Zubrin giving a talk in 2005.

Robert Zubrin is an aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of manned Mars exploration. He was the driving force behind Mars Direct—a proposal intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission. The key idea was to use the Martian atmosphere to produce oxygen, water, and rocket propellant for the surface stay and return journey. A modified version of the plan was subsequently adopted by NASA as their "design reference mission". New image of Robert Zubrin, creator of Mars Direct. ... New image of Robert Zubrin, creator of Mars Direct. ... Aerospace engineering is the branch of engineering concerning aircraft, spacecraft and related topics. ... An author is the person who creates a written work, such as a book, story, article or the like. ... Advocacy is an umbrella term for organized activism related to a particular set of issues. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... Mars Direct is a proposal for a relatively low-cost manned mission to Mars with current rocket technology. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Atomic mass 15. ... Impact of a drop of water. ... Rocket propellants undergo exothermic chemical reactions which produce hot gas which is used by a rocket for propulsive purposes. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an agency of the United States Government, responsible for that nations public space program. ...

Disappointed with the lack of interest from government in Mars exploration, and after the success of his book "The Case for Mars" as well as leadership experience at the National Space Society, Zubrin formed the Mars Society in 1998. This is an international organisation advocating a manned Mars mission as a goal, by private funding if possible. Computer generated image of one of the two Mars Exploration Rovers which touched down on Mars in 2004. ... The Case For Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must is a nonfiction science book by Robert Zubrin, first published in 1996. ... National Space Society logo The National Space Society (NSS) is an international nonprofit 501(c)(3), educational, and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy. ... Mars Society logo. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Computer generated image of one of the two Mars Exploration Rovers which touched down on Mars in 2004. ...

Zubrin lives in Indian Hills, Colorado with his wife, Maggie Zubrin, and two daughters. Maggie Zubrin has long served as the executive director of the Mars Society.

Qualifications and professional experience

Zubrin holds a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Rochester (1974), a masters degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics, a masters degree in Nuclear Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering — all from the University of Washington. He has developed a number of concepts for space propulsion and exploration, and is the author of over 200 technical and non-technical papers and five books. He was a member of Lockheed Martin's scenario development team charged with developing strategies for space exploration. He was also "a senior engineer with the Martin Marietta Astronautics company, working as one of its leaders in development of advanced concepts for interplanetary missions" (The Case for Mars 1996). He is also President of both the Mars Society and Pioneer Astronautics, a private company that does research and development on innovative aerospace technologies. Zubrin is the co-inventor on a U.S. design patent and a U.S. utility patent on a hybrid rocket/airplane, and on a U.S. utility patent on an oxygen supply system (see links below). He was awarded his first patent at age 20 in 1972 for Three Player Chess. His inventions also include the nuclear salt-water rocket. Euclid, Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, as imagined by by Raphael in this detail from The School of Athens. ... The University of Rochester is a private, coeducational and nonsectarian research institution located in Rochester, New York. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Six F-16 Fighting Falcons with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team fly in delta formation in front of the Empire State Building. ... Astronautics is the branch of engineering that deals with machines designed to work outside of Earths atmosphere, whether manned or unmanned. ... Nuclear engineering is the practical application of the atomic nucleus gleaned from principles of nuclear physics and the interaction and maintenance of nuclear fission systems and components, specifically, nuclear reactors, nuclear power plants and/or nuclear weapons. ... The University of Washington, founded in 1861, is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. ... A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi Spacecraft propulsion is used to change the velocity of spacecraft and artificial satellites, or in short, to provide delta-v. ... Lockheed/BAE/Northrop F-35 Lockheed Trident missile C-130 Hercules; in production since the 1950s, now as the C-130J Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is an aerospace manufacturer formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. ... Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer space by both manned and unmanned spacecraft. ... A nuclear salt-water rocket is a type of nuclear thermal rocket designed by Robert Zubrin that would be fueled by water bearing dissolved salts of plutonium or U235. ...

