What’s the best route to the Red Planet? Hundreds of people are converging on Seattle this week to consider that question at the annual convention of the Mars Society. And the answer may come, at least in part, from an array of tech startups.
“The route to get to Mars is commercial,” James Burk, the nonprofit advocacy group’s executive director, told me. “The new-space sector is critically important to Mars exploration, both robotic and human.”
Burk said the Mars Society’s 27th annual convention is expected to bring at least 250 to 300 people to the University of Washington starting Aug. 8. “We’ve offered it for free to students at U Dub,” he said. Dozens of sessions are planned, focusing on topics ranging from NASA’s Mars exploration strategy to private-sector concepts for Mars settlements.
There’ll also be an update on the society’s plans to establish a Mars Technology Institute, potentially in the Pacific Northwest. The institute’s objective would be to foster startups that could develop the technologies needed for a long-term campaign of Mars exploration and settlement — and make money in the process.
