The Case For Mars
4/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this ebook
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, presented here with illustrations, photographs, and engaging anecdotes.
The Case for Mars is not a vision for the far future or one that will cost us impossible billions. It 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.
Robert Zubrin
Robert Zubrin is president of the aerospace R&D company Pioneer Astronautics, which performs advanced space research for NASA, the US Air Force, the US Department of Energy, and private companies. He is the founder and president of the Mars Society, an international organization dedicated to furthering the exploration and settlement of Mars, leading the Society’s successful effort to build the first simulated human Mars exploration base in the Canadian Arctic and growing the organization to include 7,000 members in 40 countries. A nuclear and astronautical engineer, Zubrin began his career with Martin Marietta (later Lockheed Martin) as a Senior Engineer involved in the design of advanced interplanetary missions. His “Mars Direct” plan for near-term human exploration of Mars was commended by NASA Administrator Dan Goldin and covered in The Economist, Fortune, Air and Space Smithsonian, Newsweek (cover story), Time, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, as well as on BBC, PBS TV, CNN, the Discovery Channel, and National Public Radio. In 1996, Zubrin was one of eight people nationwide named by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as an Advanced Concept Research Program Fellow. Zubrin is also the author of twelve books, including The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must, with more than 100,000 copies in print in America alone and now in its 25th Anniversary Edition. He lives with his wife, Hope, a science teacher, in Golden, Colorado.
Read more from Robert Zubrin
Case for Mars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Worst-Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure: Mars: You Decide How to Survive! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Case For Nukes: How We Can Beat Global Warming and Create a Free, Open, and Magnificent Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Case For Mars
Related ebooks
Designing and Building Space Colonies-A Blueprint For the Future Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5MARS COLONIES: Plans for Settling the Red Planet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Universe: A short history of everything we know Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCosmological Ice Ages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Die in Space: A Journey Through Dangerous Astrophysical Phenomena Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weather and Climate on Planets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Night of the Physicists: Operation Epsilon: Heisenberg, Hahn, Weizsäcker and the German Bomb Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFire on Earth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouthern Surveyor: Stories from Onboard Australia's Ocean Research Vessel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ad Astra: An Illustrated Guide to Leaving the Planet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings2012 Nibiru Rising Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRadio Astronomer: John Bolton and a New Window on the Universe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The God Virus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevisiting South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Planetary Climates Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Myths About Nuclear Weapons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wind Sucks. It Doesn't Blow. And Other Insights from Buckminster Fuller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Human Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Magnetic Earth: The Science of Geomagnetism Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5To the Ends of the Earth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFire in the Sky: Cosmic Collisions, Killer Asteroids, and the Race to Defend Earth Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It Ain't Necessarily So... Bro Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where Did the Universe Come From? And Other Cosmic Questions: Our Universe, from the Quantum to the Cosmos Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAtomic Adventures Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Gaze at the Southern Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thermophobia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe | Summary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Deluge: Fact or Fiction Companion Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMARS CITY STATES - New Societies for a New World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Philosophy For You
The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Here Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bhagavad Gita (in English): The Authentic English Translation for Accurate and Unbiased Understanding Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Experiencing God (2021 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History of Western Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bhagavad Gita Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: Six Translations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Case For Mars
4 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robert Zubrin outlines, in great detail, how a manned mission to Mars could be achieved within a decade, for less money than is generally assumed, if only we were willing to thoroughly commit to doing it. His plan involves a launch directly from Earth to Mars (with no expensive orbital construction or stepping-stone bases on the moon), using Mars' natural resources to synthesize fuel and other necessities, and an extended stay on the surface to get some real science done. He's put lot of thought into every aspect of the endeavor, from launch vehicles to orbital trajectories to crew habitats to scientific objectives, and his scheme seems extremely plausible. Zubrin also looks a bit further afield, talking about a plan for permanent Martian settlements and even the prospect of terraforming Mars. These chapters are a lot more speculative and rather less convincing, but they are interesting possibilities, and also feature lots of carefully thought-out specifics. In fact, some of the details here can get pretty dry -- I admit to sort of skimming some of the bits about the chemistry of fuel and plastics manufacturing on Mars -- but you don't necessarily have to be a rocket scientist to understand the basics of his arguments.Of course, that "if only we were willing to thoroughly commit" is one great big "if," and I can't say I'm feeling much in the way of optimism. If anything, the goal seems further away now than it did in 1996, when the first edition of this books was published. Alas.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm soldI'm saddened to say that in the 12 years since this book was published we are no further along to the vision set out here in these pages. We have turned our government into one which would rather micromanage our lives than set forth a vision for all of humanity. While the book is slightly technical in nature any amateur interested in space exploration can pick this book up and understand the implications...it would even be easy to skip some of the tech stuff and read the meat of the book. The authors lay out not only the benefit to society but the cost...in a detailed (nearly line-by-line) description of what a manned mission to Mars would cost if the government ran it and what it could cost on a shoestring budget. Simply a WOW factor. I'm sold.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book - by a space scientist with some standing - describes a relatively affordable way to get astronauts to Mars. He makes a good case for why and for how. There is some engineering required, but isn't there always. He leaves one pretty convinced his proposed approach to reaching Mars will work.The downfall of the book is the dreadfully earnest tone - Mr. Zubrin is forever hammering away intensely at why such and such a way to do things is the absolutely the best, and without showing relative advantages and disadvantages of other options, and completely without humour.He probably should have steered away from future technology and from terraforming. He hung a lot on high temperature super conductors, which did not pan out. His discussion of terraforming, apparently so simple, contained at least one clanger that I - a complete non-scientist - noted: thickening the atmosphere with more CO2 will lead to surface water formation which will lead to water leaching CO2 from the atmosphere, a negative feedback loop interfering with all the happy positive feedback loops he describes.The book is worth reading.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A good review of Zurbin's Mars Direct plan. Easy to read and understand, and the author's enthusiasm comes thorough. A few readers may be irritated by some of his imperative for the settlement of Mars.