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The Case for Mars

Robert Zubrin

4.10 · Rating details · 2,629 ratings · 188 reviews

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, Mar ...more

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Paperback, 368 pages

Published November 3rd 1997 by Touchstone (first published November 8th 1996)

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Jan 10, 2012 Angela Blount rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, science

In using this book for research purposes, I've been delighted with the wealth of practical information it offers. The Case For Mars is a history lesson, a speculative thesis, a business proposal, and a visionary rally cry—all in one.

The author lays his foundation on some of the more relevant origins of humanity's relationship with astronomy, astrophysics, and the planet Mars—managing accuracy without any petty attempts to pit science against religion or vice versa. The background he provided on In using this book for research purposes, I've been delighted with the wealth of practical information it offers. The Case For Mars is a history lesson, a speculative thesis, a business proposal, and a visionary rally cry—all in one.

The author lays his foundation on some of the more relevant origins of humanity's relationship with astronomy, astrophysics, and the planet Mars—managing accuracy without any petty attempts to pit science against religion or vice versa. The background he provided on Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe was actually more interesting than a lot of his introductory material, in this reader's opinion.

“Geometry is one and eternal, a reflection out of the mind of God. That mankind shares in it is one of the reasons to call man an image of God.” --Johannes Kepler

He also walks us through some of the more famous expeditions—dissecting the grand successes and horrendous disasters—and then paralleling them to how we ought to approach the exploration and eventual settlement of the red planet. His underlying point in all this is that the wisest (and most cost-effective) course of action would be to 'go native', taking with us only minimal provisions and focusing on all possible means of 'living off the land'. He goes so far as to assert: "If necessity is the mother of invention, Mars will provide the cradle.”

The author seems to feel strongly that the search for life on Mars is of the utmost importance to any potential manned missions. But while I didn't feel like he made a strong enough case for that particular pet point, I did feel his arguments for regarding Mars as the next logical 'frontier' for humanity were more than enthralling. His economic, historical, and sociological points are sound—to the point where this reader, by the end of the book, has transitioned from being generally indifferent to a cautious-yet-excited proponent of Martian expeditions with the eventual goal of colonization, terraforming, etc.

Zubrin's writing style is precise and comprehensive without being dry, and compelling without coming across as intellectually superior. In all, this is a fascinating read for anyone who is interested in Mars, the potential future of extra-terrestrial settlement, or how NASA works (or in some cases, doesn't work).

Favorite quote:

“If the human mind can understand the universe, it means the human mind is fundamentally of the same order as the divine mind. If the human mind is of the same order as the divine mind, then everything that appeared rational to God as he constructed the universe, it's “geometry,” can also be made to appear rational to the human understanding, and so if we search and think hard enough, we can find a rational explanation and underpinning for everything. This is the fundamental proposition of science.” --Robert Zubrin ...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Dan Cowden rated it did not like it

Shelves: science, space, technical

Falling victim to many of the same biases he rails against other visionaries and scientists for having, Zubrin proceeds to display a zealot's lack of a grounding in reality. The technical bits "proving" that Mars is the place to go in the solar system are amusingly one-sided -- despite the fact that many of the ideas for building habitats within lunar orbit are much more cost-effective if those habitats are allowed to use materials from Near-Earth Orbit asteroids, which are far easier to exploit ...more

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May 05, 2013 P.J. Sullivan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: science

Humans will never settle on Mars. It will always be beyond the range of human habitability. The lesser gravity, the cosmic radiation and dust storms, the thinness of the atmosphere, the absence of liquid water, the absence of an ozone layer, the distance, the human factors, etc., would require superhuman technological and human adaptations. It will never be profitable or cost effective. This book offers solutions, high-tech and very expensive. Despite its optimism that Mars can be terraformed, i Humans will never settle on Mars. It will always be beyond the range of human habitability. The lesser gravity, the cosmic radiation and dust storms, the thinness of the atmosphere, the absence of liquid water, the absence of an ozone layer, the distance, the human factors, etc., would require superhuman technological and human adaptations. It will never be profitable or cost effective. This book offers solutions, high-tech and very expensive. Despite its optimism that Mars can be terraformed, it will never be worth the cost to do so, even if the formidable engineering problems could be solved. This book assumes that the Earth will always be available to support Mars missions, but the support systems on Earth will be stretched thin as the terrestrial climate collapses.

