The Mars Society

The Mars Society is an international network of non-profit, largely voluntary organisations dedicated to the robotic and human exploration of Mars, and the future settlement of the Red Planet. Founded in 1999, in Denver Colorado, the Society seeks to achieve its goal through a three-pronged strategy:

• Broad public outreach to instil the vision of pioneering Mars.
• Support of ever more aggressive Mars exploration programmes from around the world.
• Conducting Mars exploration programmes and studies on a private basis.

Read the Founding Declaration of the Mars Society.

Since its inception, the Society has:

• Revolutionised planning for human missions to Mars through our Mars Direct mission profile, which has in turn influenced mission planning in NASA and elsewhere.
• Established an international network of analogue research stations and studies in which crews can rehearse for operations on the surface of Mars.
Initiated projects for both the robotic exploration of Mars and for investigating the effects of long-duration exposure to low gravity environments (such as would be experienced on the surface of Mars).

The Mars Society UK

The Mars Society UK is the oldest Mars Society organisation outside of the United States. It is an independently-incorporated, autonomous organisation dedicated to achieving the goals set out by the Mars Society through a range of initiatives and activities, including:

• Running conferences and symposia on the subject of Mars exploration.
• Actively attending space-related conferences and conventions across the UK.
• Attending and supporting UK space initiatives.
• Leading the Society's Euro-MARS project to establish an analogue field research station.
• Promoting the human and robotic exploration of Mars to schools, colleges, institutions, societies, etc., across the country.

The Mars Society UK held the first major public event of the Mars Society when, on July 4th 1998, it hosted the first public presentation on the Beagle 2 project, with guest speaker Professor Colin Pillinger, and since then has remained at the forefront of Mars and space exploration advocacy in the UK and Europe.

cccc© 2010 The Mars Society UK. All Rights Reserved