[MarsHome] Mars Homestead Review for 2005

[Bruce Mackenzie ph]

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

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"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