Zubrin is well known in scientific circles for his engineering knowledge and mapping out the details of exploring Mars. If the book "The Martian" was of interest, then imagine how a book detailing the real science on obtaining this goal would be. Cost projections are off by probably a hundredfold. With what, garden trowels and a kid’s Erector Set we bring with us? It’s good entertainment but that’s all. Really? Over centuries on the red planet? He concludes that with a snap of our fingers we will be mining materials to build communities and produce rocket fuel. It’s a catch-22 with no viable/realistic solution path except to start over on Mars, our evolution from the Neolithic ages, to the ceramic age to the Bronze Age to the Iron Age to eventually PAST where we are now. ‘We can manufacture fuel from in-situ (mispronounced throughout the reading) materials on the red planet.’ Yeah, if the factories existed to accomplish that but it’s unrealistic due to weight and cost to transport those, or even the component parts (steel pipe just for one example) to construct all the plants necessary. Based on.? Wanting to, is not being able to except in a pipe dream. He offers many unsubstantiated theories then later states them as fact.
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