MarsTalk originally launched in April 2019 as a podcast produced by The Mars Society and hosted by Christopher Tarantola. Co-produced by James Burk, Nora Hovee, Lucinda Offer, and Christopher Tarantola, it’s 10 episode run focused on relevant current events, promoting the Mars Society’s chapters, outreach activities, and discussing humanity’s future in space. Events that the original podcast presided over included the now rated Dragon 2 capsule anomaly, Blue Moon’s lander announcement, the announcement of the Artemis program, Apollo’s 50th Anniversary, and more. After ten episodes, the original crew of MarsTalk went on a prolonged hiatus, however their impact on the Mars Society and Mars related topics stays until this day.
To access all of these free episodes, follow this link.
Therefore, we are proud to continue the work established by the original MarsTalk team!
The original MarsTalk team included the following members:
Christopher has been interested in space since he watched a documentary on the Galileo spacecraft visiting Jupiter. A stay-at-home father, in April 2019 he helped start MarsTalk with the other co-producers. He presided as co-producer, host and primary editor for the 10 it’s initial 10 episode run.
He is still a homemaker, now homeschooling his son, taking care of his mother-in-law, and has founded a start-up called The Great Life Institute, which focuses on education in Mentality, Life-Skills, and Online Business. While there are no immediate plans at the moment, he has his fingers crossed that at some point he can re-prioritize contributing to space education. You can reach him at www.facebook.com/tarantola.chris or on twitter @chris_tarantola.
James is a founding member of the Mars Society and serves on the Steering Committee. He’s also been the organizer of the Mars Society’s Seattle chapter since 1998. A senior manager with Artic Consulting, James volunteers as the IT Director for the Mars Society and responsible for all of Mars Society’s websites and IT needs. James was XO of Crew 197 at the Mars Desert Research Station and will be Commander of a crew in late 2021.
Lucinda is the Executive Director of the Mars Society (since 2009) and works for the Royal Astronomical Society in the United Kingdom. A native of San Jose, California, Lucinda worked for NASA under Dr. Chris McKay. She joined the NorCal chapter of the Mars Society in 2002 and has worked tirelessly to promote the dream of humans to Mars among young people and the general public worldwide.
Nora is the Mars Society’s Chapter Program Director, and came to the Mars Society through watching The Martian in 2016. A “thank you” for our advisory role posted at the end of the movie directed her to our website. She and her husband joined and asked how could they get involved. With Nora’s communications and international background, she was the perfect fit to help with chapters. “I’m not a scientist – just a space geek”, says Nora, “but I’m proof anyone can be a part of the mission to Mars. I’m thrilled to be a part of Man’s greatest adventure.”
