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The New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet
The world's leading expert on the human settlement of Mars explains what Martian societies will look like - sooner than we think
Within a few years, humans will be able to voyage to Mars. SpaceX is at the forefront of companies already building fleets of spaceships to make interplanetary travel as affordable as Old-World passage to America – to the then New World. We will settle the red planet, transforming its raw materials into resources and tackling the challenges that await us, creating a new frontier for humankind.
Dr Robert Zubrin explains how populous Martian city-states will emerge, producing their own air, water, food, power and more. How they must be beautiful to attract settlers, and what that might look like. How the primary exports are unlikely to be material goods but intellectual products, created by a technically adept population in a frontier environment where people will be forced to innovate – including GMOs, robotics, AI and power production. Zubrin even predicts the red planet’s customs, social relations and government – of the people, by the people, for the people, with inalienable individual rights – that will overcome traditional forms of oppression to draw talented Earth immigrants.
In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote ‘We have it in our power to begin the world over again’. Zubrin inspires us to embrace another magnificent future today. With the right pieces in place, his red planet will become a pressure cooker for invention, benefiting humans on Earth, Mars and beyond. The New World on Mars proves that there is no point killing each other over provinces on Earth when, together, we can create planets.
Within a few years, humans will be able to voyage to Mars. SpaceX is at the forefront of companies already building fleets of spaceships to make interplanetary travel as affordable as Old-World passage to America – to the then New World. We will settle the red planet, transforming its raw materials into resources and tackling the challenges that await us, creating a new frontier for humankind.
Dr Robert Zubrin explains how populous Martian city-states will emerge, producing their own air, water, food, power and more. How they must be beautiful to attract settlers, and what that might look like. How the primary exports are unlikely to be material goods but intellectual products, created by a technically adept population in a frontier environment where people will be forced to innovate – including GMOs, robotics, AI and power production. Zubrin even predicts the red planet’s customs, social relations and government – of the people, by the people, for the people, with inalienable individual rights – that will overcome traditional forms of oppression to draw talented Earth immigrants.
In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote ‘We have it in our power to begin the world over again’. Zubrin inspires us to embrace another magnificent future today. With the right pieces in place, his red planet will become a pressure cooker for invention, benefiting humans on Earth, Mars and beyond. The New World on Mars proves that there is no point killing each other over provinces on Earth when, together, we can create planets.
320 pages, Paperback
First published February 20, 2024
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About the author
Robert Zubrin
41 books164 followersRobert M. Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of human exploration of Mars. He and his colleague at Martin Marietta, David Baker, were the driving force behind Mars Direct, a proposal in a 1990 research paper intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
August 15, 2024
This is long-time Mars enthusiast Robert Zubrin's paean to the red planet. It's fascinating in two ways. One is the detail of what it would be like to try to get to and live on Mars that Zubrin gives us... the other is as a psychological study of a particularly American mindset.
Underlying a lot of the practicalities side of the book is that fundamental limit of the space traveller, the rocket equation. Zubrin makes heave use of it to show just how much material (human or otherwise) SpaceX's Starship vehicle could get to Mars (or away from it). There is no doubt that there's a really important point here - how much commercial space vehicles, particularly those of SpaceX, have transformed the economics of spaceflight and the potential for sufficient numbers of people and volume of stuff to get to Mars and make settling vaguely feasible. He also draws an interesting contrast between resources and raw materials, pointing out that only the latter are theoretically limited in supply.
When those people do get there, we get onto the main part of the book, which is where the psychology aspect kicks in as a study of something between enthusiasm and self deception. Zubrin's model for the way he sees Mars developing is very much the history of the USA (without the need to deal with inconvenient indigenous people). To an extent you can see the truth of this. The words may be corny thanks to Star Trek, but space genuinely is the final frontier. Like many Americans, Zubrin yearns for that pioneering spirit and challenge the early settlers had. And that's fine. But the problem is that the parallels simply aren't as strong as they are made out here.
The most obvious one is in the hostility of the environment. It may be true that the first European settlers in North America had to start from scratch - but it was starting from scratch in a physical environment very similar to their own. On Mars minor matters of the difficulties of producing air, water, heat and surviving radiation (the latter is something Zubrin plays down rather more than seems realistic) make it a very different prospect. Of course Martian settlers will have a lot more technology to support them - but as Zubrin makes clear, anything high tech has to be imported from Earth, and that makes it extremely scarce and expensive.
