Mars Society Conventions Chronology
Building a table of all schedules and poster art for the TMS Conventions dating back to 1998.
The pdf file schedules cannot be viewed in Marspedia, but you can download the linked file to your device to view it.
Chronology of the Conventions of TMS (The Mars Society)
| Year | No. | Site | Location | Cover Art | Schedule pdf | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | First | U. Colorado | Boulder, CO | 1998 TMSC | Robert Zubrin introduces the Founding Declaration of TMS signed by all attendees.
4 day Convention format established with Plenary talks in the morning, Parallel Sessions in the afternoon, Panel discussions in the evening, Banquet on Saturday eve. Proceedings published as a three volume book. | |
| 1999 | Second | U. of Colorado | Boulder, CO | 1999 TMSC | Plans for Mars Arctic Research station announced by Pascal Lee.
Talks by Buzz Aldrin, James Cameron, Kim Stanley Robinson, Chris McKay. | |
| 2000 | Third | Ryerson Polytechnic U. | Toronto, ON, Canada | 2000 TMSC | Panels on Evidence of water and life on Mars.
Reports on the first season at Flashline Arctic Research Station (FMARS), Devon Island, Canada. | |
| 2001 | Fourth | Stanford U. | Stanford, CA | 2001 TMSC | Plenary talks by Elon Musk, Mike Griffin, Eileen Collins- Shuttle Commander.
Martian Genesis Panel. FMARS Crew Panel and Mission Support Panel. Banquet under stars and Mars light. | |
| 2002 | Fifth | U. of Colorado | Boulder, CO | 2002 TMSC | Sci Fi writers panel.
Mars Art gallery Plenary talks by Penelope Boston, Vint Cerf Reports and panel discussions on first season at Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), Hanksville, UT | |
| 2003 | Sixth | Hilton Hotel | Eugene, OR | 2003 TMSC | Family Day at TMS Conv.
John Grunsfeld - Hubble repair astronaut. William Hartman and his Traveler’s Guide to Mars. Carol Stocker - Drilling for Life on Mars. Elon Musk - The Falcon Launch Vehicle | |
| 2004 | Seventh | Parker House Hilton | Chicago, IL | 2004 TMSC | Steven Squyres - Spirit and Opportunity Rovers.
Bill Clancey - Human-Robot exploration teams. Bruce Mackenzie - The Mars Home Project. 2nd Rouget de Lisle Mars Song Contest The Why Mars Essay Contest. | |
| 2005 | Eighth | U. of Colorado | Boulder, CO | 2005 TMSC | Plenary talks by Stanley Borowski - Nuclear Thermal Rockets,
Scott Horowitz - Hubble repair astronaut. Reports on the Mars Homestead Project. Spacesuit Symposium. The Mars Underground documentary. Mars in the Movies. | |
| 2006 | Ninth | L’Enfant Plaza Hotel | Washington, DC | 2006 TMSC | Political Action and The Mars Blitz on Capitol Hill.
Martian Film Festival. Track talks on MDRS 2006 field season, Colonization and Resource Utilization, Life on Mars and Mars to Life, Outreach and Education. | |
| 2007 | Tenth | UCLA | Los Angeles, CA | 2007 TMSC | Plenary talks by Peter Diamandis -The X-Prize, Louis Friedman - The Planetary Soc.,Chris McKay and Melissa Battler - FMARS Xtreme - 4 month mission,
Track talks on FMARS - 4 month mission, ISRU and industrialization of Mars. | |
| 2008 | 11th | U. of Colorado | Boulder, CO | 2008 TMSC | Plenary talks by Carol Stoker - CoPI Phoenix Lander, Carol Porco -Cassini Mission Imaging lead, George Whitesides - NSS, Elon Musk -CEO/CTO SpaceX, Michael Carroll - Science Journalist and Artist.
Super Track on Religion and Space | |
| 2009 | 12th | U. of Maryland | College Park, MD | 2009 TMSC | Mars Blitz of Capitol Hill.
Town Hall and election of new Steering Committee members. Panel on Reporting Space News and another on The Art of Space. Mars banquet with Carol Porco - featured speaker. | |
| 2010 | 13th | Dayton Mariott | Dayton, OH | 2010 TMSC | Plenary talks by Geoffrey Landis - Mars Exploration Rovers, Charles Doarn - Telerobotic Surgery in Extreme Environments, Kevin Sloan - The University Rover Challenge.
Mars Camp - promoting STEM education | |
| 2011 | 14th | Embassy Suites, Grapevine | Dallas, TX | 2011 TMSC | Plenary talks by Everett Gibson - Allan Hills Meteorite, Rev. James Heiser -Spiritual and Theological Issues, Nataniel Owen-Going, Melanie Correll, and Jean Hunter - on various aspects of Martian Agriculture. Panel on Initial Challenges for a Mars Colony. | |
| 2012 | 15th | Pasadena Convention Center | Pasadena, CA | 2012 TMSC | Plenary talks by John Grotzinger - Gale Crater habitable environments, Paolo Bellutta - Rover driver. Panels on Space Law, The Commercial Road to Opening Space.
Elon Musk accepts the Mars Pioneer Award. Watching the live landing coverage of Curiosity. | |
| 2013 | 16th | U. of Colorado | Boulder, CO | 2013 TMSC | Panel on University Rover Challenge.
Track on MDRS astronomy, spacesuit simulation and data acquisition. Banquet with Steve Squyres as featured speaker - Mars Exploration Rovers. | |
| 2014 | 17th | South Shore Harbour Resort | League City, TX | 2014 TMSC | Plenary talk by Gerald Sanders- ISRU on Mars,,Track talk by Anthony Muscatello - Mars propellant production. Mars Student Design Contest. Banquet speaker Dennis Tito - Inspiration Mars. | |
| 2015 | 18th | Catholic U. of America | Washington, DC | 2015 TMSC | Plenary talk by Geronimo Villanueva - Discovery of ancient Ocean on Mars,
Panels on STEM education and on Space & Public Advocacy. Banquet guest of honor via Skype - Andy Weir | |
| 2016 | 19th | Catholic U. of America | Washington, DC | 2016 TMSC | Plenary talks by Vadim Gushchin -Biomedical Problems (via Skype), Jack Mustard - Mars Geology, Kevin Sloan - The 2016 University Rover Challenge.
Banquet speaker Pete Worden - The Breakthrough Prize Foundation. | |
| 2017 | 20th | UC Irvine | Irvine, CA | 2017 TMSC | Plenary talks by Dava Newman - Mechanical Counter-pressure Spacesuits, The Mars 160 crew members, Greg Benford - Sci Fi author and astrophysicist.
Banquet speaker Anousheh Ansari - A tourist journey to ISS Rise to Mars anthem. | |
| 2018 | 21st | Pasadena Convention Center | Pasadena, CA | 2018 TMSC | Plenary talks by Rick Tumlinson- Human Rights, Jeffrey Plaut -Subsurface Ice at Mars mid-latitudes, David Poston - Kilopower fission reactors, Paul Wooster - SpaceX’s plans for Mars.
Terraforming Mars Game demo.. Panel and demo on Mars VR Program. | |
| 2019 | 22nd | U. Southern California | Los Angeles, CA | 2019 TMSC | Plenary talks by Robert Zubrin -“The Case for Space”,
Tom Hoffman - Mars Insight Mission, Bryan Versteeg - Mars habitat designs. Mars Rocks! Benefit Concert. The Mars Colony Contest finalists presentations. | |
| 2020 | 23rd | The Global Internet | Hundreds of world sites | 2020 TMSC |
