Current Projects (Updated September 2020)

1.Membership DB

2.MDRS Website (mdrs.marssociety.org)

–Updates to main content

–Crew Reports Archive

–Google Classroom

3.Main Website (www.marssociety.org) + Members Area

4.Chapters Website (chapters.marssociety.org)

5.“Shop@Mars” Online Store (store.marssociety.org)

6.Video Production & Support of Convention

7.Mobile Application – project with North Seattle College

8.MarsVR – Virtual Training for the MDRS

9.Marspedia.org

10.MarsPapers.org

11.NewMars.com

More Details on Individual Projects:

Mars VR – marsvr.io

We are working towards the first public release of this innovative Virtual Reality version of our real-life Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.  We need folks that understand Unity/C# and 3-D Modelling using Blender / Maya / 3DSMax to help us to build out the environment and new 3-D models of objects, buildings, and other elements of the application – more details here.

Marspedia – Online Encyclopedia about Mars – marspedia.org

We are leading the effort for Marspedia to become the world’s leading Mars wiki / online free encyclopedia. We are participating in the project along with two other space advocacy organizations.  We created a deep set of Mars-related categories and are working to add & edit new articles to flesh out the base of knowledge.  Weekly meetings on Mondays at 3pm PST / 6pm EST – more details here.

MDRS – mdrs.marssociety.org

We have rebuilt the MDRS website to be a super-modern WordPress install, and we have successfully automated the crew report process by pairing up our excellent Capcoms with the WordPress Jetpack Post-By-Email feature!  Our role with MDRS will be to continue to monitor the daily crew reports and provide any other IT support when needed.

Chapter WordPress Theme / Template

We’ve created a simple and easy to use WordPress theme template for new chapter websites, but it can always use some improvements and additional options to be added.

Branding and Style Guide

In 2019, rolled out a new version of our main website for the Mars Society that include a unified branding and design style guide.  We need help with this effort!

Long-Term Objectives

Chapter WordPress Sites
We are assisting the chapters of the Mars Society with setting up modern, responsive websites, primarily using the free WordPress software to build and maintain the sites. If you have WordPress experience with creating themes and publishing content, we could use your help. Contact webmaster@marssociety.org if you are interested.

Convention Video
All videos from the annual Mars Society Conventions are archived to YouTube.  This is a yearly need in August-October to edit videos, typically using tools like the free DaVinci Resolve.

Mobile Apps
We are working on our first set of iPhone/iOS and Android apps!  We need folks of all skillsets to help develop and test the apps.  Contact webmaster@marssociety.org if you are interested in helping.

Help us get free space for our projects! – use this link to sign up for Free Cloud Storage at Dropbox.com

The Internet Task Force is led by James Burk, Webmaster & IT Director for the Mars Society. Twitter: @jamesburk