Convention News: 18th Annual International Mars Society Convention

If you are looking for a place to learn more about past, present, and planned Mars missions, you could attend the Mars Society's 18th Annual International Mars Society Convention in Washington DC this coming August. Here are some details: 

The Mars Society will convene the 18th Annual International Mars Society Convention at the Catholic University of America (CUA) in the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center (better known as "The Pryz") from August 13 - 16, 2015.

The four-day conference will bring together key experts, scientists, policymakers, government officials and journalists to discuss the latest news on Mars exploration and efforts to promote a human mission to the Red Planet in the coming years.

You can learn more about the upcoming conference here, though the speakers and agenda are not available at this time.

17th International Mars Society Convention

If you are looking for more information on Mars, from past rover programs to ideas for future settlements, you may want to attend the 17th International Mars Society Convention at the South Shore Harbour Resort in League City, Texas from August 7-10, 2014.  

Last year's conference covered a number of interesting topics, including:

-- Latest Findings from the Mars Probes
-- Plans for Human Mars Missions
-- Martian agriculture/aquaculture and greenhouse/greenhab technology
-- Terraforming - Creating an Ecology for Mars
-- The One Way Mission to Mars
-- Asteroid Missions: A Bridge to Mars?

For example, Bas Lansdorp, the co-founder and CEO of Mars One, discussed his idea of organizing a mission to Mars.  If you want to view this presentation and others, you can view them at the Mars Society's page on YouTube.  And if you want to learn more about the projects of the Mars Society, I recommend you visit their website as well as view their past quarterly reports.