more aggressive government funded Mars methane and oxygen for the liftoff, exploration programs around the world, and conducting Mars exploration on a but water was always welcome, after private basis. the parching they had taken on the THE MARS SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS: long flight here. The guys did this last task by way of saying, welcome Robert Zubrin Scott Horowitz Declan O'Donnell Penelope Boston home. In the bleak, rusty dusk, the Richard Heidmann cold of night biting already through her skinsuit, the symbolism was THE MARS SOCIETY STEERING COMMITTEE: important. Mars was sharp, cold and Buzz Aldrin James Harris Guy Murphy Peter Smith unrelenting, and they all felt it to the Penny Boston Richard Heidmann Anthony Curtis Sara Spector bone. Chris Carberry Rt. Rev. James Muscatello Lucinda Weisbach Jonathan Clarke Heiser Gabriel Rshaid Artemis Patricia Czarnik Jean Lagarde Shannon M. Westenberg Tamarack Robert Darlene S.S. Lim Rupert Robert Zubrin End of Part 1. Part 2 will be included Czarnik Bruce Mackenzie Gus Sheerbaum in the internet version of The Mars Gary Fisher Bo Maxwell Frank Shubert Quarterly, Volume 1, Issue 3, to be Gus Frederick Steve McDaniel Kevin F. Sloan published July, 2009.

The Mars Quarterly 22 Volume 1, Issue 2