Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Time Capsule to Mars™ – a $25 Million Student-Led Mission to the Red Planet – to Announce World's Largest Crowdfunding Initiative and Industry Partnerships: Project to be the First Privately-Funded Mission to Mars, a CubeSat-based Spacecraft with Custom Propulsion Technology

Home > Press > Time Capsule to Mars™ – a $25 Million Student-Led Mission to the Red Planet – to Announce World's Largest Crowdfunding Initiative and Industry Partnerships: Project to be the First Privately-Funded Mission to Mars, a CubeSat-based Spacecraft with Custom Propulsion Technology

Abstract:
Time Capsule to Mars™ (TC2M), the world's first student-led interplanetary mission, will host a press conference on Monday, June 23, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. ET at the National Press Club to announce the official launch of the project's crowdfunding website, alongside leading space industry organizations, academia and renowned astronauts and space veterans.

Time Capsule to Mars™ – a $25 Million Student-Led Mission to the Red Planet – to Announce World's Largest Crowdfunding Initiative and Industry Partnerships: Project to be the First Privately-Funded Mission to Mars, a CubeSat-based Spacecraft with Custom Propulsion Technology

Washington, DC | Posted on June 18th, 2014

Who: Emily Briere, founder, mission director and Duke University senior student
Jon Tidd, business-team lead and Fuqua School of Business and Duke University graduate student

Also joining in support of this initiative are representatives from NASA, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, ATK, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Draper Laboratory, Deep Space Industries, Explore Mars, Remarkable Technologies Inc., MIT, Stanford University, Duke University, UConn, NASA chief astronaut and vice president of ATK Kent Rominger, astronaut and ATK vice president and general manager of Space Launch division Charlie Precourt, and more.

What: Emily Briere and Jon Tidd will present the project's mission, fundraising goals, and official crowdfunding website for Time Capsule to Mars™ (TC2M), as well as details on how people from all over the globe can begin purchasing digital space on the "time capsule of humanity." Speakers will also make special announcements of new strategic industry partnerships, advisers and university involvement.

When: Monday, June 23, 2014, 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. E.T.
(Media reception to follow, 2:15 p.m.-3:00 p.m. ET)

Where: National Press Club
13th Floor (Main Level)
First Amendment Room
529 14th Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20045

Why: Time Capsule to Mars™ (TC2M) will make history by connecting humanity's shared history with our shared destiny. Carrying digital messages from tens of millions of people from all corners of Earth in the form of text, images, audio and video clips, the state-of-the-art "time capsule" will remain a crucible of today's human race - to be rediscovered by future colonists of the Red Planet. Time Capsule to Mars™ intends to become the:
- First private mission to Mars
- First interplanetary CubeSat mission
- First interplanetary test of ion-electrospray propulsion
- Largest crowdfunded project in history

Both Ms. Briere and Mr. Tidd will be available for interviews at a media reception following the press conference. Reception will feature hors d'oeuvres and refreshments and networking opportunities with others in attendance.

To RSVP for the press conference and to receive additional press materials, contact: Andrea Oliveira at 512-922-7505 or .

About Time Capsule To Mars

The world's first student-led interplanetary mission, Time Capsule to Mars™ (TC2M), has a goal to design, launch and land intact a time capsule on Mars containing data that memorializes the digital keepsakes of the human race on Earth in the current decade as we set out to colonize the first off world planet in humanity's history. Time Capsule to Mars™ (TC2M) intends to be the largest-ever crowdfunded science endeavor, aiming to raise an estimated $25 million to accomplish the mission. A particular educational focus will include K-12-aged students from all over the world; the students will be able to access their own personalized "Mission Control" to play a virtual role in the mission, while tracking the vehicle's (and their data) progression through our Solar System - right up to the landing on Mars. TC2M is a project of the non-profit Explore Mars (www.exploremars.org). Read more about our mission here, follow us @TimeCapsuleMars or #TC2M, and on Google+.

About Explore Mars

Explore Mars was created to advance the goal of sending humans to Mars within the next two decades. To further that goal, Explore Mars conducts programs and technical challenges to stimulate the development and/or improvement of technologies that will make human Mars missions more efficient and feasible. In addition, to embed the idea of Mars as a habitable planet, Explore Mars challenges educators to use Mars in the classroom as a tool to teach standard STEM curricula. Explore Mars, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation organized in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.