The other big problem with the way Zubrin draws parallels is that he tends to compress all of American history across 400 years into a single package. As an example, he believes that Martian settlers will need to make money through innovation: accordingly he believes that Mars will be a hotbed of invention and development. But that wasn't the case with the Pilgrim Fathers. It's no accident that the Industrial Revolution originated in the UK, not the US. Initially, all the settlers' energy went into scratching a living and surviving, not being hugely inventive and productive. The same is likely to be true on Mars. And, of course, where historical innovation could be done in the kitchen, these days it requires chip fabrication and massive computing power rather than pioneer resourcefulness.
The same problems apply to the way Zubrin envisages asteroid mining as an equivalent of the US gold rush. He imagines a healthy Martian economy profiting by providing goods to the 'asteroid miners' - yet the chances are that any asteroid mining would be done by unmanned vehicles. And much of the apparent logic of asteroid mining comes from the current scarcity of the likes of gold and platinum - which would no longer be scarce with just a single appropriate asteroid. It doesn't feel like a sustainable concept.
Like Zubrin, I suspect, I was brought up on a science fiction diet of people living on the Moon, Mars and Venus. Although not American, I enjoyed these frontier fantasies. But as is always the case, SF is not about predicting the future, but rather about putting people in situations that potentially could arise from scientific and technological developments and seeing how they react. Particularly when it comes to social structures on a future Martian colony, Zubrin seems strongly influenced by the novels of Robert Heinlein. While, for instance, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is very entertaining fiction, it doesn't feel like a good model for real life.
All in all, I'd recommend this book, but perhaps not always for the reasons the author had in mind.
Underlying a lot of the practicalities side of the book is that fundamental limit of the space traveller, the rocket equation. Zubrin makes heave use of it to show just how much material (human or otherwise) SpaceX's Starship vehicle could get to Mars (or away from it). There is no doubt that there's a really important point here - how much commercial space vehicles, particularly those of SpaceX, have transformed the economics of spaceflight and the potential for sufficient numbers of people and volume of stuff to get to Mars and make settling vaguely feasible. He also draws an interesting contrast between resources and raw materials, pointing out that only the latter are theoretically limited in supply.
When those people do get there, we get onto the main part of the book, which is where the psychology aspect kicks in as a study of something between enthusiasm and self deception. Zubrin's model for the way he sees Mars developing is very much the history of the USA (without the need to deal with inconvenient indigenous people). To an extent you can see the truth of this. The words may be corny thanks to Star Trek, but space genuinely is the final frontier. Like many Americans, Zubrin yearns for that pioneering spirit and challenge the early settlers had. And that's fine. But the problem is that the parallels simply aren't as strong as they are made out here.
The most obvious one is in the hostility of the environment. It may be true that the first European settlers in North America had to start from scratch - but it was starting from scratch in a physical environment very similar to their own. On Mars minor matters of the difficulties of producing air, water, heat and surviving radiation (the latter is something Zubrin plays down rather more than seems realistic) make it a very different prospect. Of course Martian settlers will have a lot more technology to support them - but as Zubrin makes clear, anything high tech has to be imported from Earth, and that makes it extremely scarce and expensive.
The other big problem with the way Zubrin draws parallels is that he tends to compress all of American history across 400 years into a single package. As an example, he believes that Martian settlers will need to make money through innovation: accordingly he believes that Mars will be a hotbed of invention and development. But that wasn't the case with the Pilgrim Fathers. It's no accident that the Industrial Revolution originated in the UK, not the US. Initially, all the settlers' energy went into scratching a living and surviving, not being hugely inventive and productive. The same is likely to be true on Mars. And, of course, where historical innovation could be done in the kitchen, these days it requires chip fabrication and massive computing power rather than pioneer resourcefulness.
The same problems apply to the way Zubrin envisages asteroid mining as an equivalent of the US gold rush. He imagines a healthy Martian economy profiting by providing goods to the 'asteroid miners' - yet the chances are that any asteroid mining would be done by unmanned vehicles. And much of the apparent logic of asteroid mining comes from the current scarcity of the likes of gold and platinum - which would no longer be scarce with just a single appropriate asteroid. It doesn't feel like a sustainable concept.
Like Zubrin, I suspect, I was brought up on a science fiction diet of people living on the Moon, Mars and Venus. Although not American, I enjoyed these frontier fantasies. But as is always the case, SF is not about predicting the future, but rather about putting people in situations that potentially could arise from scientific and technological developments and seeing how they react. Particularly when it comes to social structures on a future Martian colony, Zubrin seems strongly influenced by the novels of Robert Heinlein. While, for instance, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is very entertaining fiction, it doesn't feel like a good model for real life.
All in all, I'd recommend this book, but perhaps not always for the reasons the author had in mind.
