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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 to study the effects of Mars-level gravity (~0.38g) on mammals. Among the participating universities were The University of Washington, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Presentations were given to Bob 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. ==Program history and overview== The Mars Gravity Biosatellite program began in 2001 as a Mars Society initiative called Translife that grew out of a discussion between Robert Zubrin and Elon Musk. It was intended to study the effects of Mars-level gravity (about one-third that of Earth) on mammals, for which no data was available. Over the next few years, the program grew both scope and vision, with staff and students from MIT (Payload), UW (Spacecraft Bus) and UQ (Reentry) collaboratively designing various parts of the mission. With ongoing funding challenges, UW and UQ withdrew after several years and Georgia Institute of Technology stepped in to build on their design work. The effort represented the most ambitious and complex student satellite project to date. The mission was planned to carry 15 mice in low Earth orbit for five weeks. The satellite was designed to spin at approximately 32 rpm〔Korzun, Ashley M.; Wagner, Erika B.; et al. (2007). (Mars Gravity Biosatellite: Engineering, Science, and Education ). 58th International Astronautical Congress.〕 to generate centrifugal force simulating gravity that astronauts would experience 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 IE or a Minotaur IV launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.〔 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221055613/http://www.yournameintospace.org/ )〕 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=31612 )〕 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.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mars Gravity Biosatellite」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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