The terraforming of Mars would be accomplished by artificially-induced global warming. Even if that could be done successfully within a reasonable time, what would prevent it from eventually getting out of control? It is grandiose to think that humans could significantly alter the climate of a body as big as Mars and as distant as Mars. It's not going to happen! It is surely possible that humans will walk on Mars some day but they will not colonize it, for the same reasons that we have not colonized the moon. According to researchers at Edinburgh University, “The surface of Mars is lethal to vegetative cells,” and much of the surface is “uninhabitable” due to “a toxic cocktail of oxidants, iron oxides, perchlorates, and UV irradiation.” [The INDEPENDENT, 7 July 2017].

The title of this book betrays the author’s bias. He wants to do this. His book is an advertisement for Mars colonization, an appeal for the funding it would require. Thus he has a vested interest in minimizing the difficulties. His talk of “living off the land like Lewis and Clark” is unrealistic. His attitude is expansionist and strongly pro-technology. He thinks stagnation is the only alternative to perpetual expansion into new frontiers. He thinks technology is progress, but expansionism and technology can and do create serious problems. It is not our manifest destiny to populate other planets. They are alien worlds. A society that lives within realistic limits is not to be disparaged as a “closed society.”

This book is about the Red Planet; it is more about engineering and technology. If you decide to read it, get the latest edition because this is a moving topic.
...more

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Aug 16, 2015 Jessica rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: science, library

If you read this, make sure to get the revised 2011 edition, which incorporates discoveries made by the robotic missions to Mars since the book was first published in 1996. The bulk of the book lays out the technology and strategy for the "Mars Direct" plan to get humans to Mars and set up a base and eventually a colony there. This was all really interesting, and though it necessarily got into some tricky science at points, it remained pretty accessible for readers without science backgrounds.

B If you read this, make sure to get the revised 2011 edition, which incorporates discoveries made by the robotic missions to Mars since the book was first published in 1996. The bulk of the book lays out the technology and strategy for the "Mars Direct" plan to get humans to Mars and set up a base and eventually a colony there. This was all really interesting, and though it necessarily got into some tricky science at points, it remained pretty accessible for readers without science backgrounds.

But when Zubrin veered from technical to social discussions, I couldn't stomach it. He writes with zeal about the colonization of North America as a golden age for human accomplishment, with no recognition of the horrors perpetrated on Native Americans or the colonized land. He is unashamed in making arguments that are essentially: "Remember how great all that stuff with Columbus and western expansion was? That should be our inspiration for colonizing space."

I mean, "t=0"?
chart from The Case for Mars

I'll let Zubrin speak for himself:

"During the period of their global ascendancy, the Spanish ignored North America; to them it was nothing but a vast amount of worthless wilderness...The existence of Australia was known to Europe for two hundred years before the first colony arrived, yet no European power even bothered to claim the continent until 1830. These pieces of short-sighted statecraft are legendary today. Yet their consistency shows a persistent blind spot among policy-making groups as to the true sources of wealth and power." (emphasis added)

"The primary analogy I wish to draw is that Mars is to the new age of exploration what North America was to the last...The true value of America was as the future home for a new branch of human civilization, one that combined its humanistic antecedents and its frontier conditions to develop into the most powerful engine for human progress and economic growth the world has ever seen. The wealth of America was in the fact that she could support people, and that the right kind of people chose to go to her." (emphasis added)

There's lots more like this, and it made me intensely uncomfortable to read. Zubrin is trying to invoke a cultural revolution, a popular movement that demands a human mission to Mars, but he appears to be writing outside of any cultural context at all.

So, essentially: read it for the science but skip over as much of the social/cultural commentary as you can. ...more

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Oct 28, 2008 Charlie George rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science, will-re-read

Terrific, original engineering writing. Mr. Zubrin is a visionary thinker. I agree with the comments that a program such as this should have been executed long ago, and it remains an important goal.

We are now nearing the end of the 10-year window Zubrin laid out for establishing continuous human colonization of Mars. I remember several sources indicating that NASA took the research seriously, but apparently not enough to pursue it, which is a shame.

After all the ingenious engineering recommendat ...more

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Jul 04, 2018 Gendou rated it it was ok

Shelves: futurism, non-fiction

The author of this book, Robert Zubrin, is a fucking crybaby. He cries about the useless ISS. He cries about the overgrown NASA plans for a manned mission to Mars. He cries about lack of consistent congressional funding and periodical presidential goal changes. It's all too much for me. And it's so unnecessary! An understated matter-of-fact approach works so much better than polemics.

