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Mars Society London Inaugural Event - Free for Members

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Event Details

"The exploration and settlement of Mars is one of the most daring and audacious human endeavours of our time" - Dr. Robert Zubrin

We are happy to welcome everyone to the first inaugural event of the Mars Society London!

The International Mars Society is the world’s largest and most influential space advocacy organization dedicated to the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars. Established by Dr. Robert Zubrin and others in 1998. The group works to educate the public, the media and government on the benefits of exploring Mars and creating a permanent human presence on the Red Planet.

This event will mark the opening and first gathering of the London Chapterof the Mars society! The aim of this chapter is to build a community of Mars and Space Pioneers and Entrepreneurs in London and the UK.

Building on the spirit of the early space pioneers we want to inspire and enable a new generation of scientists, technologists, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, investors and others - to direct their talents and skills towards this exciting and important cause of our generation. And of course, to inspire and re-inspire existing and new space and Mars enthusiasts! 

What is the next stage in human evolution? Why Mars? Can we get humans to land on Mars by 2030? What role will AI play in space exploration and Mars settlement? How can we make use of the space technologies to improve living conditions on Earth? What are the opportunities for start-ups and SMEs in innovating and pushing the possibilities in this area? Are we going to be more or less experimental with our technologies and designs of Martian habitats, given both the increased constraints and risks there?

We are thrilled to have inspiring speakers and panellists joining us in person and remotely including:

Dr. Robert Zubrin - Founder of the International Mars Society (remotely)

James Parr - Director of the NASA Frontier Development Lab

Rachel Lyons - Director of Partnerships Space for Humanity (remotely)

Giulia Manzetti - ESA (European Space Agency) Business Applications

Dr. Tony Sephton - ESA (European Space Agency) Business Applications

Andreas Klok Pedersen - Partner & Design Director BIG London (Bjarke Ingels Group)

Daniel Carew - Investment Manager at Seraphim Capital 

Dr. Martin Dinov - Chair of the Mars Society London


SCHEDULE:

5.30 - 6.00 - Registration and VR Demo
6.00 - 6.10 - Intro Mars Society London (Martin Dinov and Dzera Kaytati)
6.10 - 6.50 - Speakers Presentations
7.00 - 7.30 - Panel with the speakers chaired by Martin Dinov
7.30 - 8.00 - Q&A and Closing Remarks
8.00 - 8.30 - Socialising, Drinks and VR Demo

You will have a chance to try a recently launched Mars VR ExperienceDemo, developed and directed by James Burk, one of the founding members of the International Mars Society and the information technology directory. The MarsVR program will be a unique multi-phase effort designed to pioneer the emerging field of CrowdExploration, which is defined as the partnership between the first astronauts on Mars and VR experts and enthusiasts back on Earth. The Mars Society aims to develop a special VR platform to assist with the initial human exploration of Martian landing sites.


SPEAKER BIOS:

Dr. Robert Zubrin
President and Founder, International Mars Society
President, Pioneer Astronautics

Dr. Robert Zubrin is the founder and president of the international Mars Society. Formerly a staff engineer at Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, he is now president of his own company, Pioneer Astronautics, which builds innovative space technologies.
Dr. Zubrin holds M.S in Nuclear Engineering, M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a doctorate in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Washington. He is the inventor of several unique concepts for space propulsion and exploration, the author of more than 200 published technical and non-technical papers in the field, as well the non-fiction books, perhaps most notably "The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must".
He is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and former Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Space Society. Dr. Zubrin was employed in areas of thermonuclear fusion research, nuclear engineering, radiation protection and as a high school science teacher.
 
James Parr
CEO, Trillium Technologies
Director, Frontier Development Lab (NASA), FDL Europe (ESA)
 
James is the founder and CEO of Trillium Technologies - a technology contractor that specializes in the application of emerging technologies to grand challenges, such as climate change, violent extremism, prevention strategies for cancer and obesity, deforestation mitigation, climate resilience and planetary defence from asteroids.
 He is the Director of the Frontier Development Lab (FDL) an AI research accelerator based in Silicon Valley in partnership with NASA and the SETI Institute and FDL Europe, in partnership with ESA. He is also the founder of the Open Space Agency (OSA) - which is dedicated to the democratisation of space exploration through citizen science and open hardware.
He lives in London with his wife and twin daughters. 
 