March 23, 2025
I almost never give 1 star for a book, even books I don’t like. I’m not interested in taking down writers, even those I don’t like, but I’ve rarely read a book that I’ve found as depressing and infuriating as this one. I mean, I absolutely loathed it. I loathed its reactionary politics, its shallow historical analogies, its big swinging dick science, its pompous moral grandiosity, its glib speculative and starry-eyed (so to speak) predictions about Mars colonisation- all delivered without the slightest caveat or recognition that none of this might turn out the way Zubrin thinks. It reads like a con man’s tract, like some guy showing up on your doorstep to present to you the benefits of miracle powder. It’s the space cadet version of Gwyneth Paltrow selling you wellness claptrap. Mars! The planet where all your libertarian dreams come true! Mars! Makes humanity great again! Mars will make us rich. Mars will make us into noble, creative, rule-breaking space entrepreneurs. Mars will make us all into techie Daniel Boones, etc, etc. It didn’t make me like Mars. At all. In fact, my idea of hell would be to wake up and find myself trapped on the Red Planet in one of Zubrin’s bioengineered dome vegetable gardens, listening to extracts from this book being read aloud to me forever.
June 20, 2025
There was a lot of good information in this book; If you can overlook that it’s not 100% based on fact. I found it interesting and I always enjoy learning as much as I can. It touched on topics that other science books haven’t.
“ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ʜᴀꜱ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴀᴄᴄᴏᴍᴘʟɪꜱʜᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴘᴀꜱꜱɪᴏɴ.”
“ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ʜᴀꜱ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴀᴄᴄᴏᴍᴘʟɪꜱʜᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴘᴀꜱꜱɪᴏɴ.”
April 10, 2025
The science is optimistic and the sociology was somewhat interesting, even if it was very over the top speculation about socialist democracy and Martian liberty over tyranny. Defending Columbus was a bit weird.
June 29, 2024
This is a very optimistic book about space colonization. It has a very large scope, including much more than the specific case of Mars. It is altogether not unreadable but if you expect something more technical or detailed, you will perhaps have to look elsewhere.
March 17, 2024
If you’re a space nerd and you’re excited about near term expansion to the moon and Mars then this is a must read. It’s an excellent summary and jumping off point from the ideas the Mars Society establish in their international competition to develop human city states on Mars.
The first half reads like a step by step recipe for building self sustaining colonies. The second part, and especially the end delves a little too deep into current politics and draws overly simplistic views of the political structures of Mars.
However, despite that slight deviation, this is a must read for anyone who dreams of settling Mars or believes they can play a hand in one way or the other of turning Mars into the new Wild West frontier of humanity.
The first half reads like a step by step recipe for building self sustaining colonies. The second part, and especially the end delves a little too deep into current politics and draws overly simplistic views of the political structures of Mars.
However, despite that slight deviation, this is a must read for anyone who dreams of settling Mars or believes they can play a hand in one way or the other of turning Mars into the new Wild West frontier of humanity.
September 13, 2024
Zubrin has been advocating the human colonisation of Mars for many years so I was interested to read his latest thoughts. It starts off very well with a discussion of the latest findings about Mars and their relevance to the task of colonisation. Zubrin knows his science and paints a convincing picture of how we could create a Martian colony-although he relies very heavily on the success of Elon Musk's plans.
Then he changes tack and takes the colony as already established and spends at least a third of the book discussing the culture of the colony, including its voting systems, income tax and marriage customs.
This seems completely superfluous as he takes the establishment of the colony as inevitable and regards himself as a kind of future historian.
Finally, at the end he goes back to science and discusses terraforming. Here, he seems over- optimistic. He believes there is sufficient CO2 locked up in the regolith to generate an atmosphere dense enough to get rid of the need for space suits- a claim I have not seen elsewhere. Also, he makes no mention of the lack of a Martian magnetic field which allows the solar wind to strip away the atmosphere.
A book of two halves.
Then he changes tack and takes the colony as already established and spends at least a third of the book discussing the culture of the colony, including its voting systems, income tax and marriage customs.
This seems completely superfluous as he takes the establishment of the colony as inevitable and regards himself as a kind of future historian.
Finally, at the end he goes back to science and discusses terraforming. Here, he seems over- optimistic. He believes there is sufficient CO2 locked up in the regolith to generate an atmosphere dense enough to get rid of the need for space suits- a claim I have not seen elsewhere. Also, he makes no mention of the lack of a Martian magnetic field which allows the solar wind to strip away the atmosphere.
A book of two halves.
