The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must

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. It explains step-by-step how we can use present-day technology to send humans to Mars within ten years; actually produce fuel and oxygen on the planet's surface with Martian natural resources; 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.

Amazon.com Review
"For our generation and many that will follow, Mars is the New World," writes Zubrin. This book went to press serendipitously, just as NASA was making its startling if heavily-qualified announcement that simple life may have once existed on the fourth rock from the sun. Zubrin doesn't spend an enormous amount of time arguing why Mars exploration is desirable -- we all want astronauts to go there, don't we? -- but rather devotes the bulk of this book explaining how it can happen on a sensible, bare-bones budget of $20-30 billion and a "travel light and live off the land" philosophy.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Good ideas on how to go to Mars, but the more important question is: Why would you want to?, 2008-05-05
Zubrin has a very interesting plan, which appears to be sound both technically and philosophically. While he certainly presents a compelling case for *how* we should go to Mars, he fails to actually present a case for *why* we should want to go to Mars in the first place.

Of all the places to go in the solar system, why Mars? What does Mars have to offer other than dust? What is on Mars that is not more easily accessible elsewhere in the solar system? These are important question to consider if one is going to invest resources and human lives in the conquest of space.

To build a successful colony, one needs raw materials as well as abundant energy. Mars is lacking on both counts. Water? How much is really available in the ice caps and subsurface? Energy? The amount of geothermal energy is questionable, as Mars is mostly dead from a geological standpoint. Solar energy is less than 1/3 of that found on Earth, requiring large arrays that must support themselves against gravity as well as be protected from dust storms. What raw minerals are available other than iron oxide (rust)?

No, all the necessary resources, and more, are available in the Asteroid Belt and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Any additional energy expended in reaching them is far more than compensated for the fact that their wealth is not bound deep in a gravity well such as that of Mars. The reduced solar energy is not a limiting factor either, as collector arrays can be built as large as necessary when there are not constraints of gravity.

Finally, the space radiation issue is better addressed, as the Belt colony can dig itself in to an asteroid as deeply as necessary to provide adequate shielding.

Forget Mars, the Belt is where we need to go.


2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Attack anything you disagree with, 2008-01-10
I was disappointed in the book. Dr. Zubrin spends far too much time faulting NASA and trying to say why we should not do anything but go to Mars. He does make good points with his theme of "living off the land". I don't believe this book will convince anyone outside those who already want to go to Mars that we need to go. I think it will give ammunition to those who dislike NASA and the space program in general.


0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Most Important Book, 2008-01-07
The vision that Robert Zubrin lays out in this book makes it the most important for anyone to read. Not only is it well written, Zubrin's ideas are outstanding and critical for our society to learn and embrace as we move quickly into the 21st century.


0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

The Case for Mars, 2007-01-16
If ever I read a book on what visionaries with a practical side have to say, this is it.

The book was written in the early 1990's looking out 10 years to what would be possible. It was well researched and based on technical expertise.If asked, they could make this happen.

Well worth reading for anyone interested in space exploration.


1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

It's okay, 2006-04-18
As many of reviewers have said, Robert Zubrin describes his plan for getting to Mars as effeciently as possible.

Good points of the book are that his plan is very well thought out. He puts a lot of science in to the book, and explains it all in straightforward terms. He narrates the book in a friendly, conversational tone.

A slightly negative point is that his book is mostly visionary and doesn't get into what progress has made towards the human exploration of Mars.

My biggest problem with the book is that it's boring. I'm sorry to say that, but it is, at least for me. And I'm a 20-year old majoring in aerospace engineering who is actively interested in researching Mars. The thing is, the book is good at presenting the info, but not so good at providing motivation and interest needed to absorb all that info. It's written like an extended essay (thesis, reasons, supports). You know what I'm talking about. I will probably use this book more for reference than for fun reading.

Maybe I'll change my opinion over time. For now, it gets 3 stars.

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