Reply #129: Zubrin [View All]

[pokerfan]

Former rocket engineer and founder of the Mars Society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Zubrin

Got to meet him at one of the first Mars Conventions along with Buzz Aldrin, the late Bob Forward (I got about an hour alone with Bob outside on of the seminars) and even James Cameron.

Mars Direct is a method of flying to Mars directly without having to first assemble a ship in Earth orbit. Same way we went to the moon and with a booster not much larger than the Saturn V, perhaps shuttle derived. It makes use of in situ production of propellant. Turns out that it's a fraction of the cost of the origianl NASA plan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Direct