July 14, 2025
This must be one of the most quintessentially American books I have ever read. I freely admit that I enjoyed, and was genuinely enlightened by, the technical discussions of Mars science; politically, however, I find the book rather problematic. Zubrin’s perspective—indeed, the whole Mars Society manifesto—strikes me as almost “Martian Zionist”: Mars is cast as a promised land awaiting colonisation. At times this mindset feels like a pretext for future colonialism (he even cites Israel’s “return” to its historic homeland as an allegory for humankind and Mars). The outlook is staunchly American-individualist—closer to libertarian boosterism than sober analysis. There are many flaws in comparing the colonisation of Mars with that of the New World, but what strikes me most is how the ideas echo medieval notions of terra nullius, the logic of expansion and capital, and an almost frantic desire to banish every trace of what used to be called horror vacui. Mars Society has a great logo though.
August 14, 2024
The most interesting non-fiction book I've read in years. The author is obviously highly qualified to write on this subject and has been pushing the Mars colonization agenda for nearly 40 years. He has his pitch down and the book is full of funny and ensnaring metaphors, turns of phrase, and examples.
On the other hand, he does come off as a crank with an esoteric answer for every potential objection. I'm not qualified enough to say whether these are true solutions or not, but a lot of this book doesn't pass the sniff test.
Regardless, it's a fascinating read that I got through in 2 sessions. Reading it with a critical eye was a great exercise in science fictive imagining tempered by a solid undergirding of math and science models/examples. Great book for science, math, and (non?) fiction enjoyers alike.
On the other hand, he does come off as a crank with an esoteric answer for every potential objection. I'm not qualified enough to say whether these are true solutions or not, but a lot of this book doesn't pass the sniff test.
Regardless, it's a fascinating read that I got through in 2 sessions. Reading it with a critical eye was a great exercise in science fictive imagining tempered by a solid undergirding of math and science models/examples. Great book for science, math, and (non?) fiction enjoyers alike.
November 25, 2024
Dziękuję Panu Autorowi, że sam kazał pomijać matematyczne fragmenty 😌 3.5 ⭐️
February 26, 2024
Zubrin’s made a career of envisioning humanity on Mars. The book is an exciting look at the science of creating a colony. He explains many important aspects of life on Earth too. I learned so much from this book. His take on the most dangerous thing humans can do will stick with me. Great read for enthusiasts and skeptics alike.
March 22, 2024
Zubrin is a brilliant engineer, with a beautiful vision of humanity throughout the cosmos.
However, when it comes to people and culture, he is at best naive and hypocritical.
I'll reiterate this first: Zubrin is a brilliant engineer, and a great technical writer. All of the parts of the book that focus on the technical "how" are extremely well written and enlightening. I loved about 2/3rds of the book. I also love his overall vision. I even agree with the central premises at the heart of his cultural musings: that a frontier breeds innovation, and that the idea that we live in a finite, resource constrained universe is a dangerous lie.
Now the bad parts. I called him hypocritical, and that word gets thrown around a lot. I want to be clear that I mean this literally and do not intend it as an ad hominem attack, but rather a description of some specific things he says.
He devotes an entire chapter to the importance of liberty. He goes into emphatic lengths to hammer home that the most successful martian settlements will be the most free, that invention is impossible without freedom, and so on. And yet, he also unironically suggests that early settlers afford the passage to Mars by selling themselves into indentured servitude (yes, he uses those words exactly! first on page 13 and then on page 63, according to my kindle). Maybe he doesn't know what terrible labor conditions and ongoing entrapments colonial indentured servants suffered, but I think more likely he just isn't bothered by that. Who cares if you signed the contract, right? That was your "choice", right? Oh, you didn't read all the legalese fine print?
I also called him naive. He suggests many times that the key export of Martians will be patents. I am not sure if he is aware of the fact that there is no such thing as international patent law, let alone interplanetary. Elon Musk, who Zubrin frequently praises in the book, refuses to patent many of his companies innovations.
"In an interview with Wired in 2012, he said that SpaceX has "essentially no patents." He added that it would be "farcical" if the company published its patents "because the Chinese would just use them as a recipe book." (source)
So, not sure how that would work to fund a Martian settlement. It seems to me that if the Martians tried to patent their inventions people on Earth would simply say "thanks for the free designs, good luck, y'all."
I also hold that he's naive for believing that the liberty he proclaims as so critical will be possible with so much left up to commerce and market forces. If Martian settlers have to pay their way as we do now (or worse, as Zubrin also wants to get rid of any and all regulations), it's inevitable that the billionaire owner class will charge them for air and shrug their shoulders when they can't make the payments.
I want _so badly_ to see the same future of humanity spread throughout the solar system that he does. I am so very grateful that Zubrin will not be in charge of that effort. I hope against hope that the billionaires he worships won't be either - if they are, I don't think Zubrin will get the New Land of Liberty he says he wants.
