Robert Zubrin: The future of humanity in the colonization of space

Founder and president of the Mars Society and Pioneer Astronautics.

Robert ZubrinWith a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Washington, Zubrin’s remarkable career includes being a driving force first in Lockheed Martin’s development of strategies for space exploration, and later also in Martin Marietta Astronautics and in Pioneer Astronautics, designing concepts for interplanetary space missions. The Mars Society is an international organization advocating human exploration and colonization of Mars, while Pioneer Astronautics, which Zubrin led from its founding in 1996 until selling it in 2023, does research and development on aerospace technologies.

Zubrin is the author of a large number of scientific reports, papers and books on the development of space missions and methods, including a strong promotion of the Mars-direct concept designed to take advantage of the Martian atmosphere to produce in-situ oxygen, water and fuel, as a necessary basis for making long term human presence on Mars and beyond possible. His classic book “The Case for Mars”, was re-issued in 2021 in an extended and widely updated 25th anniversary edition. There and elsewhere Zubrin argues for the ethics of human colonization and how becoming a spacefaring species will benefit the future of humanity also back on Earth.

The Mars Society Webpage and

Robert Zubrin on Wikipedia