Books written by Dr. Zubrin:

• The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must (1996), with Richard Wagner. This outlines the Mars Direct plan along with speculation about the economic, social and technical viability of future Mars colonization.
• Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization (1999). This ranges from the current status quo and innovative startups of the aerospace industry, through exploration and colonization of Mars, to a more futuristic look at humanity's possible colonization of the solar system and the feasibility of interstellar travel with known physics.
• Mars On Earth: The Adventures of Space Pioneers in the High Arctic (2003). Zubrin recounts the origins and progress of the Mars Society's Mars Analog Research Station project, including a variety of perils, both mundane and adventurous, that were overcome in establishing the first analog Mars habitat on Devon Island in the high Arctic. He offers highlights of what has been learned so far through that effort.
• First Landing (2001), a fictional tale about a near-future Mars flight using the Mars Direct plan.
• The Holy Land (2003). This is an "SF satire on the Middle East crisis and the War on Terrorism, and concerns what happens when the liberal Western Galactic Empire relocates the oppressed Minervan sect to their ancient homeland of Kennewick, Washington, in the midst of a USA ruled by Christian fundamentalist fanatics."^[1]
• Benedict Arnold: A Drama of the American Revolution in Five Acts (2005). This is an effort to humanize and show the multiple dimensions of Arnold, and to contrast the democratic values embodied in the spirit of the Revolution with the socially bankrupt classism embodied in the British subjects who won Arnold to their side.

The Case For Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must is a nonfiction science book by Robert Zubrin, first published in 1996. ... Mars. ... Major features of the Solar System (not to scale, from left to right): Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, the asteroid belt, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth & Moon, and Mars. ... Interstellar space travel is unmanned or manned travel between stars, though the term usually denotes the latter. ... First Landing is a science fiction novel by Robert Zubrin that tells the story of the first manned space expedition to Mars. ... The Holy Land is a concept album by country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1969 (see 1969 in music). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... In the last 60 years, there have been a number of conflicts in the Middle East. ... Combatants Participants in Operations United States United Kingdom Australia New Zealand Canada Russia Germany Netherlands South Korea Japan Poland Greece Hungary Armenia Romania Spain Portugal Czech Republic Belgium Norway Italy Iceland Estonia Denmark France Bulgaria NATO Pakistan Afghanistan Israel Latvia Lithuania Philippines Thailand Ethiopia Turkey Saudi Arabia Bahrain Kuwait Morrocco... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Western World. ... Galactic empires are a fairly common theme in science fiction. ... A sect is generally a small religious or political group that has branched off from a larger established group. ... The view from Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve in Richland looking toward south Richland (foreground), Kennewick (upper right) and Pasco (across the Columbia River). ... Fundamentalist Christianity is a fundamentalist movement, especially within American Protestantism. ... Fans that are determined to be the number one fans of celebrities get the chance to meet their idols and usually hang out for a day. ...

Books edited by and/or partly written by Dr. Zubrin:

Zubrin has also edited or co-edited the following books, most of which include contributions he wrote:

• Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space (1996), co-edited with Stanley Schmidt. This is a collection of fifteen selected non-fiction entries that had been published in Analog magazine over the years; it includes five articles authored or co-authored by Zubrin, including "The Hypersonic Skyhook", "Mars Direct: A Proposal for the Rapid Exploration and Colonization of the Red Planet" (co-authored with David A. Baker), "Colonizing the Outer Solar System", "Terraforming Mars" (co-authored with Christopher McKay), and "The Magnetic Sail". Notable additional contributors include Robert L. Forward and the godfather of terraforming, Martyn J. Fogg, each of whom contributed two articles.
• From Imagination to Reality: Mars Exploration Studies of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society : Precursors and Early Piloted Exploration Missions (1997).
• From Imagination to Reality: Mars Exploration Studies of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society : Base Building, Colonization and Terraformation (1997).
• Proceedings of the Founding Convention of the Mars Society (1999), co-edited with Maggie Zubrin. This contains articles corresponding to talks presented at the founding convention of the Mars Society in Boulder, Colorado in August 1998; it includes contributions from Zubrin, Buzz Aldrin, Martyn Fogg, and many others.
• On to Mars: Colonizing a New World (2002), co-edited with Frank Crossman. This contains articles corresponding to talks presented at the annual conventions of the Mars Society in Boulder in 1999, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2000, and at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California in 2001.
• On to Mars 2 : Exploring and Settling a New World (2005), co-edited with Frank Crossman. This contains over 130 articles corresponding to talks presented at the annual conventions of the Mars Society in Boulder in 2002, in Eugene, Oregon in 2003, and in Chicago, Illinois in 2004.

