At the 6th Annual International Mars Society Conference in Eugene, Oregon, Dr. Robert Zubrin outlined his vision for a large scale political outreach effort.  An incredible amount of pressure is currently being thrown on NASA in light of the Columbia accident report.  Additionally, the world's attention is turning towards Mars with its historic close passing to Earth; and this attention will only continue to grow in the coming months with the arrival of multiple missions.  All of this will be coinciding with the beginning of political campaigning season.

With the above in mind, Dr. Zubrin has set the goal of meeting with at least 300 Senators and Representatives throughout the coming year.  With 21 members of the two houses from Pennsylvania, the PA Chapters need to meet with at least 12; although there's no reason we can't meet with all 21!

Several other chapters have already gotten heavily involved with contacting their local politicians and setting up meetings.  I need volunteers from the PA Chapters to help establish our political work.  There is a large quantity of material already available from other chapters, so this will not be a terribly taxing job.  It will mainly consist of putting together letters, and contacting politicians.  If you are interested in helping, or have any questions, please contact me asap!

Kevin Sloan
PA Chapter, Mars Society
http://chapters.marssociety.org/pa