International Mars Society Convention 2007
As seen by Tom Chatterton, Ohio Chapter Webmaster
(Scroll this frame to read further down.)
I'll relay my experiences here, and I can add other entries as newsletters may come in. This took about 5 days to get assembled. I decided to write something, as filler, and it turned into a letter. I hope you enjoy it. <g>
Lyle, Gerry, and Carlos arrived at the very beginning of the Convention, that was held at UCLA (Los Angeles). I did not arrive until two days later, for the weekend. Sometimes we call it a “Conference,” in some texts instead, but either designation will suffice. <g> I arrived late Saturday night, having driven down from the Bay Area, and attended on Saturday and Sunday. My drive down was mostly uneventful, except we didn’t arrive until 2:30am Saturday AM. (yawn) It takes 6 hours by car, but it took us a little longer with stops. How did I end up being the Ohio webmaster in Ohio, you'all not in the know? I lived in Ohio most of my life and got my start with the Ohio Chapter in its early days (late 90's). I’ll try and get involved in California if possible…although they have individual regions, since the state is so big. San Diego seems the most involved, with the Bay Area a close 2nd. I have a photo of Gerry Williams, the San Diego liaison, and his remote control Rover on this site. His display looks similar to the Ohio one. <g>
The accommodations were very nice, but I was a bit disappointed that I did not get the high speed internet access going. (An inquiry to the campus desk informed me that there was no technicians available after 5pm...and I was asked to make an appointment with an answering service. Naturally...I was only there two days, over a holiday weekend, so nothing got setup.) It only took us 20 minutes after initially wandering onto campus from Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, to find Sunset Village, and the covered parking area. After registering in, via a 24 hour check-in crew, I was glad to get my 2 day parking permit in the middle of the night, so we could try and grab a quick rest without too much worry. At almost 8am…we were walking (dragging?) into Covel Commons, and it did not take much thought to follow the others wandering to the basement cafeteria. Breakfast was wonderful. They not only had the standard fare, they had a little hint of oriental breakfast with rice, which my wife (Liezl) choose.
It only took a few minutes to discover the Ohio table. Before I did, I continued my intros with a fellow I saw sitting by himself in a suit, that had descended the stairs near us. I asked, as I do, what state he was from. He said Colorado, and introduced himself as Mr. Declan J. O’Donnell, and was a lawyer friend of Dr. Zubrin. Humm. Once he found out I was a California CMT, he wanted to see if there was some free time to get a massage. I told him of my idea to run a promotion for Mars Pizza, using Pizza Hut as a sponsor. He liked the idea, and I'm sure he shared it with Dr. Zubrin later. That was Saturday…but I finally gave him a sample on Sunday afternoon. (see below) Our plates did not have much on them yet…so we continued on in a moment, after I shook hands. As we looked for more to put on our plates, both my wife and I spotted the Ohio group near the windows to the rear.
At the table were Tam, the former Ohio chair, and his wife Patt. Together, there was myself, my wife, Lyle, Gerry, and Carlos. It was great seeing Tam and his wife again. I started my Mars Society journey when he was Ohio Chair in the late 1990's, and I got to talk to Tam later about our trip out to St. Louis, where we all went to the presidential debates and saw Ralph Nader's rally outside...since he wasn't part of the debates. (You can find my photos on that first excursion on our site. It's still available for view.)
I discovered Carlos used to live in San Diego, and was used to LA…and after he had followed a few tracks of interest to him the last two days, he was interested in finding the local campus pool to get in some swimming. I couldn’t see much interest for LA in the group…and there did not seem to be any time to offer them a chance to have a look around…even though I drove down. I've been to LA at least a dozen times in my life...so I'm familiar with where the landmarks are. After I was done with volunteer work, and got diner, it would be time for the banquet…then Lyle said they were leaving after breakfast on Sunday. That left no time to show them parts of Hollywood before the time expired. I guess they'll catch LA the next time around. <g>
Being a bit talkative and excited about seeing everyone that 1st breakfast…after a few snapshots…I shared some ideas about a Mars Pizza that I think a pizza sponsor could do in the future (the Pizza Hut thing), and also my theory that due to advances in heating technology, like microwave cooking and stronger composites for a non metallic boiler…a sub-orbital shuttle could probably run on super pressurized steam, instead of the traditional LH2/LOX propellant. (See my separate entry on my ideas for a "Space Steamer" in the convention links.)
I managed to find Patt Czarnik busy at the vendor tables, about the same time the main banquet hall had its first speaker for the day. I took a few snapshots for the album in the hallway. You’ll see a few on the website. Inside the banquet hall at the mic…it was Buzz Aldrin himself! He went on to explain on the big projector screen…about the makeup of the newest Lunar Lander. Then, he pitched for his idea to have a Mars Cycler, which constantly goes in a large sweeping orbit that crosses Mars’s orbit, and sweep near or around Earth/Moon orbit. The idea is to build something like a deep space station that the Mars bound craft, or those returning to Earth can dock to. I imagine it would have amenities and more room for the astronauts to roam around in during their voyage, and helps save on dragging lots of food supplies, or life support products onboard the spacecraft. Maybe at some future point, several spacecraft could dock to it, even those coming in from the outer planets. I would imagine it could be built big enough to grow it own food supplies, and be self-sufficient. I would imagine they'll build one of these as a partly buried station inside a captured asteroid (a mile or so in size) to avoid solar flares and radiation, plus leave room to expand their quarters.
