The Case for Mars

The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must

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by Robert Zubrin, Richard Wagner and Arthur C. Clarke

Simon & Schuster Trade

Due/Published October 1997, 344 pages, paper

ISBN 0684835509

Since the beginning of human history Mars has been an alluring dream: the stuff of legends, gods, and mystery. The planet most like ours, it has still been thought impossible to reach, let alone explore and inhabit. 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. The book explains step-by-step how we can use present-day technology to send humans to Mars within 10 years; actually produce fuel and oxygen on the planet's surface with natural resources from the planet itself; 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.