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"Case for Mars" is also the name of a series of conferences held at the University of Colorado in Boulder between 1981 and 1996, advocating human exploration of Mars and developing technology and mission concepts to do so. The University of Colorado at Boulder ( CU-Boulder, UCB officially Colorado and CU colloquially is the Flagship University

The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must is a nonfiction science book by Robert Zubrin, first published in 1996. Robert Zubrin (born 19 April 1952) is an American Aerospace engineer and Author, best known for his Advocacy of manned Mars Richard Wagner worked as a supporting author.

The book details Zubrin's Mars Direct plan to make the first human landing on Mars. Mars Direct is a proposal for a relatively low-cost manned mission to Mars with current rocket technology The plan focuses on keeping costs down by making use of automated systems and available materials on Mars to manufacture the return journey's fuel in situ. In situ (ɪn siːˈtuː is a Latin phrase meaning in the place. The book also reveals possible colony designs and weighs the prospects for a colony's material self-sufficiency and for the terraforming of Mars. The terraforming (literally "Earth-shaping" of a Planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its

Contents

Mars Direct

Main article: Mars Direct

The Mars Direct plan was originally detailed by Zubrin and David Baker in 1990. Mars Direct is a proposal for a relatively low-cost manned mission to Mars with current rocket technology The Case for Mars is, according to Zubrin, a comprehensive condensation for laymen of many years' work and research. Chapters one and four deal with Mars Direct most completely.

Colonization

For Zubrin, the attractiveness of Mars Direct does not rest on a single cost-effective mission. He envisions a series of regular Martian missions with the ultimate goal of colonization, which he details in the seventh through ninth chapters. As initial explorers leave hab-structures on the planet, subsequent missions become easier to undertake.

Large subsurface, pressurized habitats would be the first step toward human settlement; the book suggests they can be built as Roman-style atria underground with easily produced Martian brick. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 During and after this initial phase of habitat construction, hard-plastic radiation- and abrasion-resistant geodesic domes could be deployed on the surface for eventual habitation and crop growth. Radiation, as in Physics, is Energy in the form of waves or moving Subatomic particles emitted by an atom or other body as it changes from a higher energy In Mathematics, a geodesic /ˌdʒiəˈdɛsɪk -ˈdisɪk/ -dee-sik is a generalization of the notion of a " straight line " to " curved spaces Nascent industry would begin using indigenous resources: the manufacture of plastics, ceramics and glass. Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products The word ceramic is derived from the Greek word κεραμικός ( keramikos) Glass in the common sense refers to a Hard, Brittle, transparent Solid, such as that used for Windows many

The larger work of terraforming requires an initial phase of global warming to release atmosphere from the regolith and to create a water-cycle. The terraforming (literally "Earth-shaping" of a Planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the Regolith ( Greek: "blanket rock" is a layer of loose Heterogeneous material covering solid rock. Three methods of global warming are described in the work and, Zubrin suggests, are probably best deployed in tandem: orbital mirrors to heat the surface; factories on the surface to pump halocarbons into the atmosphere; and the seeding of bacteria which can metabolize water, nitrogen and carbon to produce ammonia and methane (these would aid in global warming). Halocarbon compounds are Chemicals in which one or more Carbon Atoms are linked by Covalent bonds with one or more Halogen Atoms Nitrogen (ˈnaɪtɹəʤɪn is a Chemical element that has the symbol N and Atomic number 7 and Atomic weight 14 Carbon (kɑɹbən is a Chemical element with the symbol C and its Atomic number is 6 Ammonia is a compound with the formula N[[hydrogen H3]] It is normally encountered as a Gas with a characteristic pungent Odor Methane is a Chemical compound with the molecular formula. It is the simplest Alkane, and the principal component of Natural gas. While the work of warming Mars is on-going, true colonization can begin.

The Case for Mars acknowledges that any Martian colony will be partially Earth-dependent for centuries. However, it suggests that Mars may be a profitable place for two reasons. First, it may contain concentrated supplies of metals of equal or greater value to silver which have not been subjected to millennia of human scavenging and may be sold on Earth for profit. The M acro E xpansion T emplate A ttribute L anguage complements TAL, providing macros which allow the reuse of code across Silver (ˈsɪlvɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol " Ag " (argentum from the Ancient Greek: ἀργήντος - argēntos gen Secondly, the concentration of deuterium — an extremely expensive but essential fuel for the nuclear power industry — is five times greater on Mars. Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a Stable isotope of Hydrogen with a Natural abundance in the Oceans of Earth Humans emigrating to Mars thus have an assured industry and the planet will be a magnet for settlers as wage costs will be high. The book asserts that “the labor shortage that will prevail on Mars will drive Martian civilization toward both technological and social advances. ”

Wider considerations

While detailing the exploration and colonization, The Case for Mars also addresses a number of attendant scientific and political factors.

