BOOK EXCERPT -- The Case For Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must

io9 ^ | 6/28/11 | Robert Zubrin

[reg45]

We wouldn’t need to send all the libs, just the judges and lawyers.

[mad_as_he$$]

Private business or other countries will have to do it. NASA is the poster boy for F’ed up broken goobermint agencies.

[reg45]

Reasons to send the libs to Venus instead of to Mars
• Venus is named after the goddess of love. Since libs are all feminists and believe in free love, they would be happier there. Mars on the other hand is named after the god of war - too aggressively masculine.
• The atmosphere of Venus is full of sulfuric acid which would be appropriate for the constant vitriol spewed by them.
• The Venusian year is shorter than either the terrestrial year or the Martian year. They could get to pay their annual taxes more often.

[Ellendra]

There are several versions of that idea in the works by a number of different groups.

[treetopsandroofs]

It worked in Australia....

[FreetheSouth!]

“The Earth is just too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in.” Robert Heinlein
We miss you Bob.

[KevinDavis]

I prefer Alpha Centauri.. For the price of the porkulus and High Speed Boondoggle we could have fund 2 mission to Mars..

[TheVitaminPress]

I read this book about a year ago. A friend had recommended looking up info on The Mars Underground and I found this book at my local library.

I was struck by a number of things about it. The plan was well thought out. The notion that the private sector (dealing with necessity and scarcity) could come about the same results more efficiently and for less money than the government put Zubrin at the top of my "awesome scientists" list. Lastly I found his notion that for freedom to exist there must always be frontiers for liberty minded individuals to fill into to be riveting -and pleasantly reminiscent of Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

That being said I would be worried about the economic ramifications of using Mars missions to develop an asteroid triangle to bring back precious metals to Earth. The way I figure it that could seriously drop the value of much of the planet's accumulated wealth.

All in all it was a fantastic read. And I was very moved to consider that it could be done with modern technology or technology right around the corner. Although in the end I am still stuck with the feeling that our focus should be getting on to something a bit more useful than chemical rockets. And even a plan as excellent as this one can't compare to that prospect.

[KevinDavis]

I imagine we can use both use Mars and the Asteroid belt. What I think may happen is this that the factories may leave Earth (at least the heavy industry) and mining leave this planet to space...

Private industry can do it better.. I was just saying the money we spent with the porkulus we could have had 2 Mars missions..

[TheVitaminPress]

Very true. The Porkulas money could have been much better spent. It would have been far more worth while to have put the funds to a moon or mars project rather than kickbacks for cronies and all the other vote buying schemes.

[freedumb2003]

I prefer Alpha Centauri..

Can we include Judy Robinson and the Robot but leave Will and Dr. Smith at home?

Too bad she never was very involved with any episodes...