Mars Society - Emergency Action Letter!

Our Ohio Newsletters.Edited/Redisplayed by the Webmaster for the WWW on March 6, 2001.

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Date: Fri Mar 2, 2001 11:30pm

Subject: Fw: Help Save Mars HEDS Funding

EVERYONE - please read this and do everything you can. This is our highest intensity letter campaign yet.

Monica Simmons

* Webmaster: Click here to go to the Bottom of the Page and download all the information listed here NOW!!!

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Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2001 07:23:05 -0500

Subject: Help Save Mars HEDS Funding

Help Save Mars HEDS Funding

As a result of cost overruns in the Space Station program, NASA headquaters has issued an order to stop or eliminate all technology development projects supporting human Mars exploration. Without these programs, we cannot lay the ground-work for a human mission to Mars anytime soon.

THIS ACTION MUST BE REVERSED!

All members of The Mars Society, and everyone who believes that humanity's future lies beyond Low Earth Orbit, should now contact their Congressional representatives and ask them to fix this grave mistake. Space Station overruns must be dealt with within the Space Station's own budget. Under no circumstances should NASA's few existing small programs to develop human Mars exploration technology be destroyed to feed the Space Station black hole.

If you can set up a meeting with your Congress person (or Congressional staff member), please do so, Otherwise, contact them by fax, telephone, and mail (they tend not to pay much attention to e-mail).

Rather than shut down the tiny amount of human Mars technology development work currently underway, such funding should be significantly expanded. We must tell Congress that a program should be funded at a level of at least $140 million per year (about 1% of NASA's current budget) within the NASA HEDS organization, to develop the technologies necessary for human Mars exploration missions.

All of us now need to let Congress, the administration, and NASA know that we no longer want a space program that only goes around in circles. We want a space program that is going somewhere.

Below are web addresses where you can find contact information for Congress, the President, and NASA officials, and, our proposal for a NASA HEDS MARS EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM.

ON TO MARS!

Chris Carberry

Outreach Task Force, Coordinator

ccarberry@m...

(617) 646-0523

Joseph Webster

Outreach Task Force, Congressional Outreach Director

jwebster@h...

(202) 822-8282

Wipe with mouse, and transfer to your browser, if these do not show a link:

Vote-Smart: http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml

United States House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/

United States Senate: http://www.senate.gov/

The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/

NASA Directory: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/hq/x500.html

For download:

Briefing book http://chapters.marssociety.org/usa/dc/pdfSRC/BriefingBook2001.pdf

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SAMPLE LETTER (ALSO ATTACHED)

Dear Representative _________:

NASA Headquarters recently issued an order to stop or eliminate all technology development projects supporting human Mars exploration. This action was justified as necessary due to cost overruns in the Space Station program.

While I agree that NASA needs to control the cost of the Space Station, under no circumstances should NASA's few existing small programs to develop human Mars exploration technology be destroyed due to the inability of NASA to keep the Space Station within its budget. Space Station overruns should be dealt with from within the Space Station's own budget.

Rather than shut down the tiny amount of human Mars technology development work currently underway, such funding should be significantly expanded.

I strongly urge you to support the proposal put forth by the Mars Society for at least one percent of NASA's budget to set aside within the HEDS organization of NASA to develop the technologies necessary for human Mars exploration missions. I also urge you to request that NASA reverse its decision to eliminate the existing technology programs.

Without a great history of exploration the United States would not exist. We need to continue our great heritage of exploring the unknown so that we can guarantee that our society will remain vital and will not fall into stagnation. With the International Space Station nearing operational status, it is time to take the next logical step -- the human exploration of Mars.

Thank you for your attention to this matter of critical importance to our Nation's future.

Sincerely,

[Name and Address]

* IF YOU PLAN TO MEET WITH YOUR CONGRESSMAN, REPLACE THE LAST SENTENCE WITH A PARAGRAPH LIKE THIS (FEEL FREE TO EDIT OR ADAPT IT TO FIT YOUR NEEDS)

Members of the ________ Chapter of the Mars Society would be very interested in meeting with you to discuss these issues whenever your schedule allows. We look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for your attention to this matter of critical importance to our Nation's future.

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Your Webmaster has several important links below. The first is a download of the above letter template. If you prefere, you can wipe the form letter with a mouse in your current browser window, and save as a text file in notepad, or use the preformatted text in the download. The second is a direct link to a site that automatically keeps updates on political representatives. You may find it interesting, as it contains biographical data on each Congressional/Senatorial member. This could help tremendously in all our future letter writing campaigns, no matter what the year. Or, if you prefer, download Lyle Kelly's MS document, to suppliment your contact knowledge. Then, there are links to the Top of Page and Home button.

Thanks for your attention, your webmaster, Tom Chatterton.

Download the form letter in MS Word Format

To find your Congressional Representative: http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml

MS Word document of your US Senate and State Representatives

Please Respond To This Urgent Need!

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