Guest: Chris Carberry, the new Executive Director of The Mars Society was the guest for this Sunday Space Show program. We started out by discussing the new Mars Society and his personal and organizational goals for the organization under his leadership. Increasing both membership and funding are high priorities, as is getting ready for the 11th Annual Mars Society Conference to be held in Boulder, CO from August 14-17, 2008. Chris went through the list of many of the keynote speakers and the special programs planned, plus he described the Mars Project, full details are available on their website at http://www.marssociety.org/portal/MPC. Listen to what he has to say about this project and how you can participate and contribute. As the new Executive Director, he asked for comments, suggestions, even help in changing the course of the Mars Society to be even more effective than it already is. He welcomes your email as well as your questions and comments at info@marssociety.org and carberry@marssociety.org. Among the many listener questions Chris received, one was about colonizing the Earth and mastering the skills needed in space here on Earth first. This led to my mentioning an early 90's book about going into space by first creating ocean settlements. In the last segment of this two hour program, we discuss space policy and the presidential campaign. Chris told us about space advocate access to the two parties and the three presidential candidates. He told us how important it was for us all to communicate our views on space and Mars to the candidates and members of Congress. Whether it is by letter with a real signature on it or by the Mars Society fax tool I mention on air all the time, it's important that we let the candidates know that we care about space. In response to other questions, he suggested frequent use (in moderation) of the Mars Society fax tool and even referencing previous letters in order to keep a dialogue going. He reminded us that even if we have a larger participation by the space community, we are still but a blip among all the groups that want to influence policy since space is not that broadly based throughout our population. Earlier in the show, Chris was asked challenging questions about why Mars and why now. This is a show you will want to hear in its entirety given the variety of questions and issues discussed.