Mars Society to Build Observatory at MDRS
December 4, 2002

The Mars Society announced today that it will build an astronomical
observatory at its Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern
Utah. Funding to establish the observatory was provided by a major
donation by a Mars Society member who wishes to remain anonymous. The
other prime sponsor of the observatory is Celestron, which has
donated a high quality computerized eleven inch Schmidt Cassegrain
Nexstar11GPS telescope for initial operations. Celestron has begun
production of its new fourteen inch Schmidt Cassegrain system which
includes a newly designed heavy-duty computerized German equatorial
mount. This system, known as the CGE 1400, will be the finest
instrument ever produced for the advanced amateur and university
astronomy market. The Mars Society is in discussions with Celestron
to obtain one of these systems for the Mars Society Desert
Observatory as soon as one becomes available.

Construction of the Mars Society Desert Observatory will begin with
MDRS Crew Rotation 10, which will commence December 21, 2002. Design
of the observatory system is being led by Peter Detterline, a
founding Mars Society member and the Director of the Boyertown
Planetarium in Pennsylvania. In his work designing the observatory,
Detterline has had the active support and donated expertise of the
Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomical Association, one of the most
accomplished amateur astronomical societies in the United States.
Actual construction operations on site will be overseen by Mars
Society project architect Frank Schubert, who led the building of
Flashline Station on Devon Island in 2000 and the MDRS in Utah in
2001.

We anticipate that first light will be seen by the observatory by
Christmas, with regular operations beginning shortly after the New
Year. Once established, the Mars Society Desert Observatory will be
available on many nights for students, amateurs, and professional
astronomers around the country to control via communication to the
crew over the Internet. Eventually, direct Internet control of the
observatory from remote sites will be implemented. The MDRS is
located in an excellent dark-sky site, being some 3.5 hours south of
Salt Lake City.

The observatory will serve a number of important objectives.
1. It is an extended operations research experiment, investigating
the feasibility, benefits, and impact on crew operations of working
and maintaining a complex human-tended scientific instrument by the
crew of a Mars base.
2. It is also an important human factors experiment. Mars and Utah
both frequently have excellent skies, but the crew inside the hab
never gets to see it. A telescope, which can be operated remotely
from inside the hab (as this one will) provides a possible important
recreational activity for the crew.
3. It is a demonstration of an important scientific activity that
could be carried out crews of extraterrestrial bases more generally.
4. It will be used to support ongoing astronomical research. A
telescope of this class located in a site as good as MDRS can make
real contributions to astronomy, for example supporting the study of
variable stars. The Mars Society is in contact with astronomer Dr.
Robert Stencel of the Mount Evans Observatory and discussing how the
telescope could be used in this way.
5. The observatory will be used to bring the excitement of science to
students around the country, particularly to those in urban areas
where people never really get to see the sky. Thus, on a given night,
kids from a public school in places like the Bronx or Los Angeles
will be able to operate a first class telescope in a first class
viewing site, and possibly or the first time in their lives, get to
see the universe for themselves. Not only that, they will be doing it
in the context of participating in a human Mars exploration field
exercise. It is our hope that this may inspire numerous young people
to a greater interest in science, space, and engineering, and
possibly influence them to start moving along a path that will open
up careers to them in those areas.

The Mars Society Desert Observatory is the second major addition to
the Mars Desert Research Station being implemented during the 2002-
2003 field season. The first was the establishment of the Greenhab
or "Living Machine." which uses greenhouse grown plants to recycle
the water of the crew. This is the first time that a bioregnerative
life support system has ever been field tested in support of a crew
engaged in actual mission simulations.

OBSERVING TIME AVAILABLE!!!
Observing time will be publicly available starting in January.
Schools, professional astronomers, or amateur astronomy groups
wishing to obtain observing time should send their requests by email
to astronomy@marssociety.org.

To find out more about the Mars Society, visit our website at
marssociety.org. Or contact info@marssociety.org.