The Mars Media Project involves the making of a pop-music video about humans-to-Mars that was filmed on Devon Island in the high Canadian Arctic. The Mars Media Project activity on Devon was hosted by the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) as part of their Education and Public Outreach program for 2003.

Our very own Mars Project Coordinator, Advocate and Board member, Elaine Walker, was invited by the NASA HMP to do just that! She spent one week on Devon Island (July 22-28, 2003) as a Space Frontier Foundation representative on the HMP-2003 expedition. The music video, filmed for a pop song she has written, will help to promote the idea of humans traveling to Mars to young audiences. The video footage will be mixed in 2005, and every effort will be put into getting it on the airwaves!

Dr. Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist with the Mars Institute and the SETI Institute based at NASA Ames Research Center, is Project Lead and Principal Investigator for the NASA HMP. He is also Chairman of the Mars Institute. He first asked Elaine to write a song about Devon Island in 2000, which inspired her to write a full-length MARS CD. This CD is available at the Foundation's MARS website in the STORE section. The MARS site can also be accessed from the Foundation's front page by clicking on the MARS link.

Ms. Walker's education and outreach activities on Devon Island included posting a daily journal of her activities to http://mars-frontier.org/blog. Other HMP participants posted journals to the site, and there were interactive capabilities so that people "back on Earth" could post comments and ask questions for HMP participants during the week of July 22-28. Pictures and quicktime movies of activities on Devon Island can also be seen in this blog.

Post production work is being done on the video, and the song is being mixed. Pictures taken during the making of the video can be seen here. Plans are to have the video done by the end of 2005. It will be used as a tool to promote the idea of humans living on Mars to the pop culture. Educational outreach events will go along with the release of the video. Stay tuned!

How can YOU get involved? Please make a donation for the Mars Media Project (scroll down to the "Mars" category on the Space Frontier Foundation Member Dues page) and visit mars-frontier.org often to find current news about the making of the video and the Mars Media Project! 20% of all purchases made on mars-frontier.org will also go towards this fund. There are many great things to buy in the STORE section of the site including Mars-related paintings, videos and music CD's!