The director of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) Dr Shannon Rupert is visiting Australia as a guest of MSA. Shannon is an ecologist with two decades of experience in Mars Analog studies. Formerly a professor of biology and environmental science, she is an expert in planetary mission simulations and field exploration. Shannon will be speaking in Melbourne at 6:30pm on the 14th March (register on Eventbrite) and Adelaide in conjunction with the AIAA at 6pm on...
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Dr Shannon Rupert Visiting Australia
Saturday, 9 March 2019
MSA South Australia Event
Thursday, 29 November 2018
Sunday 2nd December 2018 at 6 pm End of year celebration BBQ followed by a free presentation 'End of Year Mars Highlights' by Assocaite Professor Victor Gostin
Featuring current asteroid impacts, lava tunnels and caves, wide seas with shorelines, complex carbon molecules, methane from somewhere? And do include lichens for your space trip!
WHERE: Nova Systems, 27-31 London Road, Mile End South SA 5031
WHEN: Sunday 6:00PM - 8:00PM
Please RSVP essential for catering purposes - BBQ optional - see details below
For our end of year break up feel free to Dress up, Dress down, Dress for Space, Fun or just come as you are…BBQ is optional
o Cost: $10 to cover meat/ alternative and salads (please let us know if you prefer vegetarian, vegan or have special dietary requirements)
o For catering purpose RSVP required for those wishing to join the BBQ
o BYO drinks. If you would like bring a dessert or treat to share
To book or for...
Countdown to InSight Mission Landing
Monday, 26 November 2018
It is now less than 12 hours until NASA's InSight MIssion lands on the surface of Mars at Elysium Planitia. Launched on the 5 May, 2018, the lander will enter the Martian atmosphere at approximately 7am Eastern Australian time. A focus of the mission will be investigating the subsurface structure of the planet. You can read more about the mission including the mission timelines, landing site, scientific goals and instrumentation on the NASA Insight MIssion Homepage. A former Melbournian, engineer Mark Fittock helped develop some of the intruments.
Commenting on the mission's goals,...
18th Australian Space Research Conference - special rates for MSA members!
Tuesday, 24 July 2018
18th Australian Space Research Conference
September 24 to 26, 2018
The 18th Australian Space Research Conference (ASRC), will be held at Gold Coast in Queensland over September 24 to 26, 2018.
This will be the Twelfth ASRC jointly sponsored and organised by the National Committee for Space and Radio Science (NCSRS) and the National Space Society of Australia (NSSA), with the support of the Mars Society of Australia (MSA).
The ASRC is intended to be the primary annual meeting for Australian space research. It welcomes space scientists, engineers, educators, and workers from across the university, industry and government parts of the space sector, and is not limited to Australian-based research, International participants are most welcome.
The scope of the conference includes fundamental and applied research, operational matters, technology, and use of space...
Call for Abstracts - 18th Australian Space Research Conference
Friday, 22 June 2018
Call for Abstracts
18th Australian Space Research Conference
24th to 26th September, 2018
It is our pleasure to invite you to submit an abstract for the 18th Australian Space Research Conference (ASRC), to be held at the Gold Coast in Queensland at the Mantra on View hotel. This will be the Twelfth ASRC jointly sponsored and organised by the National Committee for Space and Radio Science (NCSRS) and the National Space Society of Australia (NSSA), with the support of the Mars Society of Australia (MSA).
The ASRC is intended to be the primary annual meeting for Australian researchers relating to space science and technology. It welcomes space scientists, engineers, educators, and workers in Industry and Government.
The scope of the conference covers both fundamental and applied research that applies to space science,...
Call for Volunteers for Sirius Mission
Wednesday, 13 June 2018
The Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP), jointly with Human Research Program NASA (HRP NASA), will be conducting an extended duration lunar mission simulation at its facility in Moscow in 2019 and 2020. The mission, known as Sirius, will involve a crew of six, including three Russians and three non-Russians. IBMP has asked the Mars Society to recruit the three non-Russian crew members.
The mission duration will be four months during 2019 and eight months in 2020. Crew members will need to be available for both. IBMP will provide lodging and meals for the volunteer subjects during quarantine before the mission and during the simulation itself. There will be no salary or expenses paid by IBMP, so volunteers will either need to be self-funded or backed by resources from their own institutions or universities.
...
MSA 2018 AGM and President’s Report
Sunday, 10 June 2018
Dear Marstralians,
MSA has had a very busy 12 months working towards expanding human presence on Mars and ensuring Australia’s role in this great challenge. There have been several highlights I would like to share with you.
The Marsobot program stepping up to balloon testing of instruments and control systems on balloon flights to the stratosphere was a major achievement. At 30 km conditions are similar to or more extreme on Mars – lower air pressures and densities, similar temperatures, high cosmic radiation and UV levels. This allows us to qualify the hardware to TRL6, an important step to developing actual flight hardware. The first flight was with the HORUS 47 launch, you can read about it here http://www.areg.org.au/archives/208044. So far flown are an Arduino microprocessor, temperature sensor, and custom spectrometer. A payload with a Rasperry Pi and multispectral camera and spectrometer is waiting...
Vale David Willson (MSA Vice-President)
Sunday, 3 June 2018
MSA is very sad to announce that MSA Vice-President David Willson passed away yesterday evening in the presence of family and friends after struggling with cancer for a bit over a year. This is a great loss to us all and those who know him mourn the passing of a dear friend and great colleague.
David joined MSA in 2003 after encountering our web page. At that time he was a senior project engineer with the Hobart-based consultancy firm SEMF and had considerable experience in design and management of multi-million dollar construction, including ship loaders, mine metallurgical plants, and power. In his spare time he built liquid fuelled rocket engines, helped his parents in their tin mine in south west Tasmania, and flew light aircraft. David brought all these skills to MSA and led to him become project manager for the Mars...
MSA flies to the edge of space
Saturday, 28 April 2018
One of Mars Society Australia’s goals is “Conducting Mars exploration on a private basis” This requires developing and testing technology at each step up the so-called “technology readiness level” from TRL 1 (initial concept) to TRL 9 (ready to fly) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_readiness_level. MSA’s Marsobot program aims to develop the concepts and technologies for small robotic vehicles on planetary missions to Mars and elsewhere http://www.marssociety.org.au/marso-bot. A number of prototypes have been developed and tested under different field conditions, raising the project to TRL 5.
MSA has now commenced the next phase of development, raising the TRL of hardware to TRL 6, which involves testing in a realistic analogue environment. On February 5th the Horus 47 balloon, part of the SA-based Amateur Radio...
Mars Society Australia Annual General Meeting
Sunday, 4 March 2018
MSA is holding its Annual General Meeting. Part of this process is to call for nominations for director’s positions. Up to 10 director’s positions will be available.
Any current MSA members are eligible to nominate. Directors are expected to contribute to the operational running of the organisation, including undertaking office bearers roles if required. Nominees should email a maximum one page statement outlying relevant experience and intended contributions to the board. Statements should be submitted by night Australian Eastern standard Time 1st of April 2018. Please send statements to guymurphy(at)gmail.com Statements will be posted online after the close of nominations.
Voting by MSA members will be by email if more nominations are received than there are positions available. Further details will be announced once nominations close.
Office bearers will be appointed at the first meeting of the new board which will occur before the end of May, 2018. Positions...
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