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Mars Gravity Biosatellite


The Mars Gravity Biosatellite was a project initiated as a competition between universities in 2001 by the Mars Society. The aim was to build a spacecraft to study the effects of Mars-level gravity (~0.38g) on mammals. Among the participating universities were The University of Washington, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Presentations were given to Robert Zubrin (Mars Society), and the award for best design was given to The University of Washington (UW). The UW team continued to develop the concept until the end of the school year (June 2002), after which funding became an issue. The team from UW contacted members of the team that presented from MIT, and the two universities agreed to continue development together. Later University of Queensland - Australia (UQ) joined the team as well. The program ended in 2009.

The Mars Gravity Biosatellite program began in 2001 as a Mars Society initiative called Translife that grew out of a discussion between Robert Zubrin and Elon Musk. It was intended to study the effects of Mars-level gravity (about one-third that of Earth) on mammals, for which no data was available. Over the next few years, the program grew both scope and vision, with staff and students from MIT (Payload), UW (Spacecraft Bus) and UQ (Reentry) collaboratively designing various parts of the mission. With ongoing funding challenges, UW and UQ withdrew after several years and Georgia Institute of Technology stepped in to build on their design work. The effort represented the most ambitious and complex student satellite project to date.


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