The Mars Gravity Biosatellite drew its inspiration from the Mars Society's Translife Initiative. In August of 2001, the Mars Society proposed a private undertaking to study the effects of Martian gravity on mammals in order to prepare for humans living on and exploring Mars. Following initial science planning and mission feasibility studies, MIT and the University of Queensland agreed to proceed forward with the mission by developing and building a free-flying spacecraft to carry out the mission. The Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program was created under the direction of a Program Board drawing from officials at each institution, with management provided by the Mars Gravity Program Office, based at MIT. You can reach Program Manager Col. John E. Keesee via e-mail.

Few university projects benefit from such a wide range of ages, disciplines, and even countries. Our team of over 100 students spans the globe, from Massachusetts to Australia, each university tackling different components of the project. Our members come from all areas of study and all levels of experience: from first year undergraduates to PhDs, our team includes aerospace, mechanical, and chemical engineers, biomedical scientists, medical students, management students, physicists, mathematicians, journalists, and everything in between. With unparalleled educational opportunities come volunteers with unparalleled insight and enthusiasm, who build off of each other within the close community of the project team. A small number of full-time staff complement these efforts and ensure continuity throughout the program, while still allowing us to keep our costs to a minimum.

The interactions between systems inherent in a complex spacecraft create innumerable interdependencies of ideas between project areas, requiring students to master the perspectives of multiple fields to create successful designs. Our wide range of ages and educations allows more experienced students to mentor those new to university-level science and engineering, accelerating their growth process and providing the project a continuous supply of new interest and talent.

In addition, this project exposes students to an array of advisors with real-world expertise in each of the project's many disciplines. Our External Science Advisory Panel (ESAP) consists of about 30 physiological researchers from across the country, who have provided us continual input on research objectives and experimental design. Engineers from universities, corporations, and NASA have volunteered their time and knowledge to help us assess spacecraft, launch, and recovery options. The project also attracts a great many independent individuals with various specialties, looking simply to contribute in any way to this exciting mission. Thus our students benefit from interactions with researchers and professionals as well as with one another.

The Mars Gravity Program is managed by a student-led Program Office at MIT, under a supervisory Program Board. Our Board consists of five experienced aerospace and technology leaders:

> Dr. David Miller, Director of the MIT Space Systems Laboratory;
> Dr. Richard Morgan, Director of the UQ Centre for Hypersonics;
> Dr. Laurence Young, Apollo Professor of Aero/Astro at MIT & MA Space Grant Director;
> Bruce Anderson, President of IGNITE! High-Tech Startups; and
> Dr. Paul Coleman, President & CEO of the Girvan Institute of Technology

Compared to a corporate or government environment, a university-based project demands a unique degree of adaptability and coordination capability from its management structure. Students come and go as they reach various educational milestones, and those arriving have highly variable interests and skills that must be incorporated into the working fabric of the project team. Given our substantial budget and timeline constraints, we also wish to reduce the overall magnitude of management structures, streamlining bureaucracy wherever possible to ensure efficient operations and continuous progress towards intermediate goals. Given all these considerations, our Program Office must handle the following key responsibilities:

> Continuity. We ensure that every subsystem and research group has a range of student levels among its constituents. This provides continuity of plans, designs, and experience as some students move on to other places.

> Coordination. This project involves the efforts of university teams around the world that must be eventually integrated into a single spacecraft. The Program Office coordinates high-level requirements flowdown for the project and facilitates inter-university communication and documentation to assure the correct handling of interfaces and assumptions.

> Quality Control. Though the systems engineering team will perform component testing for the spacecraft, the Program Office will enforce quality control regulations compliant with aerospace industry standards and independently evaluate risk analyses done by the engineering teams. This will ensure that our university-based engineering and construction regimes do not compromise the safety or reliability of the mission.

> Fundraising & Publicity. This project depends upon the public and private support of individuals, businesses, and independent organizations. Our business development division is dedicated to finding and following opportunities enabling the mission to move forward.