Posted on 08/20/2004 6:36:21 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Imagine it's 2100.
Human beings have destroyed Earth.
Do you and your family have a plan?
If you're a member of the Mars Society you do.
Since 1998, the group - which is holding its annual conference this weekend in Chicago - has been advocating and planning for human exploration of the red planet.
"It may be where we're going to have our great-grandchildren living some day," said legendary science fiction writer Frederik Pohl of Palatine.
Already, the society's founder and president, Robert Zurbin, has created Mars Direct, a plan that includes a transportation system - known as the Earth Return Vehicle - that will take humans to Mars and back, a trip he says will take six months each way.
The group also has built two research centers where volunteer crew members simulate life on Mars for up to four weeks at a time. The centers - one in the Canadian Arctic and the other in Utah - are located on terrain that resembles Mars.
It's an ambitious pastime for a group that isn't even getting paid.
So why do they do it?
In part, they say, because they are fascinated with space and frustrated the U.S. isn't moving quickly enough to colonize Mars.
As Pohl said, if someone isn't looking into sending humans to Mars, "they're crazy."
Mars is the closest planet to Earth, making it the most accessible.
With an average temperature of minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit, its climate also is the most similar to Earth. Venus, by comparison, averages a scorching 870 degrees.
"If anything happened and Earth was destroyed," Pohl added, "it's where we'll be moving."
Mars also is the most likely planet other than Earth to have sustained - or be sustaining - life, said Zubrin, an aerospace engineer from Colorado. Finding that life - or past signs of it, such as fossils - would help scientists determine if other living things have the same biological structure as we do on Earth.
Then there are the other, more emotional reasons.
With its red sand and rock, Mars is "a very beautiful place to look at," Pohl said.
It also provides a test for humankind, Zubrin said: Are we going to be a species that explores, or one that's limited to one planet?
"It is the frontier, in a literal sense," he added.
But lest anyone mistake the Mars Society for a bunch of head-in-the-clouds dreamers, Pohl and Zubrin are quick to note that neither of them believes in extra-terrestrials, Martians of the science fiction movie variety or flying saucers.
And in fact, probably only 1 percent or fewer of the society's more than 7,000 members do.
"It's not a physical impossibility, but none of the evidence ... has been particularly convincing," Zubrin said.
Pohl, the author of novels like "Space Merchants" and "The Coming of the Quantum Cats," is less diplomatic.
"What (people who believe in UFOs) need to do is get a life," he said.
That said, both men believe that once humans are on Mars, they'll find proof that at some point, life - in the form of bacteria or other microorganisms - existed there.
Even more thrilling, they say, is the possibility that somewhere deep inside the planet's surface, something still may be alive.
"Life is tough. It clings on," Zubrin said. "If it ever did exist, I think it probably still does.
"There's only one way to find out."
Mars: Group president says the red planet may hold life
Zubrin has had his day. Manned exploration of Mars is in the new NASA planning spirals. Best bet now is to support NASA, and of course to advocate withdrawal from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and establishment of property rights.
> the society's founder and president, Robert Zurbin, has created Mars Direct,
Argh. I see spots before my eyes every time I read something like this. Zubrin didn't create Mars Direct; he was merely one - rather disliked - member of a team of a dozen or more at Martin Marietta that created Mars Direct back in the early 90's. What Zubrin *did* do was promote it... and himself.
Shouldn't that be "Martian Marietta"?
And perhaps is their CEO's first name Marvin?
Hmmmm...interesting sidenote. Didn't know that about supposive Mars Direct guy.
Still, the dream of sending a man on Mars (and no matter what plan, I assume Mr. Zubrin will support it), especially since it is NASA's new goal, that dream might become reality within my lifetime. Can't wait to see it.
> and no matter what plan, I assume Mr. Zubrin will support it
Don't bet on it. He was daily derisive of the Pathfinder missions... until they succeeded and the public went nuts. He was daily derisive of Transhab, until progress was made. And he has been vocally opposed to the current Project Constellation, as it goes to the moon before Mars, rather than straight there.
He is one of the most continuously morose individuals (beside myself) I have ever known. Perhaps Dorothy Parker was in the same league; I dunno.
But Zubrin's problem (IMHO) is that the whole Earth has not lept up and embraced his vision, abandoned whatever they were doing, and started to work on getting to Mars.
I have felt something similar at times, but he positively radiates it. Is there a chemical that could help?
--Boris
Zubrin has been tireless in his campaign. He has won, but seems to not know that. If I were he, I would change the message to match the new NASA mission statement.
BTTT
> He is one of the most continuously morose individuals (beside myself) I have ever known.
Dangle money in front of him. He lights up.
> Still, the dream of sending a man on Mars (and no matter what plan, I assume Mr. Zubrin will support it)
An interesting update from Nasawatch.com:
"24 August 2004: "New Moon Rising" Banned from Mars Society Convention
Editor's note: The Mars Society held its convention in Chicago this past week. Among the exhibitors present was the publisher of the book Frank Sietzen and I wrote "New Moon Rising". Our publisher was only allowed to have a booth at the convention if they did not sell our book. This specific condition was set personally by Mars Society President Bob Zubrin."
Apparently Zubrin does not want people (at least not the people attending his conference) knowing much about Project Constellation. Why in hell would a man pushing for Manned Mars be opposed to a book about Manned Mars?
(This is a rhetorical question in this case)
Pity... wish I'd known this earlier... would've made a killing selling "I went to the Mars Society Conference, and all I got was this T-shirt" t-shirts with pictures of the book cover...
That is interesting and I think it is a little sad.
If you knew him, though, you'd be unsurprised.
Remember, in the early planning days, he seriously discussed calling the organization "The Zubrin Society," and was only convinced to go with "Mars" because his fellow founders were adamantly opposed. That's gotta tell ya something...
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