Robert Zubrin
Pioneer Astronautics
In July 1989, on the 20th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing, President Bush called for America to renew its pioneering push into space with the establishment of a permanent Lunar base and a series of human missions to Mars. While many have said that such an endeavor would be excessively costly and take many decades, a small team at Martin Marietta drew up a daring plan that could sharply cut costs and send a group of American astronauts to the Red Planet within ten years. The plan, known as "Mars Direct," has attracted international attention and broad controversy. It was covered by major publications and broadcasting companies, such as Newsweek, The Economist, the New York Times, The Discovery Channel, PBS, NPR, and many others. Its principal author, Robert Zubrin, will present why we must go to Mars, and how it can be done.
Robert Zubrin, formerly a Staff Engineer at Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, is now president of his own company, Pioneer Astronautics. He holds Master degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a doctorate in Nuclear Engineering. He is the inventor of several unique concepts for space propulsion and exploration, the author of over 100 published technical and non-technical papers in the field, as well as the book "The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must" published by the Free Press. He is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Space Society. Prior to his work in astronautics, Dr. Zubrin was employed in areas of thermonuclear fusion research, nuclear engineering, radiation protection, and as a high school science teacher.