From BMackenzie at alum.mit.edu Fri Dec 30 09:15:07 2005 From: BMackenzie at alum.mit.edu (Bruce Mackenzie ph) Date: Fri Dec 30 09:17:59 2005 Subject: [MarsHome] Mars Homestead Review for 2005 Message-ID: <43B540EB.4030505@alum.mit.edu> Announcements of the Mars Foundation and Mars Homestead Project: Contents: - Did Your Family Include Pioneers? - Mars Homestead Study - Presentations - Mars Homestead: - Joe Palaia wins Award - Donations ? Deductions Approved - Volunteer? - DVD, Web Presentations - Contact info Did Your Family Include Pioneers? Many of us are presently with relatives for the holidays. Think for a moment about any of your past relatives who were pioneers. - Perhaps pioneering in a new business field. - Perhaps exploring the New World. - Perhaps an immigrant family, saving money to send one family member to a new world, to make a new life and seek out the opportunities that the frontier offered them... and later, bringing other family members over to join them. You can be part of the next pioneering wave. Join the Mars Homestead group, and help us design a low-cost, early, growing settlement on Mars. Together we can open the next frontier for humanity. Mars Homestead (tm) Study This year saw the completion of the Mars Homestead ( tm) reference design study. This innovative plan calls for a dozen people, with robotic assistance, to establish a small settlement on Mars using near term technologies. Their focus would be on the initial mining, refining, manufacturing, agriculture, and habitation systems. They would enlarge the settlement, continuing to use local materials for construction. In the initial study, twenty experts studied technical areas; including: agriculture, architecture, construction materials, electrical distribution, bulk gas production, HVAC, instrumentation and controls, information technology, medicine, psychology, nuclear power, waste recycling, polymer manufacturing, and metals manufacturing systems. The latest image of the Homestead design is at http://www.marshome.org/images2/displayimage.php?pos=-3188 We are continuing design studies during workshops at MIT during January, and later with web-based teams. Presentations of the Mars Homestead: Various members of the design team represented the Mars Homestead project at a number of conferences during 2005 - International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES) in Rome - International Space Development Conference, Washington DC. - Mars Society Conference, Colo. - Meridiani Base Workshop. Canada - Space Generation Congress 2005, Fukuoka, Japan. - International Astronautical Congress, Japan - X-Prize Cup, Las Cruces, NM - And several local events. We will continue to refine our concepts and will have a presence at a number of upcoming conferences. Let us know if there is an event we should be present at, and whether you can help in any way. Joe Palaia wins Diamandis Award Mars Foundation programming team member Joseph Palaia received the Peter Diamandis leadership award while attending the Space Generation Congress 2005 in Fukuoka, Japan. The award recognizes the Space Generation Congress delegate who makes the most significant contribution to the online discussions prior to SGC, and who demonstrates the greatest leadership and initiative during this period. Donations ? Deductions Approved by (US) IRS Another milestone: the US IRS approved the "501(c)(3)" status for the Mars Foundation, just in time for the end of the 2005 tax year. This means that donations to the Mars Foundation are deductible for most US taxpayers, up to the limit allowed by law. Small donations are especially appreciated, they give the team members a good feeling and you?d be surprised at the number of small expenses to support volunteers.. They can be easily made on a secure web site linked from: http://MarsHome.org/about/donations.html To designate a contribution for a specific project, make a large donation, or to donate materials or supplies, please send us an e-mail to: "Info at MarsHome.org" or call (781)944-7027. Volunteer? Want to help open the Space Frontier? You don?t need to be a ?Rocket Scientist?, to design a house on Mars. The Mars Homestead design can especially use assistance with: web, cad, writing, editing, engineering design, construction, and grants. Let us know if you can consistently devote several hours to a specific project. Some of you sent messages to individual team members offering to help, if you were not placed on one of our projects, please resend your contact info on our contact page: http://marshome.org/about/contact.html or via e-mail to: Info at MarsHome.org DVD, Web Presentations Available of Mars Homestead designs Let us know if you wish to try out ?web-cast? or telecon presentations, or have DVD video presentations the Mars Homestead (tm) designs. Details are being arranged and will depend on your interest. Contact Us: http://marshome.org/about/contact.html or via e-mail to: Info at MarsHome.org To Not receive these infrequent announcements. Go to http://www.MarsHome.org/mailman/options/announce click ?unsubscribe? & reply to confirmation; no password needed. "Mars Foundation", "Mars Homestead", "Mars Homestead Project" are Trademarks of the Mars Foundation, now a 501( c)(3) organization. More information about the Mars Homestead project and the Mars Foundation is available at www.MarsHome.com