Create the future!
Major Space Agencies around the world have recently announced their interest in returning humans to the Moon as a possible stepping-stone towards Mars, and eventually beyond. Many ideas, missions and concepts being considered emphasize a combined MOONMARS exploration strategy for humans, rather than focusing on one destination or the other. Given that such missions will not take place for several years to come and will take even more years to complete, the workforce that will be undertaking this next stage of space exploration are either students in today’s schools and universities or just beginning their careers in the space sector.
To represent this group of future program managers, engineers, physicists, biologists, architects etc., the MoonMars Workshop (MMW) was formed to act as a forum and showcase the visions and concerns of the next generation of space workforce focusing on the manned and robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Opportunities
There are many options for you to become involved in the Moon Mars Working Group. This can be done via our online forums, annual meetings, dedicated workshops based in space agencies and universities or smaller locally organized workshops and lecturers run by MMW delegates.
The MOONMARS Workshops will provide the opportunity for youth delegates from around the world to meet in person with experts in the field to discuss the topic in-depth. With expert consultation, a meaningful and unified youth perspective on ongoing and future initiatives related to MoonMars exploration will be produced and presented to world space leaders and other enthusiasts at the International Astronautics Congress immediately following the workshop.
Delegates, were expected to contribute strongly to on-line preparatory work and background reading in the weeks leading up to the workshop. During the actual workshop, delegates participated in small working groups tasked to evaluate and provide recommendations with respect to 9 key areas of input for current MoonMars exploration strategies. In addition to each working group presenting their results to the IAC, final reports will be distributed to Governments, Space Agencies, the Space Generation Advisory Council, various advocacy groups and other persons/organizations in the field identified during the course of the workshop.
Get involved
Each MoonMars workshop is always looking for motivated individuals who want to push the younger generation and all humankind beyond the bounds of Earth. If you are interested in helping to organize a Moon Mars Working Group event, advising or sponsoring a delegate, or attending a workshop as a speaker, expert or delegate, we encourage you to contact us for further information.
You can be involved in some or all of the following activities of the Moon Mars Working Group:
Online work groups: By participating in online forums, you can undertake research in various fields related to Moon/Mars exploration, guided by experts and MMWG moderators, your work will be included in papers to be presented and published at conferences and in journals.
Annual meetings: As well as this, the Moon Mars Working Group holds an annual meeting coinciding with the International Astronautical Congress and the Space Generation Congress. These meetings acts as platforms to discuss the past years work, participate in work groups, discuss with invited exerts and to brainstorm for topics for study in the following year.
Dedicated workshops: There are also topic dedicated workshops, of approximately a week long. These focus on specific topics such as “Human Factors”, “Design of a MoonMars program”, “Advanced Propulsion and Power sources”, “Lunar Base Design” etc. These events are planned to be held across the world and thus aiming to come close to those students who cannot travel to the annual meetings.
Locally organized lectures and workshops: The Moon Mars Working Group supports anybody who wishes to organize a lecture or day long workshop at their university or institute. Single lectures by a professor in your University, or an all-day event discussing the future of MoonMars exploration in your country, all activities will reinforce the Moon Mars Working Group and will provide interesting and educative experiences in your locality.
What will you do? This years online workgroups will research and discuss six topics that will lead to publications to be presented at the International Astronautical Congress and other conferences and journals. There is no limit to how many forums you participate.
Topics are:
• Investigation into current Moon/Mars plans, programs and missions.
• Enabling technologies and advanced concepts.
• How do we get support for large investment and sustainable manned Moon/Mars programs? (Social, economic and legal aspects).
• Lunar base designs and concepts.
• Using the past as a tool for the present
• Educational methods for the training of the next generation space workforce.
You have the opportunity to suggest topics for next year via the online forums or the annual meeting, so send in suggestions and ideas at the forum.
Each MoonMars workshop selects different topics to focus on to push MoonMars exploration. What we hope to contribute to an arena full of high level scientific and political discussion is an overview of commonalities and tips for each aspect of the further human exploration of our near solar system and a truly young and international opinion on the various topics.
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Also visit www.moonmars.org for more information.