InfracompPhoto: Pictured is the Mesa Fiberglass factory where the Mars Arctic Research Station will be constructed. Visible in the picture (left to right) are Kurt Micheels, Robert Zubrin, and Infracomp President John Kunz.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contractor Selected for Mars Arctic Research Station

Indian Hills, Colorado — January 5, 2000 –On December 30, 1999, the Mars Society selected Infrastructure Composites International (Infracomp) to build the primary structure of the Mars Arctic Research Station (MARS).  The structure, which will be a two-deck Mars habitat and laboratory prototype 27 feet in diameter, will be built by Infracomp at the Mesa Fiberglass facility in Commerce City, Colorado, using an advanced fiberglass honeycomb technology pioneered by the two companies.

The Infracomp/Mesa Fiberglass team has been building large fiberglass structures with their unique superstrong honeycomb technology since 1961. The Denver facility in which the MARS will be built includes 35,000 square feet of heated roofed space and three 5-ton overhead cranes with 30 feet under hook. The MARS primary structure, including all doors and windows, is slated to be completed by the first week of May 2000. During May, the structure will remain on site while interior systems and furnishings are installed and checked out. Then the entire structure will be disassembled and shipped to the Arctic for reassembly on Devon Island during late June and early July. A short shakedown operation of the unit is planned for late July, with the first three-month full field season planned for summer 2001. Operations on Devon Island will be done in cooperation with the NASA-led Haughton Mars Project. Funding for the MARS has been provided by the Steve and Michele Kirsch Foundation, FINDS, Bushnell Sports Optics, and the members of the Mars Society

A full report from the MARS shakedown crew will be given to attendees at the Third International Mars Society Convention , which will meet at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, August 10-13, 2000.

ABOUT THE MARS SOCIETY

The Mars Society is a non-profit organization. Our purpose is:

To further the goal of the exploration and settlement of the Red Planet. This will be done by:

1. Broad public outreach to instill the vision of pioneering Mars.

2. Support of ever more aggressive government funded Mars exploration programs around the world.

3. Conducting Mars exploration on a private basis.

Starting small, with hitchhiker payloads on government funded missions, we intend to use the credibility that such activity will engender to mobilize larger resources that will enable stand-alone private robotic missions and ultimately human exploration.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Robert Zubrin

The Mars Society

Indian Hills, Colorado, 80454

Telephone: 303.980.0890

http://www.marssociety.org/

— END —