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Newsletter #2 - October 3rd, 2002

MARS SOCIETY CONFERENCE: The Mars Gravity Biosatellite program made several well-received presentations at the July Mars Society conference at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The talks described our program with emphasis on our science objectives, spacecraft bus design, payload and life support systems, and reentry and recovery capabilities.

MARS WEEK: The next public presentations by the Mars Gravity Biosatellite team will be by Paul Wooster and Erika Brown at MIT's Mars Week on Saturday, October 5. The project will also be represented at the Mars Week poster session.

SMALL SATELLITE CONFERENCE: Several members of the Mars Gravity Biosatellite program office attended the annual Small Satellite Conference at Utah State University August 12th through 16th. New technologies were presented for small spacecraft developers, and the program office made significant contacts with potentially important vendors and professional resources.

RECRUITING: MIT had an overwhelmingly successful recruiting season during August and September. About 30 undergraduate and graduate student recruits signed up for all subdivisions of the project, including science, systems engineering, payload systems, and development. The University of Washington's recruiting season is currently underway and is expected to fare equally well.

FUNDRAISING: Fundraising efforts for the project have brought in more than $150,000 so far and are continuing at full speed. If you wish to inform us of possible funding sources, or if you wish to make a donation, please e-mail info@marsgravity.org. We would love to hear from you.

SYSTEMS MEETING: Team members from the systems engineering departments of all three participating universities met in Boulder on the sidelines of the Mars Society conference. Topics of discussion included interface requirements, spacecraft configuration options, computer architecture, and management of specific phases of the mission.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS REVIEW: The systems engineering group had its System Requirements Review on Monday, September 9, 2002. The review went well, and the group will now continue to work on preparing for a Preliminary Design Review, currently scheduled for the end of 2002.

PRESS AT UQ: Read all about the Mars Gravity Biosatellite project with a focus on the University of Queensland at http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.phtml?article=3597.