"Virtually Everywhere and Free To All!"

I've been following Explore Mars for a couple of years now - like The Planetary Society, they're a non-profit organization dedicated to advocacy in the area of space exploration - specifically, sending sustainable human missions to Mars beginning in the 2030s.

One of the things that initially attracted my attention was their Humans To Mars Summit, held annually in Washington, DC. The conference has always been ridiculously affordable at something like $75 USD a day, and I’ve seriously considered attending in person – in fact, I had gone as far as looking at AirBnB options in Washington – but the pandemic put that idea to rest, along with a lot of other travel plans. 

This year's conference will be held virtually, and, in keeping with the organization's non-profit mandate, it's free to attend.  It's taking place on September 13th through 15th - if anyone out there is interested in attending, you can sign up here.  I booked a ticket, but to be honest, I can't really attend, not even virtually.  I'll try to keep a window open both while working at home and at the office, but it's not the kind of thing that I can really justify taking three days off work for.*

The event features an impressive array of speakers from the scientific and aerospace communities, and will explore (no pun intended) a wide range of topics, including how space exploration improves life on earth, designing living space on Mars,** building a sustainable path to Mars using the Moon as a stepping stone, and, perhaps most importantly, how to maintain momentum for the next decade in order to ensure that the manned Mars missions actual take place. 

I'm hoping that my virtual booking will give me access to recordings of the sessions, although somehow it's not quite the same as hearing people speaking in the moment.  But, at least I should be able to catch some of the meetings live, and it's certainly an improvement on not being to go at all.  And, as we’ve all learned during the last couple of years, attending in person is not necessarily better than being a virtual audience member - after all, on Zoom™, every seat is in the front row.

- Sid

* Please pardon my dangling participle.

** I've already weighed in on this one.