To all Mars Society chapter contacts;

     Have you started to contact your local political representatives yet to meet with them in their home offices to urge greater support for Mars exploration (as discussed in Special Bulletin #10, reprinted below)?

     This is a VITAL chapter activity, which is needed to get a humans to Mars program going.

     We have only fragmentary reports of chapter political activity at this time. Some chapters have been very active. For example, the Colorado chapter has already met with 4 out of the 6 congressmen from Colorado, and was met with supportive responses to our program in every case.

     We now have 50 US chapters, if every chapter were to do the same as the Colorado chapter, we will meet with half the congress in short order. The impact of having done this cannot be underestimated.

     So folks, if you haven't begun to do this yet, please start now. If you have done it, please send a report on what you have done and the response you obtained to both me [zubrin@ix.netcom.com] and to Brian Frankie, who is now interim Political Task Force leader (Victoria Friedensen, the orginal political task force leader has become unable to do the job due to the need to attend to an ailing family member) Brian's e-mail address is brianf5070@aol.com.

     Once again, this is not very hard to do; just pick up the phone and call their local office and go down and meet with them with as many chapter members as can make themselves available at the time specified by the congressman. It doesn't cost anything, it doesn't take much time, and every chapter can do it, and needs to do it if we want to get humans to Mars.

     Plenty of supporting documents, such as sample letters of introduction to fax to congressional offices have been posted on the Colorado chapter web site, and should soon be posted on the main web site as well.

International chapters located in democratic countries should begin an analogous activity, with issues chosen appropriate to local circumstances.

So pick up the phone and make the calls to get the process going.

On to Mars.

Robert Zubrin

from Special Bulletin #10
TIME FOR POLITICAL ACTION!

     As this is being written, the US Congress is preparing to adjourn to return to their home districts for the fall campaign. Every congressman and Senator will soon be available for meetings in their home offices.

     Mars Society chapters need to seize this time to meet with as many of these possible to seek support for our program.

     Specifically, chapters need to meet with congressmen and ask them to support expanded Mars exploration. Our three-point program is:

1. NASA's robotic Mars exploration program should have its budget doubled. It is currently about $250 million per year, or slightly less than 2% of NASA's 13 billion/year budget. It should be raised to $500 million/year, or 4%.

2. Congress needs to allocate $130 million per year (1% of NASA's budget) to the NASA HEDS (Human Exploration and Development of Space) organization for a program to develop the technologies for human Mars exploration missions. This is necessary to do now to prepare the way for a breakout into space early in the next administration.

3. We want a humans to Mars program launched early in the next elected administration. Congressmen can help this occur by publicly voicing support for this goal on an appropriate occasion.

     With respect to doubling the funding of the NASA robotic exploration effort, it would be best if a significant portion of the added funds came to the JPL-led robotic program through NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) organization. This is important to insure that robotic Mars probes carry appropriate instruments and payloads to provide critical data for future human exploration. Another major portion of the added funds should be used to establish a "Mars Discovery" program, in which mission concepts proposed by various investigators are openly competed on the basis of maximum science return for the dollar (in a manner similar to the existing NASA Discovery program, which however is off-limits to Mars probes.) This is necessary to insure that the Mars program remains efficient and creative.

     The establishment of a technology program within HEDS for human Mars exploration is the critical first step in getting a humans-to-Mars program off the ground. The $130 million we are asking for could be amplified further by congress acting to eliminate the "firewall" congressional language that prevents NASA Code M (Shuttle and Space Station) programs from spending their own existing funds to develop technologies needed for human exploration beyond low Earth. These programs have very large budgets, and their managers in some instances are aware of the necessity of using some of their capital to prepare for the future. They should be allowed to do so.

     With respect to point 3, we need to make clear to as many political players as possible the idea that we can and should have our first human explorers on Mars before the next decade is out. Americans want and deserve a space program that really pioneers new worlds, and the politicians and their advisors need to know it. By meeting with a large number of politicians and educating them on this point, you will be doing essential work to prep are the ground for a decision to launch a humans-to-Mars program by the next administration.

In short, our messages to the politicians are this:
    Expand the robotic exploration program.
    Begin the human exploration program.

     To convey these messages, local chapters need to start the process of calling up local congressional offices and setting up meetings with congressmen or their close advisors. A number of chapters have already begin to do so, and reactions to date from both conservative and liberal congressman has been generally positive, ranging from "I never thought much about this, but now that you mention it, as long as we have a $13 billion per year space agency, this is the sort of thing it ought to be doing," to "I'm with you all the way."

The procedure to set up a meeting with a congressman is fairly simple.

     Just call up their local office and ask to meet. You will probably be transferred from one person to another a couple of times, until you get someone responsible who will ask you to fax them a letter. Do so (a sample letter is posted on the web site at www.marssociety.org )then call back the next day. If you are persistent and polite, they will generally set up the meeting. In most cases so far, we have been able to get 30 minutes of the Congressman's time. As soon as you have an agreement for the meeting set up, notify everyone in your chapter, inviting them to come and participate. You can do the meeting with one person, but bringing 5 or 8 constituents to a congressman's office to talk to them about the need to open Mars is a great idea! If you have time, it's a good idea to have a pre-meeting with the other Mars Society members attending, to plan out who will be speaking about what. But if necessary, wing it. The most important thing is that the congressman have the experience of being visited in his home office by people concerned about opening Mars.

     So you meet with them, explain our points. Give them a copy of our three point program (see above), the Founding Declaration, and "The Case for Mars." Regardless of their response, be polite. It's OK for different chapter members to meet with the same congressman at different times, or you can all go in a group. You may have to have a meeting with a high-level aide before you get access to the congressman him/herself. So be it. The key thing is that the congressman learn that there are people in their district who care about pushing on to Mars.

     Please send reports of all meetings with politicians to Brian Frankie , the interim Political Action task force leader, brianf5070@aol.com, and to Maggie Zubrin at Mars Society headquarters, mzubrin@aol.com.

    We now have over 50 US chapters. If every chapter meets with just 6 congressmen over the next year, we will have met with most of the congress! If you are living in an area without a chapter, then just do it yourself.

     Your political activity across the nation will create a foundation that will allow our Washington DC people to engage in effective, focussed lobbying.

     So go meet with your congressmen. It's fun, easy, patriotic, and productive!

The above section describes the US political initiatives. European and other non-US chapters will need to develop their own set of analogous political initiatives. But please do them. Let's start talking with members of the parliaments and national assemblies, and officials in the government science ministries in every country in where we have a chapter! You don't need to be an American to participate in opening humanity's new world!

[From Bob Zubrin, zubrin@ix.netcom.com ]
[distributed by Bruce, BMackenzie@alum.mit.edu, Bob is not on chpt's list]