Mars: A Future Home for Humanity prologue
MARS: A FUTURE HOME FOR HUMANITY
A personal view by Ralph Buttigieg
What sort of future will we leave our children?
Gloomy newspaper headlines tell us of famines, mass refugees,
a warming Earth, etc. Earth is getting crowded.
When faced with such possibilities past generations had an
option ours don't. They could pack their bags and immigrate
to countries like America and Australia. The New World. And
start afresh. Now , no matter what direction you travel, you
need a passport.
We need another New World. A place to give us hope and a
future. I believe that place is Mars.
Next to Earth, Mars is the most "user friendly" planet in our
Solar System. It once had a thick atmosphere, liquid water,
and maybe life. Now its cold and arid. But recent research
strongly suggest that the Red planet can be terraformed (made
more Earthlike) and it can be done within a life time.
Such a project is not science fiction, but based on hard
engineering and science. Nor will it send our societies
bankrupt, it is affordable.
In the following chapters Robert Zubrin, senior engineer for
Martian Marietta Astronautics, and Chris McKay, planetary
scientist at NASA Ames research center, will show you how.
A personal view by Ralph Buttigieg
What sort of future will we leave our children?
Gloomy newspaper headlines tell us of famines, mass refugees,
a warming Earth, etc. Earth is getting crowded.
When faced with such possibilities past generations had an
option ours don't. They could pack their bags and immigrate
to countries like America and Australia. The New World. And
start afresh. Now , no matter what direction you travel, you
need a passport.
We need another New World. A place to give us hope and a
future. I believe that place is Mars.
Next to Earth, Mars is the most "user friendly" planet in our
Solar System. It once had a thick atmosphere, liquid water,
and maybe life. Now its cold and arid. But recent research
strongly suggest that the Red planet can be terraformed (made
more Earthlike) and it can be done within a life time.
Such a project is not science fiction, but based on hard
engineering and science. Nor will it send our societies
bankrupt, it is affordable.
In the following chapters Robert Zubrin, senior engineer for
Martian Marietta Astronautics, and Chris McKay, planetary
scientist at NASA Ames research center, will show you how.
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