News

Call for nominations for MSA Board


The Mars Society Australia (MSA) is calling for nominations for directors. Directors are appointed for a initial term of two years and half the board is elected every year.

MSA is an organisation of like-minded people that provides educational and public outreach, engineering projects and scientific research related to the planet Mars.  You can read more about the MSA here:

https://marssociety.org.au/about 

Our board of directors help run day to day operations as well as strategically plan and mange the society's endeavours.

If have an interest in Mars and would like to contribute to the MSA, please consider nominating as a director.  While professional experience in business and science is highly regarded, formal qualifications are not required. The MSA's board is typically made up of people with differing professional experience and interest who share one thing - a passion to better our...

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MSA Heads into space!

Mars Society Australia member Dr Steve Hobbs has commenced a Mars Society Australia project that would enable Steve that would fly a cubesat, most likely from the ISS.

The cubsat would carry a red edge spectrometer and demonstrate the technology for future application to planetary cubsat and rover missions and for Earth observation.  It builds on previous experience with flying payloads from high altitude balloons in near space conditions. 

The project would be in partnership with the Centre for Cubesats, UAVs, and their Applications. More details can be found on their website -  www.cuava.com.au.

An Australian national agency, Geoscience Australia, has also contributed funding towards this project.  www.ga.gov.au

The Mars Society Australia needs further donations from members and supporters to help get this new mission into space. 

The project goal...

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Mars Society Australia director nominated for "Academic of the Year" award

Mars Society Australia director Dr. Rowena Christiansen from the University of Melbourne was today nominated as a finalist for the "Academic of the Year" in the 2020 Australian Space Awards.

Congratulations Rowena for this recognition and everyone in the Mars Society Australia wishes you the best of luck for the awards night on the 26th March.

Space Awards

 

For a full list of finalists, please see here. 

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New video on "Skills for Mars" Youbtube channel

A new video on "Skills for Mars" Youtube channel has just been posted and features MSA president, Dr. Jon Clarke, talking about Going to Mars, Learnings from Analogue Site Missions

Check it out here- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BFdIj10YnE

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Australia’s $150m investment in space industries – September 2019

Mars Society Australia Media Statement at the 19th Australian Space Research Conference: 30th September2019:

The Australian Federal Government’s recent $150m partnering with NASA signals an investment that all Australians will benefit from.
 

“We’re excited at the recent announcement by the Federal Government of the $150m partnering with NASA for involvement in the Artemis program for Lunar exploration and missions and travel to Mars. Some of the greatest Australians have been explorers and this funding helps pass baton to the next generation wanting to push into the unknown.” Said Dr. Jon Clarke, Mars Society Australia President

...

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DAVID COOPER MEMORIAL LECTURE 2019 - A/Prof. Gordon Cable AM on “The Gravity of Mars Exploration”

This free event is part of the 19th Australian Space Research Conference (ASRC) program and is organised by Mars Society Australia and supported by the Adelaide chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the ASRC.

SUMMARY

Plans for the exploration of deep space will see humans travel deeper into space and for longer periods than at any time in human history. This new era of space and planetary exploration will expose humans to hazards not experienced since the Apollo program of the 1960s and 70s, but magnified by greater distance and much longer exposures. Human missions to Mars will expose the crews to hazards such as isolation and confinement, distance from Earth, hostile and closed environments, radiation, and of course altered gravity fields.  While countermeasures can be identified for many of these challenges, some of the problems of microgravity remain unsolved.  This presentation will describe the impacts of microgravity on human...

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Expedition Boomerang

The Mars Society Australia is pleased to announce Expedition Boomerang, the first all-Australian mission to the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. (See https://marssociety.org.au/boomerang) It will comprise two fortnightly crew rotations, Crew 214 (October 26 - November 8, 2019) and Crew 215 (November 9 - November 24, 2019) undertaken in full simulation conditions.

While a full crew allocation has been undertaken, there may be opportunities for several further suitably qualified additional Australian crew members to join the mission. Contact Guy Murphy for further information guymurphy(at)gmail.com

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NASA Meets the Pilbara for the Mars 2020 Mission

Is there life on Mars? Does the key to discovering life on Mars lie in the ancient rocks found in Western Australia’s Pilbara region?

As part of National Science Week, a panel of leading scientists and astrophysicists including NASA Mars 2020 rover mission program scientist Mitch Schulte, Paul Davies from Arizona State University and the University of NSW’s Martin Van Kranendonk come together to discuss the potential for ‘Life on Mars’ at the Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre on 15 August.

The scientific significance of the 3.5 billion year-old fossil stromatolites found in Western Australia’s north will be brought into focus as this panel of experts discuss the origin of life on earth, the search for evidence of life on Mars, and preparing to live on the red planet.

“NASA is in the early stages of preparing to send the first astronauts to Mars,” says Professor Martin Van Kranendonk from UNSW.

“In 2020 the robotic mission will be searching for signs...

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Methane on Mars – June 2019

Mars Society Australia Media Statement: 23rd June 2019

NASA’s announcement about further discoveries of methane on Mars hints at the possibility of past or present life on Mars, but more investigation is needed.

 

“The new results on methane gas in the Martian atmosphere are the latest instalment in a scientific quest doing back almost 15 years.” Said Dr. Jon Clarke, Mars Society Australia President.

“Methane gas on Earth is often the result of biological processes. It’s been detected on Mars by ground-based telescopes, the Mars Express spacecraft in orbit round Mars, and the Curiosity rover on the surface.”

But successful observations have often been...

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Call for nominations for MSA Board


The Mars Society Australia (MSA) is calling for nominations for directors. Directors are appointed for a initial term of two years and half the board is elected every year.

MSA is an organisation of like-minded people that provides educational and public outreach, engineering projects and scientific research related to the planet Mars.  You can read more about the MSA here:

https://marssociety.org.au/about 

Our board of directors help run day to day operations as well as strategically plan and mange the society's endeavours.

If have an interest in Mars and would like to contribute to the MSA, please consider nominating as a director.  While professional experience in business and science is highly regarded, formal qualifications are not required. The MSA's board is typically made up of people with differing professional experience and interest who share one thing - a passion to better our...

Full article and comments

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