The Elser-Mathes Cup (1928).
Tucked away in ARRL headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, is a prize designed more than 75 years ago to honor the first radio amateur to make contact with... Mars.
As related in the November 1969 issue of QST magazine, the Amateur Radio Relay League's official publication, the cup was inspired by League co-founder Hiram Percy Maxim, WIAW, who believed -- as did so many in the late 19th and early 20th centuries -- that Mars was inhabited.
Maxim shared his interest in Mars with Col. Fred John Elser, W6FB, who joined with Lt. Cmdr. Stanley Mathes, K1CY, to create a trophy for the first two-way contact with the red planet. Mathes was stationed in the Philippines at the time, and a native woodcarved bowl was chosen for use as the trophy. The bowl represents Mars, the standing men are the amateurs "bridging the gap of space."
A plate fastened to the cup still awaits the names and the call signs of those who were expected to make the first interplanetary contact. Interest in Mars has again peaked with NASA's successful placement of a pair of remote-controlled rovers on the planet, and with a presidential announcement that putting humans on Mars within the next few decades is a national priority.
The prize-winning contact will probably involve two human operators on different planets... not a human operator and a native Martian, however (image courtesy ARRL).