There's a lot of cool discussion about technology in situ resource utilization like turning CO2 from the atmosphe The author of this book, Robert Zubrin, is a fucking crybaby. He cries about the useless ISS. He cries about the overgrown NASA plans for a manned mission to Mars. He cries about lack of consistent congressional funding and periodical presidential goal changes. It's all too much for me. And it's so unnecessary! An understated matter-of-fact approach works so much better than polemics.

There's a lot of cool discussion about technology in situ resource utilization like turning CO2 from the atmosphere and H2O from the regolith into O2 for breathing, rocket fuel for getting around, etc. I love the parts about smelting metals, too.

But there's a big problem with this book: I just can't trust the author.

He exaggerates all kinds of things and substitutes his opinion for fact all over the place. He claims colonization of Mars is the "only way" to "preserve democracy", to "push technology forward", and to "stop the return of oligarchy".

He goes on a pseudoscientific rant against "Malthusian Theory" calling it "scientifically bankrupt" and saying that "all predictions made upon it have been wrong" which is obviously untrue. He says debates about it "are not to be settled in academic journals" which comes across as blatant anti-intellectualism. I suspect I know the kind of small-minded, anti-technology Malthusianism he's talking about. The sort of people who are against crop biotechnology, etc. But he doesn't explain himself. Just incomprehensibly goes on a rant without sufficient context.

The stated purpose for writing the book is to win over public opinion about HIS plan of getting to Mars. He paints a utopian picture of Mars as the next frontier. He delivers an argument for Mars colonization by historical analogy with the United States. This is best characterized as historical revisionism because he ignores the whole part about NATIVE AMERICANS. And it's also a bit of fallacious nationalism because he exaggerates the role of the USA in moving the world forward in terms of political philosophy, technology, and culture. Not to mention he provides opinion instead of evidence that the frontier was responsible for these American achievements. I shit you not, this is a direct quote from the book: "Only in a universe of unlimited resources can all men be brothers." Who says shit like that?!

The book has an appendix about the ALH84001 meteorite that was blown of Mars and landed on Earth. He describes a paper by Imre Friedmann as "proving" that magnetite found in the meteorite was of bacterial origin. This is not a correct assessment of the scientific literature. There are other explanations including natural geological processes that could have produced the magnetite. Yet another demonstration of the authors zeal, gullibility, and lack of skepticism, knowledge of the relevant science, and critical thinking.

He also offers a piss-poor argument for panspermia full of fallacious reasoning much of which you can find here.

He's got some cockamamie idea for dealing with timekeeping challenges for people in a Mars colony. He proposes we have a new unit the "Mars second" which is slightly longer than the SI second. That way there's 60 Mars seconds in a Mars minute, 60 Mars minutes in a Mars hour, and 24 Mars hours in a Mars day. This is advantageous for people using a sextant to navigate on the surface... but super confusing for EVERY OTHER CONCEIVABLE PURPOSE. Total half-baked idea. Cool to think about, though. More useful would be to use the Zodiac signs for Mars months, because a Mars year is 687 Mars days. It would be weird to have 57 days in Mars-October, right? Better to have 57 days in "Capricorn". Yeah, that makes more sense... ...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Cassandra Kay Silva rated it really liked it

Shelves: science

I like that someone eager to use government money is also eager to find a way to make that money go a long way and become feasible. One of my biggest problems with government spending is that once people get the money in hand they have no connection to it. It becomes this free flowing pipe from the government and everyone just tries to bank on getting as much of it as possible for their own research. I think the author makes a good point towards then end, and I have always felt that things would I like that someone eager to use government money is also eager to find a way to make that money go a long way and become feasible. One of my biggest problems with government spending is that once people get the money in hand they have no connection to it. It becomes this free flowing pipe from the government and everyone just tries to bank on getting as much of it as possible for their own research. I think the author makes a good point towards then end, and I have always felt that things would be done more economically and more practically without this free flowing money machine. As is readily apparent by Americas current debt issues that stream of money does not go on forever. In fact it is very finite and we have to think on par and as a team with our government in coming of with feasibility and practicality in all areas not just science.

