Rather than being an impediment to future human exploration of Mars, there are ways to use the ISS to help support that long-term vision. (credit: NASA)

by Chris Carberry
Monday, May 14, 2012

When ExploreMars first decided to begin the International Space Station and Mars Conference series, I was quite skeptical. Like many others in the Mars community, I didn’t see how ISS could be of much value to Mars exploration. Truth be told, I thought it served as nothing but an obstacle to Mars exploration…

…click here to read the rest of the article  at The Space Review’s website.

“Devil’s Fire Wheel”

Here’s a “just for fun” image shared with ExploreMars by Tracy Wilmot, an arts & crafts specialist in New Brunswick, Canada, who calls this interesting  geographical formation the “Devil’s Fire Wheel”.

See It Up Close

The “Devil’s Fire Wheel” Google Earth (Mars) .kmz file can be downloaded at:  http://exploremars.org/GoogleMars/DevilsFireWheel-ExploreMars.org.kmz .  It’s best if viewed from an “eye altitude” of  about 75 miles (120km),  depending on your settings, with an east heading as in this picture.

Google Earth, a free application, which also has the ability to navigate Mars, is available at http://google.com/earth

Smart Coatings for Manned Spacecraft – Steve McDaniel (SETI Talks)

As we enter the era of manned space flight and habitation beyond low Earth orbit, much longer duration human occupation and much less frequent resupply will be the norm, stretching the capacities and capabilities of life support systems. The myriad internal surfaces aboard ISS and the various crew compartments on drawing boards today are viewed as a liability due to contamination and fouling. Yet, if such surfaces operate synergistically with life support systems, these same surfaces become an asset with practically no increased load weight penalty. Virtually all of these surfaces are coated. Bio-based, non-toxic additives to such coatings, many of which are already being marketed for 1XG applications, will create the functionalized surfaces needed.


Dr. Steve McDaniel is an avid Mars researcher specializing in Martian astrobiology. For more on his extensive experience please see our Management Team page.

Please also visit and subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Featured are videos from the 2010, 2011, and 2012 ISS & Mars conferences, Mars and Space Exploration News clips, and other interesting lectures and entertaining Mars video clips from around YouTube. -EM

David Levine

On Thursday I was one of the judges for the Design A Martian Habitat Contest for students grades K-12.   My part of the process was to look over each entry and provide a few comments as well as a grade from 0.0 to 4.0 for Originality, Feasibility, Science and Engineering, Essay, and Total.  My comments and grades, along with those of the other judges, will be used in the final determination of the winners.   At least two judges will grade each entry.

There were a lot of entries.  I got through about half of the ones from the grade 5-8 section.  Most of those were from grade 5.

I was very impressed. Almost all of the entries identified the most pressing issues for human survival on Mars and provided plausible solutions to those issues. Many of the essays were very well written and most were accompanied by a vivid and enthusiastic illustration of the habitat design. My hat’s off to these kids.

Even the best essays, however, contained occasional phrases that, for all their sincerity, made me laugh out loud. (And I must emphasize that some of these came from essays I graded highly.) So here’s a “greatest hits” composite essay with all the bits that were just too much fun not to share. Every sentence below came from an actual entry, with spelling, capitalization, and punctuation exactly as shown.

MY MARS HABITAT
by David, grade 5

INTRODUCTION

Mars is the coolest place on earth. Mars is an amazing planet and we need to be prepared for Whatever its surface beholds.

Jonah is going to Mars. He brings food, water, air, metal, tools, spacesuit, more air, plants to make more air with, and his guitar. First, he goes to Phobos. Phobos is like rocks.

And off they traveled in to the unknown bounders of space only to find the planet mars …

AIR, WATER, FOOD, AND GRAVITY

The astronauts brought big, warm puffy coats and lots of blankets to keep them warm; they also brought materials that would make the bad air from outside turn into good air that they could breathe only in their air tight shelter.

