Moon To Stay With Matt Warren

Dr. Robert Zubrin, the thought leader and founder of the Mars Society, has developed a plan called “moon direct” that applies his Mars Direct ideals towards the Moon. It takes advantage of cheaper currently available commercial rockets to get us there sooner, cheaper and at lower risk. Dr Robert Zubrin is best known for his Mars direct plan initially proposed in 1990 and later expanded on in his book “the case for mars” published in 1996. In Mars Direct, Zubrin proposes a series of rocket launches to place key pieces of technology on Mars in advance of a manned mission. Starting with the launch of a return vehicle and fuel production equipment, followed by launching a habitat module and then a bare bones contingent of astronauts. By living off the land and taking some risks Mars Direct would put people on Mars quickly, mostly with existing technology. Zubrin’s approach could be summarized as “If you want to go to Mars, just focus on doing that”. With the excitement building around lunar exploration again he h