Mars aboveground

Robert Zubrin is not really the best spokesperson for his movement. In public speeches he has trouble making eye contact with his audience and has a number of common nervous verbal mannerisms—like saying “um” in between his sentences and “okay” at their end—that diminish his message. Nevertheless, he is smart, passionate-verging-on-zealous, and has a message that appeals to the human desire to dream.

Filmmaker Scott Gill has accurately captured the appealing aspects of Zubrin’s message in a new documentary, The Mars Underground, that Gill debuted on August 3 to an audience of approximately 100 people on the opening night of the Mars Society conference in Washington, DC. The film focuses primarily on Zubrin and his ideas about human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet.

The documentary is available in DVD format overseas, but has not yet been broadcast or distributed in the United States. As Gill explained, he is hoping to air it on cable television first before signing a contract for commercial sale, although so far he and his investor have found no television outlet. Unless it makes it to television, the documentary should be available on DVD by December. If the documentary does make it to cable television it would be a boon for Zubrin and his Mars Society, not only because it would be seen by tens or even hundreds of thousands of people (as opposed to the few thousands who would see a DVD), but also because the film does a better job at selling Zubrin’s ideas than he does himself. After watching The Mars Underground, many people will be convinced that exploring, settling, and even terraforming Mars is far easier than NASA would have you believe. Heck, I’m a realist and a skeptic, and it almost had me convinced. Almost.

Hands Off the Planet? How Finding Life On Mars Could Stop Exploration
by Leonard David
28 March 2000
Could finding life on Mars be a biological show-stopper, a discovery that would slow down or even halt plans to send humans there? ... "That would be insane," said Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society in Lakewood, Colorado. "If thats the case, we need to start action immediately to shut down on Earth chlorination plants, medical schools, anti-biotic factories and stop the production of mouthwash," he told SPACE.com. "First of all, there is no life on the martian surface...there cant be," Zubrin said. Devoid of water on its topside, Mars surface is saturated by life-killing ultraviolet radiation and covered with a dusty, peroxide-laden covering, he said... "First, I think if we find life on Mars, we should go and study it. Secondly, that planets potential usefulness for humanity as a future home is clear. We accomplish none of those objectives if we stay away. To say that millions of people from Earth cannot have a planet of refuge from persecution or a planet of opportunity, to have those dreams denied because esthetically it is pleasing that native martian bacteria are left un-intruded upon...thats just crazy. That is an esthetic position, not an ethical position," Zubrin said.

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