The sci-fi lure of mars is as strong as ever, the fantastic vision still, after all these years, so very easy to conjure up: You breakfast under a pale pink sky dotted with two tiny moons. Finish up, step into a plastic-domed greenhouse, and gather a few vegetables for lunch. Then drive out to a craggy red hilltop. Later, drill for water or poke around in the frozen rusty soil. Head back to base. Record your day’s discoveries. Check your E-mail. Think about dinner.
No one believes in this vision more passionately than Robert Zubrin. Since 1990 the former Martin Marietta engineer has been tirelessly promoting his Mars Direct plan, which is aimed at getting humans to Mars for a reasonable price. The key lies in extracting oxygen from abundant Martian carbon dioxide to make not only rocket fuel but air and water. The chemical synthesis is kid’s stuff, says Zubrin. It seems like a magic trick because you’re making fuel out of the air. But German V-2 crews in the woods used to make liquid oxygen out of the air to prepare their vehicles for launch.
Perhaps that particular bit of imagery is not the most persuasive Zubrin could call forth, but his point is well taken. And the report last August that a Martian meteorite bears possible traces of primordial life hasn’t hurt his cause. For two decades, ever since researchers concluded that Martian soil samples showed no indisputable signs of life, missions to the Red Planet--and most particularly manned missions--have been hard to sell. Now, suddenly, there is an opening. Going to Mars to look for life is a very clear goal, and it is a very compelling goal, says David Kaplan, Mars mission design specialist at the NASA Johnson Space Center. I think the announcement of this evidence has helped focus a vision for what NASA should do in the next several years. Until you go to Mars and pick up a fossil, the evidence from meteorites is compelling but not conclusive.