However, when it comes to people and culture, he is at best naive and hypocritical.
I'll reiterate this first: Zubrin is a brilliant engineer, and a great technical writer. All of the parts of the book that focus on the technical "how" are extremely well written and enlightening. I loved about 2/3rds of the book. I also love his overall vision. I even agree with the central premises at the heart of his cultural musings: that a frontier breeds innovation, and that the idea that we live in a finite, resource constrained universe is a dangerous lie.
Now the bad parts. I called him hypocritical, and that word gets thrown around a lot. I want to be clear that I mean this literally and do not intend it as an ad hominem attack, but rather a description of some specific things he says.
He devotes an entire chapter to the importance of liberty. He goes into emphatic lengths to hammer home that the most successful martian settlements will be the most free, that invention is impossible without freedom, and so on. And yet, he also unironically suggests that early settlers afford the passage to Mars by selling themselves into indentured servitude (yes, he uses those words exactly! first on page 13 and then on page 63, according to my kindle). Maybe he doesn't know what terrible labor conditions and ongoing entrapments colonial indentured servants suffered, but I think more likely he just isn't bothered by that. Who cares if you signed the contract, right? That was your "choice", right? Oh, you didn't read all the legalese fine print?
I also called him naive. He suggests many times that the key export of Martians will be patents. I am not sure if he is aware of the fact that there is no such thing as international patent law, let alone interplanetary. Elon Musk, who Zubrin frequently praises in the book, refuses to patent many of his companies innovations.
"In an interview with Wired in 2012, he said that SpaceX has "essentially no patents." He added that it would be "farcical" if the company published its patents "because the Chinese would just use them as a recipe book." (source)
So, not sure how that would work to fund a Martian settlement. It seems to me that if the Martians tried to patent their inventions people on Earth would simply say "thanks for the free designs, good luck, y'all."
I also hold that he's naive for believing that the liberty he proclaims as so critical will be possible with so much left up to commerce and market forces. If Martian settlers have to pay their way as we do now (or worse, as Zubrin also wants to get rid of any and all regulations), it's inevitable that the billionaire owner class will charge them for air and shrug their shoulders when they can't make the payments.
I want _so badly_ to see the same future of humanity spread throughout the solar system that he does. I am so very grateful that Zubrin will not be in charge of that effort. I hope against hope that the billionaires he worships won't be either - if they are, I don't think Zubrin will get the New Land of Liberty he says he wants.
June 12, 2025
There was a time when I would have liked this book a lot more. It is completely positively rah rah can-do. If you believe that we're just around the corner from being able to put hundreds or thousands of humans on Mars, there is a lot of fun to be had here.
If, however, events since Apollo have made you a bit more gimlet-eyed, you will recognize that the book almost completely ignores any of the realities of the current state of the art. Zubrin's shameless fanboyism for Elon Musk notwithstanding, we aren't even close to being able to send a few humans to Mars, let alone enough to colonize. And that's just the pure transportation issue. We also have to figure out a ton of other things -- what to do about radiation, long-term exposure to low gravity, basic supplies for survival on Mars, actually beginning to be self-sustaining on Mars, and on and on. Regarding that last, it's not clear how we could even grow basic plants that we could eat -- Mars's soil is filled with perchlorate, and hence, is toxic, and anything grown in it would be, also. Zubrin mentions this once, in a very off-hand sentence. Once. After that, it's back to happy talk with Mr. Fusion, mining pure platinum asteroids, and oh yeah, terraforming the entire planet. And it's all going to pay for itself! (The economic argument is at about the level of the underpants gnomes: ... ??? ... profit!)
I'm not saying I don't think we could never do any of the things that Zubrin proposes. I want them to happen! I just think a little more sober analysis is in order. To that end, I highly recommend the Weinersmiths' book, A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? .
And for something you can read right now, see Maciej Ciglowski's two-part series.
But was this book really so bad that it only gets one star, you ask? Honestly, no. I was thinking two stars as I got near the end. But then Zubrin went off on some MAGAt-level rant about how the woke mob wants to cancel the sainted and utterly flawless Christopher Columbus, because he was such a great explorer and the left hates every thing about actual progress and ... yeah. For a few pages. As in, about a hundred times longer than discussing the perchlorate in the soil issue.
