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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 concept to study the effects of Mars-level gravity (~0.38g) on mammals.
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 mission concept was envisioned to carry 15 mice in low Earth orbit for five weeks. The satellite was designed to spin at approximately 32 rpmKorzun, Ashley M.; Wagner, Erika B.; et al. (2007). Mars Gravity Biosatellite: Engineering, Science, and Education. 58th International Astronautical Congress. 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 2005, the involved universities received a $200,000 NASA advanced projects development grant to support the development of a full payload engineering model. NASA Grant Energizes Student-Developed Mars Project. Leonard David, Space. September 30, 2005. 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.
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