Rachel A. Lyons
Director of Partnerships, Space for Humanity 

Space for Humanity is a non-profit organization that will select a diverse group of non-astronauts to travel to the edge of space. Their mission is to grant an all-expenses-paid journey to selected applicants to experience the Overview Effect of viewing the earth from space. Space For Humanity will partner with all available vehicles to offer global citizens a diversity of spaceflights. Their longer-term vision is to send selected groups into Low Earth Orbit by 2022, the moon by 2027 and deep space by 2030.
Rachel A. Lyons is a space advocate, actively working to spread knowledge and encourage others to get involved using the ideals of ‘The Overview Effect’. Her approach is multidisciplinary – recognizing the importance of integrating formal education, creative arts, culture, and social connection. Rachel has led engineering teams, organized professional events, music and dance celebrations, and outdoor adventure. She holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Miami and is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS-US).
 
Daniel Carew
Investment Manager, Seraphim Capital
 
Daniel is an Investment Manager at Seraphim Capital focused on investments for the new Space fund, the first venture fund dedicated to financing the growth of companies operating in the space ecosystem. Their focus is on companies that are transforming global industries through the generation, enhancement and application of satellite drone enabled data.
He has previous experience at a UK-based venture fund making investments in materials and deep technology in industrial supply chains. Prior to that, he was a portfolio manager at a major UK retail bank delivering IT change in their web division as part of a KPMG team. Daniel has a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bristol, specialising in Nanomaterials, and a Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering from the University of Toronto.
 
Giulia Manzetti
Dr. Tony Sephton
ESA (European Space Agency) Business Applications

The vision of ESA Business Applications is to improve the lives of people on Earth through Space. Space assets can provide excellent opportunities for enabling new services or making innovative improvements in existing services. ESA BA runs a globally-recognised programme offering zero-equity funding in various categories from healthcare to VR/AR and others, as well as providing access to networks and information and dedicated project management support for commercial and technical developments of space-related projects.
Giulia Manzetti has a technical background in Aerospace Engineering and after university, she worked in a nanosatellite company and in Lamborghini. She completed another master's degree in Space Policies before joining ESA Business Applications last year, where she supports the Outreach and Countries team. 
Dr. Tony Sephton has spent over 25 years in the space industry, in roles covering applications, ground segment and future spacecraft missions. He has been at ESA Business Applications for nearly 9 years, and as Special Projects Manager, he has been engaged in identifying and managing activities in satellite-based services across a broad range of applications such as Precision Agriculture, Animal Tracking, Flood Response, the Arctic, Space Weather, Ageing Society and Commercial Climate Services. 


Andreas Klok Pedersen
Partner and Design Director of BIG London

Andreas is Partner-in-Charge of many competitions, master plans and large-scale projects across Europe and Asia. Alongside his architectural practice, Andreas lectures internationally on BIG’s most recent projects and ideas, and has taught at the Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, at the AHO School of Architecture in Oslo, was Studio Director at the Strelka Institute for Architecture and Urbanism in Moscow. 
BIG is a Copenhagen, New York and London based group of architects, designers, urbanists, researchers and inventors. The office is involved in a large number of projects throughout Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. BIG’s architecture emerges out of a careful analysis of how contemporary life constantly evolves and changes, due to the influence from multicultural exchange, global economic flows and communication technologies that all together require new ways of architectural and urban organization. 
Naturally, BIG attempted to explore what a Martian Vernacular will look like through the Mars Science City; designing to low gravity, low pressure, extreme colds and high levels of radiation, radically changes the architect’s tool kit and the resulting forms and space.

Dr. Martin Dinov
Chair Mars Society

Dr. Martin Dinov is a neuroscientist and AI expert. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist and Engineer of the AI startup Maaind, Co-Founder of the experience design collective HackTheSenses and is a senior data scientist and AI engineer consultant at Capgemini. Martin holds M.S. in Bioinformatics and received his PhD from Imperial College London for work he did on machine learning and brain computer interfaces. He is excited about bringing developments from neuroscience and AI to space and Mars.

* Mars Society London is a voluntary organisation, all the proceeds go towards funding the events and activities.
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