If, however, events since Apollo have made you a bit more gimlet-eyed, you will recognize that the book almost completely ignores any of the realities of the current state of the art. Zubrin's shameless fanboyism for Elon Musk notwithstanding, we aren't even close to being able to send a few humans to Mars, let alone enough to colonize. And that's just the pure transportation issue. We also have to figure out a ton of other things -- what to do about radiation, long-term exposure to low gravity, basic supplies for survival on Mars, actually beginning to be self-sustaining on Mars, and on and on. Regarding that last, it's not clear how we could even grow basic plants that we could eat -- Mars's soil is filled with perchlorate, and hence, is toxic, and anything grown in it would be, also. Zubrin mentions this once, in a very off-hand sentence. Once. After that, it's back to happy talk with Mr. Fusion, mining pure platinum asteroids, and oh yeah, terraforming the entire planet. And it's all going to pay for itself! (The economic argument is at about the level of the underpants gnomes: ... ??? ... profit!)
I'm not saying I don't think we could never do any of the things that Zubrin proposes. I want them to happen! I just think a little more sober analysis is in order. To that end, I highly recommend the Weinersmiths' book, A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? .
And for something you can read right now, see Maciej Ciglowski's two-part series.
But was this book really so bad that it only gets one star, you ask? Honestly, no. I was thinking two stars as I got near the end. But then Zubrin went off on some MAGAt-level rant about how the woke mob wants to cancel the sainted and utterly flawless Christopher Columbus, because he was such a great explorer and the left hates every thing about actual progress and ... yeah. For a few pages. As in, about a hundred times longer than discussing the perchlorate in the soil issue.
April 9, 2024
I met the amazing Bob Zubrin during a trip I made to Waverly, Iowa in 2004, where he signed my copy of his 1996 book The Case for Mars. He laid out in that book his vision for how people of the present generation could reach Mars on affordable and productive missions. But since then, as he explains in this most recent of his books, the vision has become more attainable than ever before. This is because the commercial revolution in spaceflight led by SpaceX has brought down the cost of launching payloads into space by a factor of five (from $10,000 per kilogram to $2,000 per kilogram) over the last decade. As launch costs continue to fall, especially given the recent launches of SpaceX's Starship system that could cut costs to under $100 per kilogram, launches will become more commonplace than ever before. Crews of 100 people each could someday even travel to Mars aboard Starship, which is Elon Musk's vision. Meanwhile, rovers continue to give scientists evidence of a warm and watery past on Mars that humans could explore much more thoroughly if they were exploring on and below the planet's surface themselves.
All of this makes Zubrin's latest book a timely exploration of all that humans could accomplish on Mars. Not only could humans investigate the planet for signs of life, he explains, they could create thriving cities with the raw materials we know are there. This includes water for drinking, brick and iron for the creation of structures, and deuterium (an isotope of the hydrogen element) for use in nuclear reactors that provide power. Since we know plants can grow in Martian soil, he also estimates that greenhouses containing five square miles of farmland could supply the food to support a city of 50,000 people. Eventually, plants could even provide enough oxygen to Mars's atmosphere to transform it to the point that humans would no longer need to wear spacesuits. They could breathe the air and enjoy the benefits of having a second planet for the human race. Having this home in a frontier environment would spur innovations in technology and produce a bounty of resources just as past frontiers on Earth have done, Zubrin explains. Readers might disagree with the reasons Zubrin cites for voyaging to Mars, but I think all readers can agree that he supports his points with an amazing level of knowledge and passion. I am pleased to have seen this in the four books of his that I have read.
All of this makes Zubrin's latest book a timely exploration of all that humans could accomplish on Mars. Not only could humans investigate the planet for signs of life, he explains, they could create thriving cities with the raw materials we know are there. This includes water for drinking, brick and iron for the creation of structures, and deuterium (an isotope of the hydrogen element) for use in nuclear reactors that provide power. Since we know plants can grow in Martian soil, he also estimates that greenhouses containing five square miles of farmland could supply the food to support a city of 50,000 people. Eventually, plants could even provide enough oxygen to Mars's atmosphere to transform it to the point that humans would no longer need to wear spacesuits. They could breathe the air and enjoy the benefits of having a second planet for the human race. Having this home in a frontier environment would spur innovations in technology and produce a bounty of resources just as past frontiers on Earth have done, Zubrin explains. Readers might disagree with the reasons Zubrin cites for voyaging to Mars, but I think all readers can agree that he supports his points with an amazing level of knowledge and passion. I am pleased to have seen this in the four books of his that I have read.
January 4, 2025
Given the progress of the Starship program and the likelihood of attempted Mars missions within the next decade, this book is a great up-to-date primer on what Mars colonization might look like with today's technology and how it could evolve in the future. It provides interesting background information on the history of humans studying/exploring Mars and seems scientifically and mathematically rigorous, in addition to being refreshingly optimistic. It's a great contrast to the more widely reviewed 'A City on Mars' by the Weinersmiths, which largely dismissed Mars colonization on the laughable basis that 'international law' prohibits it (the character Cornelius Fudge from the Harry Potter series, channeling Andrew Jackson and Carl Schmitt, rebuts that entire line of argument with "Laws can be changed if necessary"). That said, this book could have been improved by addressing some of the concerns about how the human body would fare on Mars (it briefly addresses ways to mitigate radiation exposure, but says nothing about the effects of low gravity long-term besides that it would make for interesting sports events).
