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 the
gravity of Mars (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 concept. 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. The mission concept was envisioned to carry 15 mice in low Earth orbit for five weeks. The satellite was designed to spin at approximately 32 rpm to generate
centrifugal force that they would experience as gravity on the surface of
Mars. At the end of its mission, the satellite would reenter Earth's atmosphere and its cargo of mice would be retrieved. In 2007, a tentative launch date for the Mars Gravity Biosatellite had been set for 2010 or 2011, as the primary payload on a Falcon 1E or a Minotaur IV launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. In 2006, the students of Mars Gravity developed a novel
microfinancing platform called Your Name Into Space. This was meant to help finance the development of their spacecraft. This initiative is designed to give individuals and corporations the opportunity to fly images of their choice into orbit. By the program's end in 2009, the project had engaged over 600 undergraduate, graduate, and high school students in aerospace engineering, space life sciences, and program management. Over 20 conference presentations and papers were published, earning multiple student awards. On 24 June 2009, a status report was released declaring the end of this program, due to lack of funding and shifting priorities at NASA. ==Science==