Unfortunately I think the government spending has hit such a terrible point that I cannot raise my hand in support of what the author is proposing here in way of a planned mission to mars. Even at his very "low" figure of 30 billion (as compared with the initial 450 billion projection= yes i see the improvement here) still America cannot undertake this sort of a project in the financial condition it is currently in. What I was surprised by is that the author did not mention or bring up involving other countries. Though I did like his capital venture plan. This is to me just because so much of this idea of traveling to mars has become about sticking your flag on the rock. Lets be realistic here with science for a moment. The LHC in CERN is one of the most successful establishments currently in science and shows a great network of team ability and international thinking. I like this approach. As a human race if reaching the Red planet is to be undertaken I agree it should be in the name of research but why does America have to feel like it has to foot the bill. So it can get bragging rights? Are bragging rights really worth the 30 billion dollar price tag on this one? I hardly think so. What about a more cooperative spirit? I like the authors aim at using Mars's own resources instead of piping in our own but why does it all have be on Americas back? America is not equipped to deal with this right now. I think this is the right approach garnered at too small of an audience. ...more

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Jul 20, 2015 Jack Chaucer rated it really liked it

Robert Zubrin makes a strong case for human colonization of Mars and, surprising to me at least, that we already should've been there by now. JFK would be disappointed that we didn't take his model for going to the moon many, many moons ago and apply it to Mars. At least we've got rovers there, but politics, complacency and a stagnant sense of adventure and frontier spirit have set us back from experiencing Mars the way it should be experienced -- with our own hands in the red dirt, our own fing ...more

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Feb 08, 2017 Belhor Crowley rated it liked it

Shelves: other-none-fiction

Very detailed. Includes everything from NASA's policy for Mars colonization and rocket programs and recent developments (keep in mind that the book is pretty dated), to terraforming of Mars. A very good book if you're interested in the subject matter. It could have been even better if it wasn't dry so often. Still a pretty informative read. ...more

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Jun 11, 2020 M.L. Rio rated it it was ok

Shelves: non-fiction, books-i-own, science

There's a lot of interesting science here, but the work as a whole is marred by Zubrin's obvious and off-putting ego, along with flashes of sexism (an apparently unironic use of the word "strumpet" stands out as especially cringeworthy) and a tendency to implicitly glorify white male machismo as a model for political leadership and European imperialism as a model for space exploration. ...more

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Nov 22, 2017 P.S. Winn rated it really liked it

How to get to Mars, and why we should in a detailed plan and a great idea. I found this an extremely interesting read of the possibility of settling onto another world.

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May 20, 2014 Christopher rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-yes, _reviewed, own-yes, read-with-caution, space-mars, space

This is the manifesto which propelled engineer Robert Zubrin into the forefront of advocating human exploration of Mars.

This is at least partly based on prior work by scientists at the Case for Mars conferences in the 1980s, of which Zubrin was a participating member. The Case for Mars conferences were a series of meetings by NASA scientists and other interested scientists, conducted outside of NASA's aegis. The ideas and demeanor of those conferences have been influential to NASA's Mars explora ...more

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Nov 19, 2017 Ana and The Books rated it really liked it · review of another edition

LOVED THIS BOOK.
personally a dream of mine is to be a part of the Mars missions, and our settlement of the planet. Reading this book has allowed me to see the little and big things we need to accomplish as a species in order to expand our world.

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Sep 28, 2019 Sonnydee rated it liked it

Shelves: mars

My main takeaway from this book is a pressing desire to sit Zubrin down and ask him if he's read Bradbury's Martian Chronicles.

No doubt Zubrin's a smart guy, and this book was invaluable to my research. I'll probably consult it over and over again until it's even more dogeared and marked up than it is already. I especially love the addendum about panspermia and wish it was longer.

And I can definitely see how it inspired Kim Stanley Robinson and Andy Weir, mainly because its strengths are their My main takeaway from this book is a pressing desire to sit Zubrin down and ask him if he's read Bradbury's Martian Chronicles.

No doubt Zubrin's a smart guy, and this book was invaluable to my research. I'll probably consult it over and over again until it's even more dogeared and marked up than it is already. I especially love the addendum about panspermia and wish it was longer.

And I can definitely see how it inspired Kim Stanley Robinson and Andy Weir, mainly because its strengths are their strengths and its weaknesses, their weaknesses. The explorations of scientific questions are brilliant, but Zubrin (and KSR, and Weir) is embarrassingly naive in his uncritical enthusiasm for a Mars where Manifest Destiny, patriarchy, and capitalism reign supreme. So much so that he breezes past questions like

1) how exactly will the Martian money system work? Who will set the value of currency? Will it be based on some kind of mineral standard? Will it be based on an existing Earth money system, especially if trade with Earth is steady? Should that be an American money system? Will Martians have to pay for food, childcare, healthcare, etc within their communities? Will there be social stratification based on income? How will that be dealt with?