February 28, 2025
A rat done bit my sister Nell
With whitey on the moon
Her face and arms began to swell
And whitey's on the moon
I can't pay no doctor bills
But whitey's on the moon
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still
While whitey's on the moon
The man just upped my rent last night
Cause whitey's on the moon
No hot water, no toilets, no lights
But whitey's on the moon
I wonder why he's upping me?
Cause whitey's on the moon?
Well I was already giving him fifty a week
With whitey on the moon
Taxes taking my whole damn check
Junkies making me a nervous wreck
The price of food is going up
And as if all that shit wasn't enough:
A rat done bit my sister Nell
With whitey on the moon
Her face and arm began to swell
And whitey's on the moon
Was all that money I made last year
For whitey on the moon?
How come I ain't got no money here?
Hmm! Whitey's on the moon
Y'know I just 'bout had my fill
Of whitey on the moon
I think I'll send these doctor bills
Airmail special
To whitey on the moon
- Gil Scott-Heron
With whitey on the moon
Her face and arms began to swell
And whitey's on the moon
I can't pay no doctor bills
But whitey's on the moon
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still
While whitey's on the moon
The man just upped my rent last night
Cause whitey's on the moon
No hot water, no toilets, no lights
But whitey's on the moon
I wonder why he's upping me?
Cause whitey's on the moon?
Well I was already giving him fifty a week
With whitey on the moon
Taxes taking my whole damn check
Junkies making me a nervous wreck
The price of food is going up
And as if all that shit wasn't enough:
A rat done bit my sister Nell
With whitey on the moon
Her face and arm began to swell
And whitey's on the moon
Was all that money I made last year
For whitey on the moon?
How come I ain't got no money here?
Hmm! Whitey's on the moon
Y'know I just 'bout had my fill
Of whitey on the moon
I think I'll send these doctor bills
Airmail special
To whitey on the moon
- Gil Scott-Heron
July 23, 2025
This was an interesting read about what living on Mars would entail, both from a technological/scientific perspective and from a societal/economic/political perspective. It presents some rather fanciful technological solutions that sound like they should work in theory but that nobody has ever tested at scale, so to me, even though the books tries to be practical, it ends up being very theoretical. For a more realistic read about living on Mars, I recommend "A City on Mars".
In addition to this book being extremely American-centric, Mr Zubrin throws in some rather peculiar ideas such as some groups of people having to leave Earth due to the destruction of their habitat (as if moving to Mars would be easier than halting environmental degradation on Earth) and the idea of gendered robots ("robomaids" and "robomechanics") on Mars (ew!).
In addition to this book being extremely American-centric, Mr Zubrin throws in some rather peculiar ideas such as some groups of people having to leave Earth due to the destruction of their habitat (as if moving to Mars would be easier than halting environmental degradation on Earth) and the idea of gendered robots ("robomaids" and "robomechanics") on Mars (ew!).
June 14, 2024
Another excellent book by Zubrin.
I liked the more technical chapters the most, it's astonishing how different Mars can be to both the Moon and the Earth due to it having low gravity but also having an atmosphere. I also had no idea that vast amounts of liquid water had been detected deep below the Martian surface.
The chapters hypothesizing about what the future Martian society might look like were also interesting although at times it reminded me of the Artilleryman from The War of the Worlds
Overall, a very good book and I look forward to reading his next one!
I liked the more technical chapters the most, it's astonishing how different Mars can be to both the Moon and the Earth due to it having low gravity but also having an atmosphere. I also had no idea that vast amounts of liquid water had been detected deep below the Martian surface.
The chapters hypothesizing about what the future Martian society might look like were also interesting although at times it reminded me of the Artilleryman from The War of the Worlds
Overall, a very good book and I look forward to reading his next one!
August 19, 2025
I enjoyed the initial chapters more than the conclusions and more speculative chapters. When the author is writing about the history of science, engineering challenges, feasibility studies, or explaining chemical processes the writing is engaging. Technical but readable. The chapters on softer science towards the back are a tougher read and sometimes come across as a bit of chest beating for America which is counter to the overall thrust of the book. I still think The Case for Mars is one of the best engineering focussed popular science books I’ve ever read this doesn’t quite meet that high standard. The authors enthusiasm for the subject is infectious but I think this update strays a little into fantasy rather than the considered realism grounded in technical detail of the first book.