We also heard from the Planetary Society on Saturday morning. A lot of the discussion was on the new Mars Phoenix due to land in the Martian north polar region next summer. It will have a microphone on board, so we can “hear” Mars for the 1st time. (Why it was not done before, is anybody’s guess. We have had audio digital compression technology since the 1980’s.) The fact they might find real water on another planet is the main excitement. Since water is a universal solvent, there is the promise of salts and other chemistry, or life.
I moderated some of Track #3 after lunch (there were 4 tracks of talks going on at the same time)…then Saturday night was the banquet. We listened to Mars related music, as someone I really should get the name of (name inserted later) sang a song composed for the Mars Society. We saw Maggie present Buzz Aldrin with the very 1st Buzz Aldrin award, and Buzz gave a small acceptance speech.
Other awards followed, including the FMARS team receiving awards, and members of the main circle. Then, Dr. Zubrin gave a pep talk, discussing the direction of the Society, and his plans for outreach in a political year. He made a request for donations, and many members gave big amounts. Things then turned to the auction, and as things were bid for, more donations came in. Some of the items involved books on Mars that Buzz Aldrin had signed. I did not have enough funds that weekend to bid myself...so I anxiously kept my hands down. Scratching your head could be a sign for a bid!
On Sunday, I had found out Lyle and team were heading out early…so I caught up with them for breakfast one last time. My wife and I arrived at the alternate lunch room designated by the signs in Covel Commons. It took a few minutes to figure out the new lunch room location for Sunday was not very close. The outdoor stairs were steep and long up a hill to an upper terrace of buildings. Wheelchair access was not available at this location, unless you went 1/4 of a mile out of your way, up the driveway. The first few minutes upon us getting our trays, I was worried we might have missed them, but about 10 minutes later, they came in, and they gathered at our table. I offered to try and get them a quick glimpse of Hollywood…but they had a city crossing bus to catch to LAX, and were leaving after breakfast. One subject we got on was their layover in Las Vegas. I asked if anybody had tried the slots at the airport. They mentioned the slots had a place for a credit card, so they hadn't rried it yet. I explained it might be a comp card...which you can get charged with money. It is also a way the casino can give out bonuses, and you can also lose your money faster using a card. <g> After a good breakfast...it was time to move on...I was going to be volunteering at 9am, but they were going home in a few minutes. We grabbed some more snapshots and said our goodbyes.
My wife and I still had a day ahead of us. (Sunday September 2) I ended up moderating track #3, and Liezl was my assistant. (Moderating involves timing the speaker and getting the lapel mic installed.) Since I am a massage therapist, in my state of California (I'll list my technical education elsewhere)…it so happened I had already made a small appointment with Dr. Zubrin’s lawyer (Mr. Declan J. O’Donnell), to meet him about 30 minutes before his 2 ½ hours of talk. He said he could use it, and if I could cure his bad back, he'd pay $1,000...which I decided would be donated...if I could help his back that much. <g> Running late myself…I just barely got him a 5-10 minute neck massage (he was very stiff) before I had to go moderate track #3, which I entered 5 minutes late myself...as did half the room. So, I guess that "curing" massage might have to wait until Bolder, if I can make it next year.
My final track(s) on Sunday involved the FMARS crew discussing educational outreach, during the track intended for Ned Dodds, who I think was elsewhere. It seems the last day as the hours waned it got a bit informal, and some of the tracks got a little blended. The crew showed slides and online talks with classrooms. At the end, they solicited suggestions, and I told them of my Mars Trivia pages, and other pages they can link to. Someone asked for my email, and where to find my open source trivia game. I hope they found it OK. I'll probably have to follow up.
The end of the day ended with the last speaker detained in a DVD interview in the next room, so Bruce MacKensie kept talking past his track on his excellent presentation: MarsPedia.org, and started adlibbing from questions, until the cameras were shutdown. My wife and I, plus another fellow that did some web mastering in another area, stayed to ask questions. As Bruce MacKenzie showed us earlier slides on plans for full scale colonization, I asked, “where’s the kitchen?” He smiled, and in a minute, he had slides of the mall like dining courtyard that was 2 stores high with balconies. Very nice.
We continued on for another 20 minutes discussing habitation issues…and Bruce showed us various slides he had in his laptop (projected) from previous talks. I could tell he really was a true Mars enthusiast, and eagerly showed us as much information as he could in the allotted time. As we gazed at the slides on a supposed Mars Colony, it is assumed the workers there will be quite busy with expanding the colony and doing experiments...but it was brought up that scientists might raise families on Mars...so there needs to be play areas for the youth that may not be directly involved in Martian industrialization...yet. Not only should there be a restaurant, but swimming pools, tennis courts, racquetball, basketball and bike tracks, and don't forget the Martian High School. There may even be sports unique to Mars by then, as the coloninists invent new and better games to play in their spare time. The lower gravity will require new rules.
The day ended on a high note…and everybody made their goodbyes then started heading out. It looks like it was left up to people like Tam and Patt to stay longer and help the Zubrins clean up. I offered to hang around and help at the initial closing moments, but it looked like the tasks were more personally specific...so we headed back to our room to pack. "Seeya next year!"
- Tom Chatterton