Volunteer Opportunities

  We would be delighted to have you join us.  Remember, most of these volunteer opportunities rely on your virtual presence, so you can be part of the team no matter where you are in the world.   Unless otherwise specified, please contact Shannon Rupert at srupert@marssociety.org for further information or to volunteer.  

Mission Support volunteers are the backbone of the crew experience.  We support crewmembers from the application process through their rotation at MDRS and beyond. 

We are currently looking for the following Mission Support personnel:

CapCOM Coordinator:  Responsible for daily communication with crews at MDRS.  Schedules CapCOMS for daily COMMS windows and makes sure all crew reports and photos are disseminated.  Trains new CapCOMs.  Estimated time commitment 15 hours a week.  Can be split between two people if two are interested. 

CAPCOMS:  The daily link between crews and Mission Support teams.  In recent years, CapCOMs have usually worked one evening per week, but this is flexible. CapCOMs can be located anywhere in the world and work during the field season only. Varied time commitment, depending on your schedule.

DOCUMENTS EDITOR: Works directly with the Mission Support Director and management team to create, maintain and update documents related to MDRS. Disseminates documents to crews.  This role has not been active in the past few seasons and it currently being redefined.

FLIGHT SURGEONS:  To be part of the flight surgeon team, you must be a medical doctor with relevant experience in emergency, extreme environmental, or remote/telemedicine.  Flight Surgeons are on call 24/7 to advise crews on medical issues that occur while they are at MDRS.

ENGINEERING TEAM: Members work throughout the field season with Mission Support and should have served as crewmembers at either MDRS or FMARS, although this is not a requirement.  They are also central to refit/work party efforts.  Engineering Team members should be available throughout the field season several evenings a week.  Please contact Judd Reed at JuddEReed@gMail.com.

REMOTE SCIENCE TEAM:  Like the Engineering Team, members of the Remote Science Team are mostly scientists who have served on crews at MDRS, FMARS and/or MARS-OZ. RST members work throughout the field season.

PROJECT SCIENTISTS: We welcome scientists who would like to propose a short or long term project at MDRS.  Examples of projects include short term projects like mapping the area (this is one that needs someone to spearhead it) and long term projects (like our current food study).

For science opportunities at MDRS, please contact Shannon Rupert srupert@marssociety.org

OBSERVATORY TEAM: We are looking for people who would like to contribute to our astronomy research and education/outreach at the new and updated Musk Observatory.  For astronomy opportunities, please contact Peter Detterline at pdetterline@gmail.com.

GREENHAB TEAM – The Fisher GreenHab (used for CLESS research in the past) has been converted into an operational greenhouse to be used for both crew crops and greenhouse research.  For GreenHab opportunities, please contact Jesse Clark at jesse.clark@sandiegospace.org

The following volunteer opportunities are special projects:

EDUCATION/OUTREACH: working with the MDRS teams and Mars Society’s Education Coordinator

OPEN HOUSE COORDINATOR:  We are looking for someone to organize and hold an open house for the people of Hanksville at the end of the field season (May 2013). 

INFORMATION TEAM—The time commitment for these positions is flexible.  We are looking for the following team members:

RESEARCH LIBRARIAN—An independent position for someone interested in keeping track of published work that was conducted at MDRS

WIKIPEDIAN—An independent position for someone interested in creating accurate and updated wiki articles about MDRS.

WEB RESEARCHER—An independent position for someone interested in periodically searching the Web to see what is being published about MDRS. 

And we are always looking for writers, artists and educators with unique ideas about how they can contribute to MDRS.   To get involved, please contact us.

For crew opportunities, please see the Crew Opportunities page on our website.

[Image: Reuters]