The Mars Society:
Humans to Mars in a decade
By Nicole Willett
A
long time ago in the Milky
Way Galaxy, Chris McKay,
Penelope
Boston,
and
Carol Stoker were on Planet Earth
contemplating all things Mars.
These three scientists, graduate
students at the University of
Colorado, decided to form a group
called the Mars Underground and
hold annual meetings to explore
the science behind putting humans
on Mars. One day, Robert Zubrin, an
aerospace engineer, attended a
meeting of the Mars Underground
and was inspired to start the Mars
Society. In 1998 the Mars Society
was officially formed as a nonprofit organization whose goals
include the human exploration and
settlement of Mars.
The thought of one day standing
on the Red Planet and looking out
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over the landscape may be beyond
the imagination of some, but not
to the members and friends of the
Mars Society. We at the Mars Society
believe that “it takes a village,” and
we are utilizing that concept to
send humans to the Red Planet. As
an entirely volunteer organization,
we have accomplished many great
things since our inception.
The goal is simple – explore and
send humans to Mars.
The purpose of the Mars Society
is to further the exploration and
settlement of the Red Planet. We
will accomplish this through:
• Public outreach fostering Mars
pioneers
• Worldwide support for
government-funded Mars
research and exploration
• Private-enterprise Mars
exploration and settlement
The time has come for humanity
to journey to the planet Mars. We’re
ready. Though Mars is distant, we are
far better prepared today to send
humans to the Red Planet than we
were to travel to the Moon at the
commencement of the space age.
Given the will, we could have our
first crews on Mars within a decade.
The reasons for going to Mars are
powerful.
We must go for the knowledge
of Mars. Our robotic probes have
revealed that Mars was once a
warm and wet planet, suitable
for hosting life’s origin. But did it?
A search for fossils on the Martian
surface or microbes in groundwater
below could provide the answer.
If found, they would show that the
origin of life is not unique to the
Earth, and, by implication, reveal
a universe that is filled with life and
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