FROM EARTH TO MARS

The 5th European Mars Conference
November 4th-6th 2005

A weekend of guest talks, panels, debates, workshops and events featuring some of the world's leading experts in Mars exploration

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Friday 4th November

EMC-5 was something that went straight into my calendar as soon as I saw it announced: EMC-4 had been so much fun, I wasn't going to miss another conference! It was a surprise to hear the UK were going at it again, but I found out later that this was due to circumstance rather than design: the conference had been scheduled for Madrid, but had to be relocated at the 11th hour. The UK volunteered because they were (at the time) hoping to get the Euro-MARS station on display and so that would be a focal point for the conference.

One thing was clear from the start - the venue was a heck of a step up from EMC-4. That was pretty impressive itself, being held at the Open University in Milton Keynes, but did suffer from the fact that the accommodation was down the road, and the uni wasn't real hot on the food front.

Alexandra House, however, is a state-of-the-art conferencing centre and only 6 months old at the time of the conference, I understand. The place was cool: a plush lounge / bar, outstanding dining room, really fabulous rooms (I got one with a flat panel TV screen you could climb into and watch films - and the rooms also had Internet hook-ups, mini bars, etc.) and a really welcome health club.

As I got in early, I went straight to my room to dump bags and then to the pool. When I came out, the committee were beginning to arrive and there was a lil' bit of a heated exchange going on in reception. Apparently, the main hall had been booked from 5:00pm, with evening events due to start at 7:30 - but the staff were saying the hall wouldn't be available for set-up until 7:00pm.

Not a great start. I did the only thing I could: went to my room, changed, grabbed a coffee and went back to help. I don't know what Our Leader (Bo) said in reception, but when I go to the main hall - half of it was set up and the sponsors were putting up their stands in the corners and the a/v systems were being checked. Outside, in the main hall, the reception desk was coming together and so I got my conference pack and decided I was in the way and went back to the lounge.

By 7:00pm it was still all bustle, and things looked grim: I spotted Bo, Peter Loftus and others having a very heated discussion with the Duty Manager, and Bo particularly did not look happy.

There was a notice up on the board about the evening's event "Mars Question Time" requesting we note down an question we could ask of the panel. I wrote one out and then copied it and kept the 2nd paper so I could remember what the question was if asked.

By just after 7:30 things seemed to have calmed down, and I joined all the others who had arrived for Friday in the main hall for a brief intro from Bo, before he turned matters over to Jerry, who then lead an hour's interesting and topical discussion featuring a table of guests (including Robert Zubrin) facing off against the questions from the audience. With anecdotes abounding throughout, and feedback from some of the audience, it event turned out to be a relaxing but informative way of kicking everything off - I think it was better than the straightforward discussion panel held last year. The only let-down (and the cause for the hard words from Bo and Peter to the staff, it turned out), ws that the PA system was totally naff and there was ONE microphone between the entire panel!

After this, we all adjourned for the buffet. Now, those who were at EMC-4 last year know the Friday buffet was pretty impressive (even if we did have to trek up and down stairs for a bevvy or two!). Well, this was just mind-blowing!! I think that it may have been due to the venue staff trying to make up for the screw-up with the PA, but they had us in the main dining room where a full dinner was being served to 2 other conferences going on, and we were just allowed to help ourselves to the food - hot and cold, and as much as we wanted. The table sat about 10 people each, and again, it made a really good ice breaker.

After dinner we went out to the inner courtyard where Jerry Stone had set up a telescope, and we all queued up one at a time to take a look at Mars - this was just after the 2005 close approach, remember - and it was spectacular. Just seeing the tiny little red disky-dot made the whole conference just so much more immediate. But the night was cold, and after we each took a turn at the eyepiece, it was back inside for alcohol to warm the system, and a HUGE round-robin of discussions and chats as we just took over the lounge.

A great start to what was going to be a great conference!