2) Martians can make indigenous aluminum, which is great, but how will they make new clothing, including the invaluable spacesuits they need to explore the surface? What will textile manufacturing look like in a place without large animals or space for inedible plants?

3) if life already exists on Mars, should we be concerned about conserving it?

4) how will crime and punishment be dealt with, what with the lack of space and resources for an unproductive prisoner class? Or will criminals be punished with forced labor? Who will enforce that, especially given the ease of sabotage?

5) do you really think you can convince a bunch of 21st century lady astrophysicists to be breeding stock? Women in industrialized countries don't have even close to 3.5 kids, and higher education correlates to lower birthrates. Even if you can, have you considered how radiation exposure in space will effect conception? How lower gravity will effect gestation, childbirth, and child development?
Who's going to keep the kids entertained and safe on a planet where everything's trying to kill them? Zubrin thinks goats are too dangerous to have on Mars and not kids?

Also, here's a fun face about the American frontier: huge numbers of women cross-dressed and passed as men in order to do stuff like fight in the Civil War, marry other women, prospect for gold, and get jobs. Because women on the frontier want to do frontier stuff and not just babysit.

Yeah, Zubrin, KSR and AW don't really have any interest in many of the social aspects of Martian life. And it's a pretty big oversight, really. The science is fascinating, but it raises more questions than it answers. And to me, those are the more interesting questions. At least I've got Bradbury. ...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Mckinley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, science, must-read, sci-for-non-sci, favorite, travel, survival

If nothing else read the epilogue.
This book is a quick read for laypersons to get an understanding of how it would be possible to explore and then settle another planet. From how to get there to what we would do there to how we would make it possible to populate. While I still wouldn't sign up to go, at least certainly not in the first waves anyway, I find myself advocating the opportunity for those who would.

Reading this book has changed my way of thinking. Not only about space exploration and ...more

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Jul 05, 2007 Sab rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, science, space

A nonfiction, science-based approach to what it would take to colonize Mars, and why we should. This book covers everything from proper dome construction to kevlar space elevators to hydroponic farming to the advent of space hotels, and makes a compelling case for exactly how we can settle Mars -- and why we really SHOULD.

And yet, somehow, Kim Robinson's "Green Mars," a fiction genre novel, taught me more about terraforming the red planet than Zubrin did. ...more

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Feb 22, 2017 Kieran Fanning rated it really liked it

I don't normally read non-fiction so I can't say this was an easy read and the at time very scientific & technical parts of this book were a real struggle. But perhaps that is more my fault than the book's. The book is possibly very outdated at this stage but nevertheless Zubrin makes an interesting Case for Mars. He seems very credible and knowledgeable and the writing is good. ...more

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Aug 29, 2020 Dmitry rated it it was amazing

This book presents a powerful narrative regarding the need for Mars exploration, the means of doing so, and the possible timetable for this task. The book does not spare criticism of the NASA's approach on this issue, or on the topic of space exploration more generally. The approach advanced by the book, and developed by its author is called Mars Direct, and calls for use of present day technologies for a stream of human missions to Mars, each lasting over 2 years (including the transit). The me This book presents a powerful narrative regarding the need for Mars exploration, the means of doing so, and the possible timetable for this task. The book does not spare criticism of the NASA's approach on this issue, or on the topic of space exploration more generally. The approach advanced by the book, and developed by its author is called Mars Direct, and calls for use of present day technologies for a stream of human missions to Mars, each lasting over 2 years (including the transit). The means to do so is to use the low energy Hohmann transfer to fly from low Earth orbit directly to the Mars surface in a cheapest and fastest way possible, to wait on the surface of Mars until the next Hohmann transfer window opens (using this time to explore the red planet), then return using the propellant produced locally, from CO2 found on the surface and H2 brought from Earth, using nuclear energy. This is clearly a very influential book, since even before the author mentions it, it is clear that Elon Musk's plans for Mars exploration are based upon the Mars Direct approach, while scaling it up significantly. The book then goes into great detail regarding how the initial exploration expeditions can be turned into a beginning of claiming Mars for humanity, by building local marsian industry and bringing in more and more people, eventually to found a new branch of humanity. The book, however, is somewhat outdated. It was originally written in 1996, and a revised edition was published in 2011, but even that is out of date in 2020, with SpaceX's Starship in active development, Falcon Heavy having flown several times by now, and Dragon having taken humans to the ISS. Furthermore, even though at the first glance the study of Mars colonization appears to be comprehensive, it is clear that author sometimes glosses over certain topics. For example, the author dispels the myths about the importance of reduced gravity on human health, claiming that it does not prevent humans from performing 2-year missions to Mars and back, but never mentions the topic again when the issue of colonization is discussed (the influence of reduced Martian gravitation on embryonic development and that of children is unknown). Then, even more importantly, the author goes into great details describing the chemical reactions needed to produce just about any material used by human industry on Mars, but fails to mention how, logistically, can the full chain of supply involving millions of people on Earth be recreated on Mars with just handful of people and a very limited amount of heavy machinery and materials. So yes, it's pretty clear how can one fly there and back again, producing the propellant for the journey back using a small chemical reactor churning out CH4, but how does one go from that to building a foundry or an electronics factory is not clear. Also, with the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that the approach towards space exploration involving NASA's cooperation with Russia was doomed to failure (the mentions of Energia booster, a late born child of agonizing Soviet industry, is probably the most favorable mention of that engineering failure it has ever earned - I hear there are attempts to revive that technology. This ain't gonna happen). And the weakest part of the book for me was the last chapter, venturing to claim that the life on Earth was probably brought in by an asteroid bringing in a piece of martian soil with some bacteria in it, mostly based on the fact that we weren't able to find the missing link between inorganic chemistry and bacteria here on Earth - this argument is even worse than the "missing link" argument of evolution deniers, since while evolution has happened everywhere on Earth, the creation of sufficiently evolved life that would earn the name bacteria might have happened once - in a remote, or inaccessible location - or might have left no fossils at all. Still, those are relatively minor points - this is not an origins of life book anyway - the book is clearly inspirational and is a product of deep thinking by a lot of smart people, and I recommend it to anyone who is passionate about space. ...more

