This volume collects papers from more than 70 U.S. and foreign experts, including astronauts, scientists, engineers, technologists, medical doctors, psychologists, and economists to share their views and thoughts on a human mission to Mars.

To boldly go where no human has gone before... A human mission to Mars will most likely be a one way journey into the unknown, and the first step to the human colonization of the cosmos. Why a one way mission? Who should go? What might they discover about the Red Planet, and themselves? These twenty chapters written by the top scientists in the world and two astronauts who walked on the moon, and edited by famed cosmologist, Paul Davies, and astrobiologiest, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, provide a veritable road map to the Red Planet. What would it be like to be part of a long duration space mission to Mars? How might it feel to watch the receding Earth slowly growing smaller in the blackness of night? Can humans have sex in space? Should women be part of the mission? Can babies be born on Mars? The answer is, yes; if we wish to colonize the cosmos. But a human mission to Mars would be incredibly expensive, how could the mission be funded? As detailed in the chapter Marketing Mars, by selling TV-broadcasting, advertising, sponsorship, merchandising, and naming rights to corporations who would pay billions for the privilege. But who would want to boldly go, and why? Over 1,000 men and women have volunteered for a one way mission and many tell us why in their own words. But wouldn't this be a suicide mission? Could a colony be established? Could they grow their own food? How would they survive? The answers are provided by a veritable who's who of the top experts in the world. And what would it be like to live on Mars? What dangers would they face? Learn first hand, in the final, visionary chapter about about life in a Martian colony, and the adventures of a young woman, Aurora, who is born on Mars. Exploration, discovery, and journeys into the unknown are part of the human spirit. Colonizing the cosmos is our destiny. The Greatest Adventure in the History of Humanity awaits us. Onward to Mars!

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. 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.

The book addresses the idea of colonizing Mars as a possible solution to the problems of overpopulation, depletion of natural resources and global warming facing the Earth. Humanity has reached a critical point in its existence where resources and space are becoming increasingly scarce. The colonization of Mars offers a new frontier for human growth and expansion. Although the technology to accomplish this is still in development, experts predict that the day when humans can live and thrive on Mars may not be far off. Mars colonization should not be seen as a miracle solution to our planet's problems. It should be seen as one piece of a larger puzzle, along with efforts to address the root causes of the problems we face on Earth. It is important to approach Mars colonization with a responsible stewardship mindset, recognizing the ethical obligations that come with venturing into unknown territory. Only in this way can we ensure that Mars colonization does not repeat the mistakes of past colonialism and exploitation. It is up to humanity itself to forge its own future and destiny. If we are able to take the necessary steps to successfully colonize Mars, we will be able to ensure our existence and guarantee our survival for generations to come.

The Case for Mars makes living in space seem more possible than ever in this updated 25th anniversary edition, featuring the latest information on the planet's exploration and the drive to send humans there. 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 had long been thought impossible to reach, let alone explore and inhabit. But that is changing fast. In February 2021, the American rover Perseverance will touch down on Mars. Equipped with a powerful suite of scientific instruments—including some that will attempt to make oxygen from the Martian atmosphere—the rover also carries a helicopter that will take spectacular panoramic movies from the air. Most exciting of all, a spectrometer onboard may find evidence of fossils left behind by microbes millions of years ago, when the planet was warm and wet, proving at last that life on Earth is not unique, but a general phenomenon in the universe. Meanwhile, in Boca Chica, Texas, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has created a shipyard that is building and testing the vessels that will take humans to Mars before this decade is out. Leading space exploration expert Robert Zubrin crafted the daring blueprint for humanity’s reach to the Red Planet twenty-five years ago, when he first published The Case for Mars. Now, in this updated edition, he looks to the future once more to describe how—in an era when the American space program and private companies like SpaceX are racing to send astronauts to Mars—our first colonies there are imminent. In the grand tradition of successful explorers, Zubrin calls for a travel-light and live-off-the-land approach to Martian settlement. He explains how scientists can use present-day technology to send humans to Mars, produce fuel and oxygen on the planet’s surface with its own natural resources, build bases and communities, and one day, terraform—or alter the atmosphere of the planet in order to pave the way for sustainable life. As a landmark new mission opens the decisive campaign to take humans to the Red Planet, Zubrin lays out a comprehensive plan to build life on a new world.

This document communicates NASA’s strategy and progress to learn about the Red Planet, to inform us more about our Earth’s past and future, and may help answer whether life exists beyond our home planet. Together with NASA’s partners in academia and commercial enterprises, NASA’s vision is to pioneer Mars and answer some of humanity’s fundamental questions: • Was Mars home to microbial life? Is it today? • Could it be a safe home for humans one day? • What can it teach us about life elsewhere in the cosmos or how life began on Earth? • What can it teach us about Earth’s past, present, and future?

In this book, Donald Rapp looks at human missions to Mars from a technological perspective. He divides the mission into a number of stages: Earth’s surface to low-Earth orbit (LEO); departing from LEO toward Mars; Mars orbit insertion and entry, descent and landing; ascent from Mars; trans-Earth injection from Mars orbit and Earth return. A mission to send humans to explore the surface of Mars has been the ultimate goal of planetary exploration since the 1950s, when von Braun conjectured a flotilla of 10 interplanetary vessels carrying a crew of at least 70 humans. Since then, more than 1,000 studies were carried out. This third edition provides extensive updating and additions to the last edition, including new sections, and many new figures and tables, and references.