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 concept.

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 satellite was designed to spin at approximately 32 rpm[2] to generate centrifugal force that they would experience as gravity on the surface of Mars.

[5] 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.

Astronauts who are weightless for long periods of time lose significant amounts of bone and muscle mass.