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by
Robert Zubrin Richard Wagner Simon & Schuster Trade; ISBN: 0684827573 Hardcover (October 1996); 320 pp Ships immediately |
Synopsis
From the nation's leading theorist on Mars exploration comes a stirring
challenge that will take us to the very boundaries of human exploration
and beyond. The colonization of Mars, once dismissed as a futuristic dream,
has crossed into the realm of possibility with Robert Zubrin's landmark
Mars Direct plan. 8 pp photos.
Experts Commentary
From Publisher's Weekly: Human settlement on Mars need not await
the development of gigantic interplanetary spaceships, anti-matter propulsion
systems or orbiting space bases, assert the authors of this exciting,
visionary report. Instead, the "Mars Direct" plan-developed in 1990 by
astronautical engineer Zubrin, and presented to NASA, where it has won
supporters-calls for sending a crew and their artificial habitat directly
to Mars via the upper stage of the same booster rocket that lifted them
to Earth orbit. Then the crew will live off the land, growing greenhouse
crops, tapping subsurface groundwater, manufacturing useful materials,
constructing plastic domes and brick structures the size of shopping malls.
Geothermal power would be tapped from hot regions near once-active volcanoes.
Zubrin, senior engineer at Martin Marietta, and Wagner, a former editor
of Ad Astra, weaken their case by arguing that a nascent human civilization
on Mars will revive Earth's frontier spirit and American democracy, saving
Western civilization from technological stagnation. Nevertheless, their
detailed blueprint makes a fast-track mission to Mars-with an estimated
price tag of $20-$30 billion-seem remarkably doable.
From The Publisher: 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 reach and even more impossible to
explore and 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 build bases and settlements;
and 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.
Table of Contents
| Foreword | ||
| Preface | ||
| 1 | Mars Direct | 1 |
| 2 | From Kepler to the Space Age | 19 |
| 3 | Finding a Plan | 45 |
| 4 | Getting There | 75 |
| 5 | Killing the Dragons, Avoiding the Sirens | 113 |
| 6 | Exploring Mars | 139 |
| 7 | Building the Base on Mars | 171 |
| 8 | The Colonization of Mars | 217 |
| 9 | Terrraforming Mars | 247 |
| 10 | The View from Earth | 273 |
| Epilogue: The Significance of the Martian Frontier | 295 | |
| Special Addendum | 307 | |
| Glossary | 325 | |
| Notes | 331 | |
| References | 335 | |
| Index | 337 |
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