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Jul 10, 2020 Matthew Kresal rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Just under a year ago from when I'm writing these words was a half-century since Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. We're just under two and a half years away from when Apollo 17 left the Moon and ended humanity's forays into deep space, to date anyway. Since then, the question has remained the same, "what next?" If you're Robert Zubrin, then that answer can be summed up in one word: Mars. And in 1996, and with updating in 2011, he made a compelling case for the Red Planet.

Fundamentally, The Case for Just under a year ago from when I'm writing these words was a half-century since Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. We're just under two and a half years away from when Apollo 17 left the Moon and ended humanity's forays into deep space, to date anyway. Since then, the question has remained the same, "what next?" If you're Robert Zubrin, then that answer can be summed up in one word: Mars. And in 1996, and with updating in 2011, he made a compelling case for the Red Planet.

Fundamentally, The Case for Mars is precisely that. Zubrin, the founder of the Mars Society and co-creator of the Mars Direct plan, put forward just how we might get to the Red Planet in the short term. Across nearly 190 pages, Zubrin offers a crash course on Mars and his proposal. Readers get the history of the human fascination with Mars, our robotic efforts to explore the planet, and just why we haven't put human boots on its surface yet. Doing that, Zubrin gets into the bit he is most earnest about: talking about how to get a crew to Mars. Those familiar with the Mars Direct proposal via numerous documentaries and articles will find a full laying out of what such a voyage will take, from hardware and crew selection to the risks involved. If you need convincing that Mars is a place to go to, and that Mars Direct is the way to do it, then the first half of the book is what you need. Even better, it's written in a style and language where almost anyone can understand it.

It's in the back half, give or take, where the book runs into some trouble. Getting into colonization and the question of terraforming, the book becomes far more technical than it had been in previous chapters. To the point that, as a space enthusiast rather than being an engineer or chemist, I found myself a little out of my depth, I'm not afraid to say. The concluding chapter, The View from Earth, and the epilogue too, for that matter, likely won't sit well with some readers, especially with the nostalgic angle for both the golden days of Apollo and the American frontier. For a book that is so much about looking forward, it suddenly feels very backward-looking. Not to mention Zubrin's support for a potential Anasazi X Prize model to get to Mars in the final chapter. After all, the events of the last decade suggest that, despite the hype around it, it isn't likely to produce the Mars mission that Zubrin hopes it will.