Astronauts will gather water from the ice caps. They will collect the ice and bring it down to a vat of hot water. The ice will melt and the astronauts will have water. I would test it to see if you could drink it. I would take all the chemicals out of it.

They will get gravity by using the gravity box that NASA has lent them. They will also wear heated clothes that look kind of like a space suit but not as fat looking.

I would bring a food supply that would last years. I will need apples, water, meat and a refrigerator to store food. I would also bring beans.

Since Mars’s atmosphere is thinner than ours and since the UV rays and solar radiation would burn them bad I thought they could just wear thick hats and cloths and allot of sunscreen while their outside so they wouldn’t have a problem with that.

Because of the low pressure they have most of there things attached to the ground, they also need a (n) electric compressor.

Since low pressure can give u a headache they are going to have to bring allot of Aspirin. And since it can make your ears pop they are going to bring a lot of gum and gummy bears and gummy worms.

Jonah didn’t bring his friends. Sometimes it’s dark.

DESIGN OF THE HABITAT

There is no breathable air on mars. So after they finish the space station they will take bottles of oxygen and spray the whole building. All doors are sealed shut unless they are opened.

The astronauts shot electricity into the atmosphere to separate fhe oxygen from the other gasses. They store it in an underground tank. There is a plug with a rope attached to it that hangs out into the science lab. To release oxygen, you pull on the rope. There are strips of rubber strapping the plug to the tank, so if you let go of the rope, the plug snaps back into place. [I gave this one high marks. Low tech = reliable!]

There is going to be a cafeteria on the middle floor, and astronauts will have mini fridges in their room. There is a connection from the cafeteria to the food cellar where the cook can pull up food.

In the bathroom you have to Deposit your waste into a bucket, then poor it in to the waste shoot. Your waste then goes down to the burning room where it is burned. This produces heat for the Base.

Since I already explained about the bathrooms, the water, and the food I will explain about the beds. They are not bunk beds but they are just regular single beds. Every astronaut gets their own bed. In the morning they have to go all the way to the dressing rooms to get dressed. [I suspect the writer of this paragraph has to share a bedroom.]

I was thinking like in the airplanes have oxygen masks you could hang them every where in your headquarters. You would be safe wherever you walked!

They would do all of their experiments and more in their lab which is part of their home and they would aloes bring all the tools they would need for the experiments, like test tubes, spoons, gloves ext.

There is a door to the janitors closet ( for spills and puke etc. )

Jonah wants to talk to people on Earth. He wants to set up Skype because of his laptop. He will hook up to his solar panels. He will need a special antenna. He will have to build it. It will have to be really big. It will take Jonah seven days to build it. He will grow food and air from plants. He will go and get rocks and make dirt for the plants. Now he is ready to talk to Earth.

EXPLORATION

For science experiments, they could study the rocks. They would go out in their astronaut suits and grab a rock. When they got back inside they could study it.

This is special iron. Every time you hit it, it blows up.

the second thing they saw was the space ranger that they have heard many stories about but never dreamed they would see it in person but now there it was all dusty,

‘We need to see if we are not alone. So we need to go back inside and get more air for are tanks. “Then we can go and see if there is anyone else here on This stinking planit named mars.”

CONCLUSION

When astronauts go to mars they need to be prepared. Mars is a far away planet. But then again, not so far away.

My conclusion is that if you go up to Mars you should be prepared. This essay will make sure of that. If you don’t have all of these things you will probably not be happy. I hope you take this into consideration.

—-

David Levine can be found on Twitter (@daviddlevine) or via email at dlevine@spiritone.com .  -EM

This conference will discuss how ISS can be utilized to advance the goal of sending humans beyond Low Earth Orbit – specifically to Mars.   “A lot of great concepts were discussed during our 2011 ISS and Mars programming,” stated Explore Mars Executive Director, Chris Carberry. “The Strasbourg conference will be a perfect venue to move these discussions forward and start developing a more comprehensive plan on how these concepts can be achieved.”

