FMARS

In July 2009, I was a crewmember on a month-long simulated Mars mission to the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. Throughout the Mars Society sponsored expedition, I posted regular dispatches from the field to my website astronautforhire.com. I've collected all of these "letters from Mars" on this page for easy reference along with my video blogs and news articles featuring me. Photos are available on my Phanfare site or the FMARS Crew Picasa Web Album site. Please contact me for media inquiries or to ask permission to use a photo. Thanks to everyone who followed me during the mission, especially those who chipped in to help pay for my expenses. On to Mars!

Blog Posts | Video Posts | Media Stories | FMARS-XII Patch





Blog Posts

Also check out Kristine's blog posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)


Video Posts

many more videos on the FMARS 2009 YouTube Channel


Media Stories
many more FMARS news stories on the FMARS 2009 website
FMARS-XII Patch I designed the FMARS patch with the help of my wife and fellow crewmembers. It is triangular in shape to convey the theme of prospecting for resources via three vantage points: air, surface, and subsurface. The shape is also reminiscent of the petal/airbag structures employed by Mars landers of recent years. The patch features an image of Devon Island (light green) superimposed on Mars to indicate how the the island is considered a Mars-like analog environment. An astronaut geologist and rover are featured on the island, and the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flying overhead is showing the geologist where to dig. The blue wavy lines beneath the island signify the geophysical search for groundwater done at FMARS this summer. The water image is flanked on the left by a seismogram and right by a laser symbol to reference seismic and biomedical research projects. In the background is the FMARS habitat (the "Hab") proudly waving the Mars flag.

Popular posts from this blog

New CSA, ESA, and JAXA Astronauts

Mark your calendars for May 13 and 20. That's when Canada's CSA and Europe's ESA will announce their new astronaut selections. In a press release earlier today, CSA said it would announce its two new astronauts on May 13. Back in March, I reported that CSA released a great deal of information on the top 16 astronaut candidates in its recruitment campaign. This included biographies of the top 16 candidates and video and photos of their evaluation and testing. CSA has been very good with keeping the public informed through the astronaut selection process with regular posts to its website . I liked how CSA was able to interview a relatively large pool of applicants remotely via teleconference, which is something NASA did not do. As I reported in a previous post , CSA had 5352 applicants for only 2 slots. This makes CSA's selectivity 2/5352 = 0.037%! May 13 Update: CSA has announced its two newest astronauts David Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen . Congrat
READ MORE >>

Insider tips on NASA's astronaut selection

Image
While NASA wraps up interviewing the second group of finalists to determine its 2013 class of ASCANs, the head of the NASA Astronaut Selection Office Duane Ross gave an illuminating presentation at JSC last Thursday about the selection process.  He covered questions ranging from academic degrees to interview questions, medical screening, and Russian language requirements. Pete Dimmick was among those present in the audience. Here are his notes from the event, reprinted with permission: Today I attended a lecture by Duane Ross and his protege, Anne Roemer. Duane has been the head of the astronaut selection process for 37 years and I had a few minutes to speak with them after the lecture was over. Here is what I found out about becoming an astronaut. I won't discuss so much the published requirements, rather I'll be focusing more on the insider things. There have been 257 NASA astronauts over the years and an applicant has a 0.6% chance of being selected. Of those no
READ MORE >>

The Astronaut Hopeful's Manifesto

Image
I am an astronaut hopeful – one of thousands of people who somehow never outgrew our childhood dream of going to space. Anyone can hope to be an astronaut, but to be an “astronaut hopeful” one must make a commitment to the goal and proactively work towards becoming an astronaut. The road is long and the outcome is uncertain, but it is in trying to achieve this lofty ambition that we learn to become our best selves. Astronauts train to be some of the most focused, resourceful, healthy and dependable people on the planet. Striving to be more like them can help any person to be more effective in life’s pursuits. Making the decision to do everything one can to actually become an astronaut means learning from astronaut role models and making incremental decisions throughout your life that get you closer to your dream. This week NASA began accepting applications to recruit another class of astronaut candidates (ASCAN’s). More than 6,300 people applied during the last opportunity, from
READ MORE >>