Astounding Stories was a seminal science fiction magazine founded in 1930. ... Dr. Christopher McKay of NASA Ames Research Center. ... Robert Lull Forward, commonly known as Robert L. Forward, (August 15, 1932 - September 21, 2002) was an American physicist and science fiction writer. ... Artists conception of a terraformed Mars in three stages of development. ... Colonel Buzz Eugene Aldrin, Sc. ... Frank Crossman is an engineer and a member of the prestigious National Research Council, where he served on the National Materials Advisory Board. ... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages English (de facto) Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 106 24 Area Total  - Land  - Water  (% of total)  Ranked 4th 1,076... The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University (or simply Stanford), is a private university located approximately 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco and approximately 20 miles northwest of San José in an unincorporated area of Santa Clara County. ... Downtown Palo Alto Palo Alto is a city in Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. Palo Alto is located at the northern end of the Silicon Valley, and is home to Stanford University (which is technically located in an adjacent area — Stanford, California... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Nickname: The Emerald City Motto: The Worlds Greatest City of the Arts & Outdoors Coordinates: Country United States State Oregon County Lane Founded 1846 Incorporated 1862  - Mayor Kitty Piercy Area    - City  40. ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town, City of the Big Shoulders, The 312, The City that Works Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook & DuPage Incorporated March 4, 1837  - Mayor... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ...

Dr. Zubrin on the ethics of terraforming

Dr. Zubrin is noted as an advocate of a moderately anthropocentric position in the ethics of terraforming. Discussions of the ethics of terraforming often make reference to a series of public debates Zubrin has held with his friend Christopher McKay, who advocates a moderately biocentric position on the ethics of terraforming. For example, a written account of some of these debates is available in On to Mars: Colonizing a New World, as a joint article, "Do Indigenous Martian Bacteria have Precedence over Human Exploration?" (pp. 177-182) Anthropocentrism (Greek άνθρωπος, anthropos, human, κέντρον, kentron, center), or the human-centered principle, refers to the idea that humanity must always remain the central concern for humans. ... Artists conception of a terraformed Mars in four stages of development. ... Artists conception of a terraformed Mars in four stages of development. ... Dr. Christopher McKay of NASA Ames Research Center. ... Biocentrism is the belief that all life, or even the whole universe living or otherwise taken as a whole, is equally valuable and humanity is not the center of existence. ...

Dr. Zubrin in fiction

An aging Robert Zubrin also appears as a background character in The Martian Race (1999) by Gregory Benford, a science fiction novel depicting early human explorers on Mars in the very near future. Benford, who is also an astrophysicist, is a longtime member of both the board of directors and the steering committee of the Mars Society. Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941) in Mobile, Alabama is an American science fiction author and physicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. ...

References

External links

• The Mars Society
• Pioneer Astronautics
• Robert Zubrin at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• "The Political Economy of Very Large Space Projects"
• An Energy Revolution article by Robert Zubrin in The American Enterprise
• Getting Space Exploration Right article by Robert Zubrin in The New Atlantis
• Review of Zubrin's book Benedict Arnold
• The Hydrogen Hoax article by Robert Zubrin in The New Atlantis

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database is a database of bibliographic information on science fiction and related genres such as fantasy fiction and horror fiction. ...

Patents

• U.S. design patent D405,750, "Reusable rocket airplane"
• U.S. patent 6,119,985, "Reusable rocket-propelled high altitude airplane and method and apparatus for mid-air oxidizer transfer to said airplane"
• U.S. patent 6,347,627, "Nitrous oxide based oxygen supply system"