Mars Gravity Biosatellite

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The Mars Gravity Biosatellite project is a joint venture of MIT and the Georgia Institute of Technology to develop a free-flying spacecraft for un-crewed research flights. The spacecraft is also home to the YourNameIntoSpace initiative, designed to give individuals and corporations the opportunity to fly images of choice into orbit.^[1]

1 Program History and Overview
2 Science
3 Participants
4 Financing
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Program History and Overview

The Mars Gravity Biosatellite program began in 2001 as a Mars Society initiative called Translife, designed to study the effects of Mars-level gravity on mammals. Since then, the program has grown tremendously in both scope and vision. Students at MIT and the Georgia Institute of Technology are designing a small research satellite that will carry 15 mice in low Earth orbit for five weeks. As it orbits, the satellite will spin to generate artificial gravity of the same strength as the gravity that astronauts will experience on the surface of Mars. Launch date is still tentative, pending additional program funding, but development continues year-round at the two universities.

The vehicle is planned to perform a reentry at the end of the mission and to be retrieved with its mice cargo.

[edit] Science

Gravity on Mars is only about 38% as strong as it is on Earth, and the long-term effects of such reduced gravity are unknown. Astronauts who are weightless for long periods of time lose significant amounts of bone and muscle mass. No one knows if the gravity on Mars is strong enough to avoid or minimize these health problems. This flight will provide the first data on how mammalian health is affected by long-term exposure to lower levels of gravity. The research will focus on bone loss, changes in bone structure, muscle atrophy, and changes in the inner ear.

[edit] Participants

To date, the program has engaged over 450 undergraduate, graduate, and high school students in spacecraft design, life support system development, systems engineering, and program management. Participants are welcomed from around the globe as visiting collaborators, remote contributors, donors, and advisors.

[edit] Financing

In 2006, the students of Mars Gravity developed a novel microfinancing platform, called YourNameIntoSpace to help finance the development of their spacecraft. The website http://YourNameIntoSpace.org invites companies and individuals from around the world to turn the spacecraft into a high tech canvas, decorating the satellite and team website with logos, photos, names, and messages. For a donation of $35 or more (tax-deductible in the US), anyone can send their message into orbit. For a larger donation, space in the reentry vehicle can be reserved and actual flight hardware returned with the image of choice.

Continuing the team's commitment to education, YourNameIntoSpace.org also enables children of all ages to add their names for free to a DVD that will fly onboard the spacecraft.