For all of its flaws, Zubrin makes a compelling Case for Mars. Indeed, you can see his influence on Mars missions both in fiction (the film Mission to Mars or Andy Weir's novel The Martian) and in reality with NASA's planning. A human voyage to the Red Planet is still a ways off, but one can't help but feel that Zubrin's book and advocacy have gotten us closer. And that, when we do go, it'll likely be something akin to what he described here. ...more

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May 30, 2020 Gordon rated it really liked it

Shelves: science

4.5 stars! I read the 2011 revised edition. Informative, inspiring, awesome. As much a history lesson as a treatise on the practical feasibility of not just sending a manned mission to Mars, but of establishing a Mars colony and eventually “terraforming” the Red Planet. Robert Zubrin wonderfully explains the science (physics, astrophysics, chemistry, and biology) and engineering behind the “Mars Direct” concept for such a mission. A mission that in fact could have been successfully executed 30 y ...more

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Apr 16, 2019 Bee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: still-to-finish

Didn't quite finish it

It's really interesting, as long as you are really interested in getting to Mars and making your own fuel there. If not, maybe just watch a video about Zubrin first. He seems to be a bit of an asshole.

I'm glad he's a Mars asshole though, because he's made a big impact on the whole process. ...more

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Oct 21, 2020 Adastra added it

This book was so boring that I stopped about about 3 chapters

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Aug 03, 2011 Stonebender rated it really liked it

As long as Mr. Zubrin talks about the mechanics of getting to Mars cheaply through his proposed Mars Direct plan, the book was very interesting. In some cases I just didn't have the math to follow some of his proof, but the main idea is that we can get to Mars relatively cheaply by doing two things: not build all the space infrastructure (space stations, moon base etc.), just go to Mars directly. Then, rather than bring everything we need to Mars, use resources found on Mars to reduce costs. He ...more

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Mar 10, 2015 A Random Space Marine rated it really liked it

From the planning of the first mission, to colonisation, terraforming and interplanetary commerce, this work is the most comprehensive non-fiction book about humanity's future on Mars. Or at least how it should happen.
It's technical detail is extensive although romanticism about our future as an interplanetary species is not absent.
Any science fiction writer who cares about scientific accuracy should read or rather study this book. Sometimes it feels like reading a university textbook but it's ...more

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Oct 08, 2009 ActionScientist rated it it was amazing

I received my copy of this book from Robert Zubrin himself, at his Pioneer Astronautics workshop in Denver. Inside is written "To Dave, See you on Mars! Aug 17, 2000", signed "RZ".

The book is well written and flows a bit like a novel, however the basic mission plans requires a (probably unrealistically) large budget for building big rockets. SpaceX appears to be the most likely to succeed workaround.

In my opinion, whomever puts this projects together and actually pulls it off with a live crew ...more

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May 31, 2013 Erik rated it it was ok

Zubrin's Mars Direct mission architecture has been very influential amongst space enthusiasts, but his chapter on why we must settle Mars is merely lightly reworked Frederick Jackson Turner. ...more

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Sep 05, 2021 Dee rated it it was ok

Because of the pace of change in technology and business, and the constant accumulation of increasing accurate scientific knowledge this book has gone from being a case for exploration and exploitation of Mars to a historical document, a record of the thinking and institutions of the time it was written in. Now over 25 years old, the book doesn't represent Robert Zubrin's position today entirely. He's written a number of other books and is active today. It's interesting to see where he, and the Because of the pace of change in technology and business, and the constant accumulation of increasing accurate scientific knowledge this book has gone from being a case for exploration and exploitation of Mars to a historical document, a record of the thinking and institutions of the time it was written in. Now over 25 years old, the book doesn't represent Robert Zubrin's position today entirely. He's written a number of other books and is active today. It's interesting to see where he, and the state of the art in space exploration, are today after reading about where it was as he wrote this book.

So as I say, this book is a good historical document. It is a landmark, I would say, as much as Arthur C. Clarke's book "The Promise of Space," written before the Apollo moon landings. Physics, however, hasn't changed-at least so far as propulsion in space is concerned, so you can refer to Clarke's book and then this book, and you'll see what I mean. Where Clarke is more focused on things like the physics of propulsion and the abundant energy out there-in short about "The Promise," Zubrin tells us about the barriers here on the ground and the reasons they are bullshit-they're about procedures, politics and the patterns ingrained in old aerospace business. He gives you an insider's perspective on the aerospace industry and NASA and you get a sense of why things haven't been happening until very recently.

Read Clarke's "The Promise of Space" if you're going to read "The Case for Mars," or skip ahead to what's completely current if you aren't interested in science history. It's worth being interested tho, because an awareness of the progression of the space scene makes what's happening today more interesting.

