The Italian Mars Society has started working on the ERAS project. For more information the related web-site is www.erasproject.org.

The 4th issue of "Mars Transactions", the review of the Italian Mars Society, will be soon available. Among the articles included:

• Roberto Trucco, Mario Benassai: "MTD, the ALTEC Mars Terrain Demonstrator"
• G. Cao, A. Concas, G. Corrias, R. Licheri, R. Orrù, M. Pisu: "Development of novel ISRU and ISFR technologies for future manned space missions"
• V. Masarotto: "Generation and Navigability of Planetary Terrains"
• C. Gillmann: "Evolution of the Martian Atmosphere: a Short Review"
  

Our goal is to make the review a benchmark for the scientific debate related to research on the Red Planet, not only within the international Mars Society community but also in the more general range of space research and technology companies.
For further information please write to segreteria@marssociety.it.                                 

To have a look at the previous issues of Mars Transactions (in paper or PDF version) please visit the web-site Lulu.com (click here for the link) or our online shop.

The call for papers for the 4th issue of "Mars Transactions", the review of the Italian Mars Society, is now open. Papers should be in English, in Word format; graphics and photos may be included. Readers are encouraged since now to submit their papers.

Deadline for sending title, abstract and complete paper: 30 November
Length of papers: length of text not higher than 15.000 characters spaces included
Type of paper: scientific paper related to Mars Exploration
Address: please send to segreteria@marssociety.it to the attention of Miss Claudia Moreschi.                                     

To take a look at the previous issues of Mars Transactions please visit the web-site Lulu.com (click here for the link) or the shop online on the website of the Italian Mars Society .

Italian Franco Carbognani, member of the Italian Mars Society and Lara Vimercati, will command the crew 102 (26 March - 9 April) of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), the Mars Analog station located in the Utah Desert.
Starting functioning on 7 February 2002, the Mars Desert Research Station is the simulation of a Martian base to study the problems related to the survival of the first manned explorations on the Red Planet. The base is made up of a "hab" - a 8 meter diameter cylinder divided into two floors - an atronomic observatory and a greenhouse module.
Franco Carbognani is currently Head of Interferometer Operation Department at the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) di Pisa. There he is supporting the Virgo Project aimed at the detection of gravitational wave signals from cosmic sources.
He holds an MSc with double Major in EECS (Information Technology/Hardware Engineering) from the University of Bologna and CEFRIEL Research Center in Milan.
Franco professional experience focus on the areas of Control Software, Software Engineering and System Level Design both within large international companies and research institutions.
Scientific Project: definition and implementation of a Monitoring and Alarm System for the whole MDRS Station. The System will warn the crew team members in case of problems via dedicated graphical interfaces and audible/visible alarms. Such user interfaces will be web based to allow for remote monitoring.

Lara Vimercati pursued a Major in Biology while in college. She initiated her path towards space science through an internship at the Australian Center for Astrobiology. She worked for 9 months in 2009 in a collaboration between SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center: she focused on UV radiation resistant halophiles which were flown into space on the Biopan experiment. After this internship she received a Master's Degree in Advanced Biology.
She is currently involved in a Plantary Biology Internship at Nasa Ames Research Center where she is focusing on the existing connection of Dessication and UV radiation resistance in cryptoendolythic Cyanobacteria.
Scientific project: biology experiments focusing on detecting the presence of endolithic cyanobacteria contamination around the hab using specific kits able to detect those organism presence. Those experiments fits well with the recent planetary protection issue that is being given much importance lately for future space missions.

The Mars Society Switzerland (“MSS”) will host the 11th European Mars Society Convention ("EMC11"), in Neuchatel from Friday 30th September to 2nd October 2011. The convention will take place at the University of Neuchatel.

The presentation framework encompasses the following topics:
- Our present knowledge of Mars;
- What to explore next on Mars;
- How to explore Mars;
- How to go to Mars and return to Earth;
- How to survive on Mars;
- Present problems hampering the manned exploration of Mars (and how to overcome them).

To register to EMC11, present papers and have further information please visit www.planete-mars-suisse.com or write to the address pierre_brisson@yahoo.com.

The second issue of our review, Mars Transactions, is now available. Here the summary of the articles included:

1. "Workshop Progresses AgroSpace for future Mars Missions" (V. Bornisacci - Aerosekur)

2. "From Water to Life: from Phoenix to EXOMARS" (V.Giorgio - Thales Alenia Space)

3. "A New Approach to Human Exploration of Mars" (A. Lorenzoni - Italian Space Agency)

4. "Drive Motors used on Mars and in Medical Technology" (A. Bucheli - Maxon Motor)

5. "Report on Dainese Biosuit System" (D. Manzardo - Dainese)

6. " 8th Swiss Geosciences Meeting (8SGM): On to Marth Vallis!" (P. Brisson - Mars Society Switzerland)

                 To buy the second issue of Mars Transactions go here.

MARS 0 ( ZERO) DEFINITION

There will be a special year in the history of the humankind: the one in which the first human being will land on Mars.
The “MARS” community in the world works now to create the conditions to reach this result in the shortest possible time.
We obviously hope that this year will be in this century and if possible before 2050. So we could indicate such a year as 20XY. We know that many factors will contribute to this historical result, among them we can list the followings:

• Political decisions
• Technological innovation
• Private industry
• International cooperation
• Education
• Marketing and communication



It is sure that in the year 20XY a new era of the humankind will born, with a huge amount of consequences for the future.
In the past of our history revolutionary events have changed the way humans calculate years, as when about 2000 years ago, with the new Christian religion, people in western world started to calculate the passing of time from the year of Jesus birth instead of the year of Rome foundation (753 b.c.).
It is also possible that the humans who will live on Mars will start to count their years from 20XY. This year will be for them the first year of their history, and for us the scope of our dreams and work.
I think that for this reason we could define 20XY as MARS ZERO.
Let’s put out a challenge to all humans: to reach MARS ZERO as soon as possible!

Antonio Del Mastro
Italian Mars Society President

22- 23 October 2010
PIAP Conference Center, Aleje Jerozolimskie 202, Warsaw, Poland
For more click here.

20th November 2010
Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
For more information click here.