December 22, 2025
Was a challenge to make it through this. The opinions the author has on patents is old school thinking. Patents are for the weak, didn’t Elon say that? Anyways, women are important for their reproductive status, although the author did sprinkle in some compliments for women to smooth over that statement. Didn’t work. Was still annoying. Idk the whole thing was just kind of boring and turned into a rant of how America is the best at everything because of freedom. He did break it down on what we would need to survive on the planet which was cool but also could’ve been done in like 6 chapters. After the 6th chapter, things got repetitive.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2024
Pretty interesting, if maybe a little too much on the optimistic side?... But! I read this book while toying with the idea of rebooting that cyberpunk novel set on 23rd century Mars (whose ending I lost in the Great Hard Drive Failure of 2006, and I couldn't bear to touch it afterwards :(). So figuring out how things can go wrong from there is my job anyway!
Author banter put aside, it was an enjoyable read, not too heavy on formulas/engineering going past my understanding, and full of food for thought.
Author banter put aside, it was an enjoyable read, not too heavy on formulas/engineering going past my understanding, and full of food for thought.
September 8, 2025
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I’ve never thought that deeply about settling on Mars but this book had my mind thinking of how many aspects and angles everything needs to be thought of to actually make this happen.
The author definitely got into how to deal with crime and other negative aspects but I was wondering about what happens if war breaks out between the various cities/states on Mars. Seems like it would be very easy to just destroy the planet if it didn’t stay utopian.
The first settlers are definitely going to have to be some brave people!
The author definitely got into how to deal with crime and other negative aspects but I was wondering about what happens if war breaks out between the various cities/states on Mars. Seems like it would be very easy to just destroy the planet if it didn’t stay utopian.
The first settlers are definitely going to have to be some brave people!
April 10, 2024
Unashamedly optimistic book about the colonisation of Mars.
The writer has been involved with various NASA mission and various related companies... and gives us a waterfall of figures about the feasibility (VERY feasible). I really enjoyed the positivism, even it seems a bit over the top.
The predictions about the social developments are... well, it seems to some reflect the author's desired outcomes.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the positivism. Let's go to Mars!
The writer has been involved with various NASA mission and various related companies... and gives us a waterfall of figures about the feasibility (VERY feasible). I really enjoyed the positivism, even it seems a bit over the top.
The predictions about the social developments are... well, it seems to some reflect the author's desired outcomes.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the positivism. Let's go to Mars!
June 14, 2024
America was built on innovation. There are no natural resources, but rather natural materials which were made into resources by innovation. Crude oil was foul gunk until it was discovered it could be refined. Aluminum oxide was piled away as mining slag until we learn to extract Aluminum from it. As man developed these technologies are living standards have continued to rise. Shortages are only in how we view things. Innovation will drive life on Mars and profit mankind.
September 24, 2024
This is a fascinating insight and prediction of the future of the colonisation of the red planet. It covers technology, economics, politics, religion and science in the foundation of civilisation on a new planet, both in a thorough yet digestible way. The author sees Mars as a new frontier and, like the founding of colonies in the USA, a stimulus for the growth and development of human society.
January 7, 2025
Mixed feelings - Zubrin has a good grasp of the hard sciences involved, but I found his approach to the soft sciences debatable at points. He has good ideas on what is needed to get to Mars and set up habitats on a technical level, but he advocates too heavily for allowing a "Wild West" approach to colonizing Mars.
June 16, 2025
Good book, but it's largely a rehash of his prior works.
Just as I said in the title, it is a good book and worth reading, but is still a rehash of many of his prior works, updated and somewhat recontextualized.
Dr. Zubrin is a genius when it comes conceptual engineering of practically existing technology and components.
Just as I said in the title, it is a good book and worth reading, but is still a rehash of many of his prior works, updated and somewhat recontextualized.
Dr. Zubrin is a genius when it comes conceptual engineering of practically existing technology and components.
June 16, 2024
This was a good overview of concepts that apply to the goal of colonizing Mars. It introduced me to a lot of ideas I haven’t thought about. Really enjoyed learning about the possibilities of terraforming and how that could actually be accomplished with global warming. Fascinating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2024
I appreciate the author having some definitive predictions, even though to me they sound far-fetched and naive. Mars selling patents to Earth or governed by some enlightened socialist democracy is bonkers.
Read
October 2, 2024Very technical but interesting and persuasive. Robert Zubrin certainly knows his stuff. I shall read this book again, probably several times, because I am keenly interested in seeing a colony on Mars in my lifetime.
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