Reading this, you will see where some key aspects of Elon Musk's plan for colonizing Mars originate. This is an important book to read. And it is a very interesting and informative one. Now, it's just a very little bit dated, but being aware of the when it was written and placing it in its historical context will give you say, half its information value at least. The technical information is also quite valuable, tho' some of it is a little dated and some of it suffers the sort of distortion that always happens to data in the hands of a presenter who advocates for something and for doing it a particular way. If you've taken in lectures and read other advocacy books to do with space travel, exploration, and exploitation you'll recognize the pattern - if it's not about how something is impossible and pessimistic, it's generally a little overly optimistic. Everything can be done!

Following the historical and technical information are insights Zubrin offers into the process of mission planning and the planners, and some interesting thoughts about history, innovation, and colonization.

Where I highly credit Zubrin is for how very little he distorts anything - I mean he's generally within an order of magnitude either way when he says something is or isn't possible. And some of that is because what we know has changed. What he does a great job of doing is pointing out the ridiculous reasoning and where some of it comes from and why. The money is no object contractors, f'rxample, the people with an interest in a particular technology or a mission which would be supported by going to Mars one way and not another. Shoot. I'm being quite vague....

OK, if you've followed the development of SpaceX, how they go about developing things, how they relate to NASA and to the competition, and then you read The Case for Mars you'll see where lots of what's going on comes from. From the methane/liquid oxygen motors to the spirit of how SpaceX actually develops the technology. It's a story of pragmatism vs old school big budget Big Science.

Zubrin's insights into the value of a colony to the parent economy are good, and he places the argument for settling Mars in the context of what colonies meant in the past for European powers. It's a worthwhile argument. What he didn't foresee was SpaceX and current state of the industry.

If you don't know much about Mars, it may interest you to know that Mars has enough water to fill a modest ocean, frozen and extremely easily accessible. His arguments aren't pie in the sky at all. And as a dilettante planetologist who stays on top of the latest research, I can tell you the picture is actually a little rosier than Zubrin paints in in The Case.

I'm planning to read Zubrin further look forward to reviewing those books, maybe a bit more carefully than this one.

Finally, I must mention that reading books by Kim Stanley Robinson, "Red Mars," "Green Mars," and "Blue Mars" will make somewhat better sense to you after reading this. Additionally, there is another color Mars book, written by Brian Aldiss: "White Mars," which even calls the device which creates fuel for the rockets from Mars' atmosphere a "Zubrin." ...more

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Jan 12, 2018 Dylan Valine rated it liked it

This is a book of grand ambitions, about getting to Mars in 10 years and eventually it goes on to talk about colonization and terraforming. In this there are definitly times where the author takes on the brightest of views and uses rose tinted glasses. That being said the acual plans to get to Mars in 10 years without budget breaking costs is the hihglight of this books and makes up the first half of the book. The second half focuses more on other areas such as colonization and terraforming as w ...more

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Jun 04, 2021 Benjamin Barnhill rated it liked it

A man's life work distilled into an informative and easily digestible technical report on a manned mars mission which combines modern technologies along with ingenuitive and survivalist thinking to make such a mission not only economically feasible, but possible within our lifetime. This novel is a great argument for the current debate in academia about whether or not to make scientific papers and journals more accessible by changing the writing style. This book allows one to understand the conc ...more

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Oct 05, 2019 Terry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About Robert Zubrin

Robert Zubrin

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Robert Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of human exploration of Mars. He and his colleague at Martin Marietta, David Baker, were the driving force behind Mars Direct, a proposal in a 1990 research paper intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission.

Books by Robert Zubrin

Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization

The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility

How to Live on Mars: A Trusty Guidebook to Surviving and Thriving on the Red Planet

Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism

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Quotes from The Case for Mars

“If the human mind can understand the universe, it means the human mind is fundamentally of the same order as the divine mind. If the human mind is of the same order as the divine mind, then everything that appeared rational to God as he constructed the universe, it's “geometry,” can also be made to appear rational to the human understanding, and so if we search and think hard enough, we can find a rational explanation and underpinning for everything. This is the fundamental proposition of science.” — 10 likes

“Currently we see around us an ever more apparent loss of vigor of our society: increasing fixity of the power structure and bureaucratization of all levels of life; impotence of political institutions to carry off great projects; the proliferation of regulations affecting all aspects of public, private, and commercial life; the spread of irrationalism; the banalization of opular culture; the loss of willingness by individuals to take risks, to fend for themselves or think for themselves; economic stagnation and decline, the decleration of the rate of technological innovation...Everywhere you look, the writing is on the wall.” — 6 likes

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