This conference will feature experts from the ISS international partnership, industry, planetary exploration, and other key players in the space community.  Confirmed and tentative speakers include, Reinhold Ewald (ESA; astronaut), James Garvin (NASA), Berndt Feuerbacher (International Astronautical Federation), Walter Peeters (ISU), Franklin Chang Diaz (Ad Astra Rocket; former NASA astronaut), Michael Raftery (Boeing),  Sam Scimemi (NASA), Michael Menking (Astrium), and many others.

In addition, Strasbourg was also chosen because it is the seat of the European Parliament and the conference will highlight the importance of space for advancing science and technology.

“Space has the potential to attract students to Science and Technology”, according to Explore Mars president, Artemis Westenberg, “and to encourage them to pick science and engineering for their work careers, something Europe as a whole can use very well to stay innovative and competitive in our ever more technological world.”

Topics will include,

- What have we learned and what are the challenges to human exploration of Mars?

- ISS as a research and test bed and analog platform for Mars.

- ISS as a research test bed for human factors of going beyond LEO.

-ISS as a technology development and operational platform for Mars and other destinations beyond.

- The ISS Partnership as a governance model for international human missions beyond LEO and eventually to Mars.

- What projects can be launched in the next 2-5 years?

According to Dr. Chris Welch, ISU Masters Programs Director: “The ISS and Mars project is exactly the sort of innovative and forward-thinking activity that ISU exists to support and promote. ISU is, therefore, extremely pleased to be partnering with Explore Mars to bring the ISS and Mars conference to Europe and looks forward to welcoming participants to Strasbourg in April 2012.”

On 12 April the ISS and Mars Conference in Strasbourg will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of International Space University as well as “Yuri’s Night,” the annual international celebration marking the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight into space and ESA Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain has tentatively agreed to speak at this reception.

To register for ISS Mars-Europe, please visit the conference registration site at:

www.issmars-europe.eventbrite.com

Will you be in London, England on the evening of April 16, 2012? If so, please join us for “Drinks with Explore Mars” at Gordon’s Wine Bar

We would love to chat with members of the space community around London in London’s oldest wine bar.  
We will be meeting in the “Cage” section of Gordon’s which is back in the old wine cellar.  Feel free to stop by anytime between 5:00pm and 9:00pm.  
If you plan to come, please email Explore Mars, Executive Director, Chris Carberry at carberry ‘ad’ exploremars.org.  
Gordon’s Wine Bar is at 47 Villiers Street in London, England.

Here you can find where it is

Gordon’s Wine Bar is Chris’ favourite place in all of London. On the outside it is not much to look at. You could easily pass it by and not know what you have missed. Gordon’s has been around since 1890 and if you walk in you could think that you have come to the Leaky Cauldron (or its brother). If you are interested on a bit of background on Chris’ favourite retreat go here.
And if  in London on 16 April, don’t miss out and come and meet up with us to talk about our projects and any other idea you have for Mars.

We are also very pleased to announce that the ISS and Mars Conference will be publicly webcast — anyone interested in viewing the conference should visit http://www.isunet.edu/webcast at the start of the event.

Interactive webcast
We will be accepting online questions for our speakers and moderators and would love to have your participation.  If you would like to ask a question during the conference, please tweet your question to #issandmars.  While we naturally can’t guarantee that all online questions will be answered, we will try to submit as many as possible to our speakers and moderators.

This European conference will discuss how ISS can be utilized to advance the goal of sending humans beyond Low Earth Orbit – specifically to Mars.  This conference, like the one in Washington D.C. in April 2011, will feature experts from the ISS international partnership, industry, planetary exploration, and other key players in the space community.