Risks confronted

The fifth chapter analyzes various risks that putatively rule out a long-term human presence on Mars. Zubrin dismisses the idea that radiation and zero-gravity are unduly hazardous. He claims that cancer rates do increase for astronauts who have spent extensive time in space, but only marginally. Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled Similarly, while zero-gravity presents challenges, “near total recovery of musculature and immune system occurs after reentry and reconditioning to a one-gravity environment. ” Back-contamination — humans acquiring and spreading Martian viruses — is described as "just plain nuts", because there are no host organisms on Mars for disease organisms to have evolved. Back-contamination is the informal but widely employed name for the introduction of microbial extraterrestrial organisms into Earth 's Biosphere. A virus (from the Latin virus meaning Toxin or Poison) is a sub-microscopic infectious agent that is unable

In the same chapter, Zubrin decisively rejects suggestions that the Moon should be used as waypoint to Mars or as a training area. It is ultimately much easier to journey to Mars from low Earth orbit than from the moon and using the latter as a staging point is a pointless diversion of resources. While the Moon may superficially appear a good place to perfect Mars exploration and habitation techniques, the two bodies are radically different. The moon has no atmosphere, no analogous geology and a much greater temperature range and rotational period. Geology (from Greek γη gê, "earth" and λόγος Logos, "speech" lit Antarctica or desert areas of Earth provide much better training grounds at lesser cost.

Political Economy

In the third and tenth chapters, The Case for Mars addresses the politics and costs of the ideas described. The work is decidedly U. S. -centric in these areas, arguing with more than a little sentimentality that the colonization of Mars is a logical extension of the settlement of North America and a still present frontier mentality. He also sees a frontier society as potentially providing opportunities for innovation and social experimentation.

Zubrin suggests three models to provide the will and capital to drive Mars exploration forward: the J.F.K. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of model, in which a far-sighted U. S. leader provides the funding and mobilizes national public opinion around the idea; the Sagan model, in which international co-operation is the driving force; and the Gingrich approach, which emphasizes incentives and even prizes for private sector actors who take on research and development tasks. Carl Edward Sagan ( November 9 1934 &ndash December 20 1996) was an American Astronomer, astrochemist, author Newton "Newt" Leroy Gingrich, (born Newton Leroy McPherson on June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the Speaker In keeping with the third idea, Zubrin describes twelve challenges that tackle various aspects of the exploration program. A monetary prize — from five hundred million to twenty billion dollars — is offered to companies who successfully complete the challenges.

The prize-based approach to hardware development has emerged within the private aeronautics community, though not yet on the scale envisioned by Zubrin. Ventures such as the Ansari X-Prize and Robert Bigelow's America's Space Prize seek low-cost spaceflight development through private enterprise, and crucially, for the attainment of very specific predetermined goals in order to win the prizes. The Ansari X PRIZE was a Space competition in which the X PRIZE Foundation offered a US$ 10000000 Prize for the first non-government America's Space Prize is a US$ 50 million Space competition in Orbital spaceflight established and funded by hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow


The underlying political economic problems of raising sufficient capital for terraforming using halocarbon emissions is critiqued by John Hickman.

Concepts from Case for Mars appearing in Fiction

The mission concepts elucidated in The Case for Mars have been used in several science fiction novels. Most notably, Robert Zubrin wrote a fictional account of a Mars Direct mission in his novel First Landing (Ace, 2001). First Landing is a 2002 Science fiction novel by Robert Zubrin that tells the story of the first manned space expedition to Mars. Geoffrey A. Landis used concepts from The Case for Mars in his novel Mars Crossing (Tor, 2000), and Gregory Benford used the basic structure of Mars Direct in The Mars Race (1988). Geoffrey A Landis works as a scientist and writer of Science fiction. Mars Crossing is a Science fiction novel by Geoffrey A Landis about an expedition to Mars, published by Tor Books in 2000 Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941 in Mobile Alabama) is an American science fiction author and Astrophysicist who is on the


Reviews and Links

See also

The Mars Society is an international Space advocacy Non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging the exploration and settlement of Mars. Mars is the focus of much speculation and serious study about possible human colonization which might be possible A human mission to visit and land on the planet Mars has long been a subject for Science fiction writers and a dream of Space exploration advocates The exploration of Mars has been an important part of the Space exploration programs of the Soviet Union (later Russia) the United Space advocacy can be described as the general position supporting pleading or arguing forthe idea or cause of space exploration and settlements Marshall T Savage is an advocate of space travel who wrote The Millennial Project Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps and founded the Living Universe Foundation Mining the Sky Untold Riches from the Asteroids Comets and Planets is a book by John S John S Lewis is a professor of Planetary science at the University of Arizona ’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Engines of Creation is a seminal Molecular nanotechnology book written by K Molecular nanotechnology (MNT is the concept of engineering functional mechanical systems at the molecular scale Kim Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955 in Oakland California) is an American engineer best known for popularizing the potential of Molecular The High Frontier Human Colonies in Space is a book by Gerard K
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