|
Since the beginning of human history Mars
has been an alluring dream -- the stuff of legends, gods,
and mystery. The planet most like ours, the planet where
life may have once existed, but a planet thought to be impossible
to inhabit. Now with the advent of a revolutionary new plan,
all this has changed.
Leading space exploration authority Robert
Zubrin has crafted a daring new blueprint, Mars Direct,
that experts are hailing as the most visionary and pragmatic
step toward expanding human activity in space since the
Apollo Moon landings. Presented here with illustrations,
photographs, and engaging anecdotes, Dr. Zubrin's plan will
revive our hopes and dreams and convince us that other worlds
can be reached -- affordably and within our lifetime.
Unlike the dead world of the Moon, the Martian
landscape abounds with ancient canyons, dried river beds,
the remains of frozen polar oceans, and enormous ice caps.
The possibilities for exploration and discovery are nearly
limitless, but significant exploration of Mars can only
occur on her surface, and in order to do that we must be
able to survive there. In the great tradition of human exploration,
Dr. Zubrin's plan calls for a travel-light and live-off-the-land
approach. He explains step-by-step how we can use present-day
technology to send humans to Mars within ten years; actually
produce fuel and oxygen on the planet's surface with Martian
natural resources; how we can one day "terraform"
Mars -- a process that can alter the atmosphere of planets
and pave the way for sustainable life.
Under Dr. Zubrin's program, a human mission
is only the first step toward a day when research bases
and eventual colonies can be developed on Mars' surface.
Mars possesses enormous chemical and mineral resources,
all of which can be put to use in pursuit of travel, exploration,
structures, and a variety of human activities on a planet
that is neither as harsh nor as unreachable as we popularly
believe.
The Case for Mars is not a Vision
for the far future or one that will cost us impossible billions.
It is a plan that can be put into action today if we are
willing to rethink our traditional methods and costs. Zubrin
maps out how the use of Martian resources, innovations,
streamlined approaches, and a series of manageable government
grants coupled with the efforts of private enterprise can
make repeated humans-to-Mars missions possible.
Our nation was born in dreams of exploration,
and so must it continue if we are to vault into our next
chapter of history. Mars presents us with a new world of
questions, hopes, and possibilities; and the stirring vision
of The Case for Mars will take us directly to its
threshold and beyond.
Formerly a senior engineer at Lockheed
Martin, Robert Zubrin is the founder of Pioneer Astronautics,
a space-exploration research and development firm. Currently
chairman of the executive committee of the National Space
Society, Dr. Zubrin is the author of more than one hundred
articles on space propulsion and exploration, and is widely
regarded as the nation's leading theorist of Mars travel.
He lives with his family in Indian Hills, Colorado. Richard
Wagner is the former editor of Ad Astra, the journal
of the National Space Society. He lives in Northampton,
Massachusetts.
|
