Media Release:
Silverton Mars Enthusiast to Present Paper
on using Martian Lava Tubes as Habitats
 Silverton, OR: From August 12 through 15, the Mars Society will hold its second annual Convention at the University of Colorado in Boulder. During this four day conference, scientists, astronauts, journalists and other Mars enthusiasts will get together to discuss various plans and schemes for visiting and living on the Red Planet. One of the many topics to be discussed will be where and how to live on Mars. Silvertonian R.D. "Gus" Frederick has been selected to present one such idea: Making use of some of the many existing volcanic lava tube caves on Mars as semi-permanent habitats.
Drawing upon many years of exploring lava tubes in his native Pacific Northwest, as well as tubes in Iceland and Hawaii, Frederick will present some ideas on how these natural features can be used by future colonists. The presentation will be an updated version of a poster paper that Frederick submitted in 1996 to the "Case For Mars" conference, held in Boulder, Colorado that year. Since his original work, he has become involved with the Oregon L5 Society, the local Oregon chapter of the National Space Society. This group has been quite active in exploring the idea of extraterrestrial lava tubes for over a decade. Many papers on the subject have been written by members of the group, including contract work for NASA.
The purpose of the Mars Society, (founded in 1998), is to further the goal of the exploration and eventual settlement of the Red Planet.
Oregon Native Gus Frederick works for the Oregon Public Education Network as an Instructional Technologist. Some of his many other hobbies include spending time with his 14-year-old daughter Genevieve, exploring caves, reading and writing science fiction, listening to and collecting 78rpm records. He is also an active community volunteer, and serves as "Cartoon Chair" for Silverton's annual Homer Davenport Days International Cartoon Contest as well as Webmaster for Oregon L5.
Abstract: "Martian Lava tubes as Habitats" Revisited
 One of the key elements for successful long-term human occupation of Mars, is a viable habitation scheme. Countless ideas have been proposed along these lines from converted landers to inflatable domes. The advantages of most schemes thus far are that they are location independent, to an extent. The lander lands and the habitation is set up. In other words, bring the habitat to Mars.
But what if ready-made habitats were available? Select locations on the planet, which with minor modifications, could easily serve as a semi-permanent base of operations? Lava tubes could well be such locations.
Lava tubes are caves formed by flows of highly fluid lava--a "river" of molten rock flowing from an eruption source, either volcano or fissure. Often as the flow progresses, the tops and sides solidify. If the flow source stops, the remaining lava may pour out, leaving a hollow "tube" of rock.
On the Earth, the author has personally visited lava tubes in Central Oregon, on the flanks of Mount St. Helens, in Washington state, the Big Island of Hawaii as well as tubes formed by fissure eruptions in Iceland. Many of the lava flows identified on the planet Mars feature the same characteristics as terrestrial flows, including lava tubes. The main difference is a matter of scale: The Martian features dramatically dwarf their Earth-based counterparts.
This paper, an updated version submitted several years ago as a poster paper for "Case For Mars '96," highlights extensive field work done by the Oregon L5 Society along this same line of thought. We will demonstrate how the much larger Martian versions could provide a quick, easy and inexpensive way to provide long-term human outposts on the Red Planet.
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