This year’s Australian Mars Exploration Conference (AMEC2011) will be held on the 23rd-24th of July at the University of Western Australia. MSA is very pleased to announce that the keynote speakers will be Dr Vadim Gushin & Dr Chris McKay.

This year’s Australian Mars Exploration Conference (AMEC2011) will be held on the 23rd-24th of July at the University of Western Australia. MSA is very pleased to announce that the keynote speakers will be Dr Vadim Gushin & Dr Chris McKay.

Dr Vadim Gushin – Lead Researcher, Institute of Bio-Medical Problems, Ministry of Health, Moscow, Russia – Dr Gushin is the Principal Investigator of the MARS 500 experiment being held by the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency to study the factors of long duration Human space flight to Mars and return. Dr Gushin will dicuss the findings from the intitial 125 day mission and the 520 day mission.

Dr Chris McKay – Space Science and Astrobiology at NASA Ames Research Center. Dr McKay received his Ph.D. in AstroGeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982. His research interest currently focuses on the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life. He is also actively involved in planning for future Mars missions including human settlements. Dr McKay has also been involved with polar research since 1980, traveling to the Antarctic dry valleys and more recently to the Siberian and Canadian Arctic to conduct research in these Mars-like environments.