News Archive

Sunday, March 9, 2003 Mars Direct Mission Section Mars Direct base. Credit: Robert Zubrin We are proud to introduce the Mars Direct Mission Section, the first fully complete mission feature in the Missions to Mars section. Included is a gallery, links page, latest news page, and overview of the Mars Direct mission. Here's a snippet of that overview: Enter Robert Zubrin. An aerospace engineer at Lockheed Martin, he looked at things from an engineering point of view. Orbital construction didn’t make sense; that added enormous risk and expense. Also, if you’re going to go to Mars, spend a little time there. Use the orbits of the Earth and Mars to your advantage. Every two years or so, a launch window opens up allowing for a 180-day trip to Mars. Use it… twice. Spend the two years in between on the surface! But Zubrin’s biggest breakthrough was the realization that fuel could be made on Mars itself. @ 22:02 EST