Speakers:

• Reinhold Ewald (ESA; astronaut)
• Simon ‘Pete’ Worden (NASA)
• Berndt Feuerbacher (International Astronautical Federation)
• Walter Peeters (ISU)
• Franklin Chang Diaz (Ad Astra Rocket; former NASA astronaut)
• Michael Raftery (Boeing)
• Bruno Gardini (ESA)
• Sam Scimemi (NASA)
• Kirk Shireman (NASA)

Topics:

• What are the challenges to human exploration of Mars?
• International Space Station (ISS) as a test bed, missions beyond Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) and on to Mars
• Transitioning from ISS to Exploration
• What projects can be launched in the next 2-8 years in Cis-Lunar Space
• Moving Beyond LEO: What missions can be accomplished in the next 10-20 years?
• The ISS Partnership as a governance model for international human missions beyond LEO and eventually to Mars

Once again, if you are interested in attending the ISS and Mars Conference at ISU in person, please visit the conference registration site at www.issmars-europe.eventbrite.com .

For further information regarding ExploreMars  please visit our website:
www.exploremars.org or contact:

Chris Carberry, Executive Director
Explore Mars, Inc.

We will also be accepting online questions for our speakers and moderators. If you would like to ask a question during the conference, please tweet your question to #issandmars. While we can’t guarantee that all online questions will be answered, we will try to submit as many as possible to our speakers and moderators.

This European conference will discuss how ISS can be utilized to advance the goal of sending humans beyond Low Earth Orbit – specifically to Mars.  
This conference, like the one in Washington D.C. in April 2011, will feature experts from the ISS international partnership, industry, planetary exploration, and other key players in the space community.

If you want to attend in person, please visit the conference registration site

Speakers include:

- Reinhold Ewald (ESA; astronaut)

- Simon ‘Pete’ Worden (NASA)

- Berndt Feuerbacher (International Astronautical Federation)

- Walter Peeters (ISU)

- Franklin Chang Diaz (Ad Astra Rocket; former NASA astronaut)

- Michael Raftery (Boeing)

- Bruno Gardini (ESA)

- Sam Scimemi (NASA)

- Kirk Shireman (NASA)

Topics

- What are the challenges to human exploration of Mars?

- ISS as a test bed, missions beyond LEO and on to Mars

- Transitioning from ISS to Exploration

- What projects can be launched in the next 2-8 years in Cis-Lunar Space

- Moving Beyond LEO: What missions can be accomplished in the next 10-20 years?

- The ISS Partnership as a governance model for international human missions beyond LEO and eventually to Mars

The reception will take place at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 29th in Ballroom 3 & 4 at the Marriott Downtown in Indianapolis.

At this reception, Bill Nye, executive director of The PLanetary Society, will hand the price winners: Marilyn Sniffen, Stefanie Ells, Gregg Hensley, Bhavna Rawalwho their prizes for developing innovative curricula materials that incorporate Mars exploration.  The reception will have a cash bar and light Hors d’oeuvres.

Other guest speakers will include Brian Tanner from the Indiana Space Port and Lisa Pratt, Mars expert and Provost Professor and Chair, Department of Geological Science at Indiana University.  There is limited space at this reception.  If you would like to attend, send an RSVP to info@exploremars.org

Really, it’s only the last 10 000 years since the start of farming that are relevant here: and they tell us that our systems are not as resilient as we’d like them to be.

Or maybe it’s just the last 13 years, which is the time it took for the Earth’s population to go from 6 billion to 7 billion human beings, many of whom live in regions which are seeing an increase in extreme weather.

Or maybe it’s just the next 40 years, during which the flows from the Colorado, Rio Grande and San Joaquin rivers are projected to drop by 10%, which could be a tiny bit awkward for the 8 states that rely on them for part of their water supply.

So, arguably, the question about how much the climate is changing is just the opener.
The next questions are about how much we’re going to have to adapt, and how well we’ll do it — and the corollary, whether all things considered, it might be better to do what we can to keep the weather system as stable as possible.

Not just for the Polar Bears, but for us, humans.

The above text is almost completely a  copy of an email I received from Dr. Kathryn Denning, Dept. of Anthropology York University, Toronto, Canada

World Health Organization, Climate Change and Human Health. Available at: http://www.who.int/globalchange/climate/en/