The MarsDrive Founders' Circle

Members 

Jason Archer                     Donald Rapp
Joseph Basile                    Petrea Rasmussen
Melissa Battler                  Dale Rogers
Grant Bonin                      Randall Shelaga
Danny Coyle                      Phil Smith
Ryan Curtis                       Frank Stratford
Georg Duve                       Regan Walker
Brian Enke                        Tyler West
Jay Fullmer                       Terry Wilson
Hal Fulton                         Jared Zwiefel
Paul Graham
Gregory Gudalefsky
Chad Harris
Heather Hava
Michael Hazel
Bruce Irving
Mike Jones
Jim Keener
Brian Kratko
Bart Leahy
Caitlin Massart
Paul McDonnell
Alex Moore
Kevin Myrick
Carl Nyberg

 MarsDrive Founders' Circle

Dear Space Advocate,

The membership join up page is now available. All details for joining MarsDrive can now be found in this section.  Thank you for your support.

*Update: ALL Basic and Pioneer members will be sent one of our Founders Circle coins upon joining. This is a limited item.

We want YOU to join us. We want your time and expertise, but Marsdrive needs your financial support if it is to succeed.

Basic Membership is $25 a year (lump sum payment)

MarsDrive Pioneer Membership is $10 a month (or $120 a year)

The MarsDrive Founders Circle coin is a custom coin in black nickel plating on brass; the obverse has  relief image of Mars plated in antique copper and the reverse is marked with our founding year, 2007.

Here is an image: 

This coin will never be sold. It will be available only to the founding members in 2007/08, and we hope it is a keepsake that gets taken to Mars sometime in coming decades. Along with our other work,  we have put together welcome packs for new members.

1. We have built our membership, recruiting more than two dozen founding members who collectively have donated thousands of dollars.

2. We have incorporated in Australia and the USA and gone through the arduous  process of applying with the IRS for 501(c)3 nonprofit status.

3. We have opened channels of communication with more than 20 space advocacy groups and private companies.

4. We have provided ongoing assistance to five different space-related projects, two of which are real science such as the Mars Gravity Biosat.

5. We have provided material support and numerous man-hours for the Yuri's Night executive committee.

6. We have given talks in Second Life and have been allowed to place a sign in the International Spaceflight Museum. We have worked on the Mars Information Center display in Second Life.

7. A team of us attended ISDC 2006, 2007 and now in 2008 and more recently the Mars Society conference. Hal Fulton gave a talk and assisting with the activism/outreach track were Jared Zweifel and Caitlin Massart. We had a table there and conducted all the outreach and networking we could fit in.

8. As a symbolic effort, we have created the "Mars Manifesto" --  essentially a statement that space is our destiny, that space is for everyone, and that Mars is an important stepping-stone. The intention is to gather "guest signers" and then open it up for the world to sign on the web. Currently it is translated into 32 different languages with Arthur C Clark, Buzz Aldrin  and Ray Bradbury as our first guest signatories.

9. The Space Activist's Handbook is now complete. This is a  guide for space advocates, especially in writing letters to Congress.

10. We have bought classified ads in three publications as a starting point. We will advertise more as funds permit.

11. We have produced a new vision and mission statement to better reflect who we are and what we do.

12. We have created brochures, stationery, and business cards. Those are small things, but they are necessary.

13. We initiated a new human Mars mission design project. We have started to contact key people who can help us with our goals. These are people in the space community as well as important individuals in other areas.

14. We have created the "MarsDrive Press" to handle any significant publications that we produce.

15. We are investigating the possibility of a grid computing platform dedicated to space engineering problems.

16. We are planning a grassroots fundraising effort as another step in our growth. More info on this later!

17. We have launched an online MarsDrive Shop to raise a little money, get our message out, and get a little name recognition.

In short, we have been busy and we will continue to be busy. We ask you to join us as we try to make a difference in the world. We would prefer to have your time and expertise, but we also need your financial support. If you would like to further the humans to Mars effort or just want to do something meaningful towards your own chance at space exploration please consider giving one or the other or both.

Thank you,

Frank Stratford

President,

Hal Fulton
Vice President,
MarsDrive USA

In The Right Stuff, author Tom Wolfe put these words into the mouth of astronaut Gus Grissom: "No bucks, no Buck Rogers." It is as true today as it was forty years ago. No enterprise of any significance can be launched without financial support.

So we are asking your help. There will be other opportunities to donate in the future, but right now we want to prove ourselves. Please consider joining the MarsDrive Founders' Circle. In our normal day-to-day lives we spend 99% of our money on things that will never change the world. Let's spend a little on something that might. By all means, donate money to fight heart disease and cancer and hunger and poverty; but give some also to the bigger picture, to the expansion of the human race into the universe.

This small amount won't build anything huge overnight. but it plants the seed. We are confident that the seed you plant will grow into something that will help change the world for the better.

Thank you,


Hal E. Fulton
Public Outreach Director
MarsDrive Consortium