The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must
March 15, 2013
- Author:
- Robert Zubrin, Richard Wagner
- Publisher:
- Free Press (6/28/2011)
Since the beginning of human history, Mars has been an alluring dream—the stuff of legends, gods, and mystery. The planet most like ours, it has still been thought impossible to reach, let alone explore and inhabit. But all that changed when leading space exploration authority Robert Zubrin crafted a daring new blueprint, Mars Direct. When it was first published in 1996, The Case for Mars became an instant classic, lauded widely for its game-changing perspective by those who would see the American space program rise to the challenge of Mars; Carl Sagan called Zubrin the man who, “nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue.” Now, fifteen years later, Zubrin brings readers up to date in this revised and updated anniversary edition filled with spectacular illustrations, extraordinary photographs, and one-of-a-kind anecdotes.
Unlike the dead world of the Moon, the Martian landscape is filled with possibility, but humans must be able to survive there. In the grand tradition of successful explorers, Zubrin calls for a travel-light and live-off-the-land approach to Martian settlement. He explains how scientists can use present-day technology to send humans to Mars; produce fuel and oxygen on the planet’s surface with its own natural resources; build bases and settlements; and one day terraform—or alter the atmosphere of the planet in order to pave the way for sustainable life. As the landmark mission of the Mars Science Laboratory begins, Zubrin lays out a comprehensive plan to build life on a new world.
Comments (5)
by Greg
The idea that the sun will become hostile to life on earth and will end, contradictsa a benevalant, all powerful creator. Humanity is in a bind. It seems we need this all powerful, creator concept, but it could harm us in the long run. Maybe we might need to transform to non carbon life foms, first, to have enough confidence, in putting to rest the idea of an all powerful creator. Ionly hope we don’t self extingush before then. If we get past. these things then terraforming Mars and a more will definitly become reality. The other veiw of what I wrote, is: we need things like Mars exploration to give technology a boost, so we can transform our substrate.
by Steven Kaufman
Your first sentance “The idea that the sun will become hostile to life on earth and will end, contradictsa a benevalant, all powerful creator,” is a non starter. The premise is highly flawed. When you can show me the mathematics of why proteins are created, and how dna was created without ribosomes, and ribosomes were created without DNA to instruct their creation, we can talk about a universe without a creator,
by Ghadel
The Rare Earth hypothesis is patently false when evidence that demonstrates Earth’s visitation by and interference with many extraterrestrial species for millennia or longer is considered.
There is already sure knowledge that on our own moon many ET facilities exist. If there exist ET structures on our moon, more are almost certain to exist on Mars.
The extraterrestrials engage us in a sort of “Prime Directive” way; though, as I have previously stated, they have, on occasion, “interfered” with our civilization. There have been many recorded modern and ancient sightings of their craft and even encounters with the beings that operate them.
All of this information can be validated primarily at http://www.disclosureproject.org.
by b
lol
by GatorALLin
I remember learning that our Sun was about 4.6 billion years old and that it was likely to last for about 10 billion years total, so I just assumed we had another 5 billion years if we were basically at the half way point in its lifecycle. What I did not understand that was the sun is slowly expanding by about 10% in size and heat every billion years, so that in just half a billion years from now that increase in heat would translate to all the oceans on Earth vaporizing and burning off and maybe Earth seems more like Mars by then…… clearly we could do a lot of things in the next 500 million years to avert some atmospheric collapse/destruction (maybe we make a solar powered space shield of sorts by then to get free power for the world and block some of that heat energy to save the planet …but of course then this idea to live one planet over might look even better by then also. Maybe at some point many billions of years later when the sun expands (even if the gravity lessens and thus the orbits expand with that change), the human race (if we are even anything close to carbon based life forms at that point) might need Mars to survive by then or at the very least have our eggs in more than one basket. There must be 100 other better reasons to be on Mars by then…. anyhow the idea our Sun would always be there and always this great warming power source and life giver might one day burn too bright.
I love all these efforts to get a human mission to Mars in the near future. We have so much to learn and so cool to see how much the technology has to improve to make humans ready for longer space flights and also the ability to survive long term on other planets.
The meaning of life is to give life meaning… hard to do that unless we get off this rock and hope all this knowledge we gather does not burn out with just us. It probably is not dependant just on us, but what if we are the only (or first by a lot) intelligent life force in the Universe?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Earth_hypothesis