“The Case for Mars” review: are you ready to borrow money for a one-way ticket?

After reading the Weinersmiths’ “A City on Mars,” I was convinced that colonizing Mars was out of reach. However, after devouring Dr. Robert Zubrin's “The Case for Mars,” I now think it’s possible and that we should reconsider.

“As Mars becomes increasingly well-explored, another question will be paramount – not whether there was life on Mars, but whether there will be life on Mars,” Zubrin writes.

Zubrin, an American aerospace engineer and advocate for human exploration of Mars, first published “The Case for Mars” in 1996. Since then, he has kept the book updated, ensuring that it ages well and remains a valuable resource for understanding humanity's obsession with Mars and our prospects for settling the Red Planet.

Zubrin says we should go to Mars for science, the challenge, and the future during his public appearances. In his book, he does his best to convince readers that it's possible and necessary.

If you come from a social or humanitarian background, you might find this book challenging to read – it's not a popular science book, so be prepared for additional Googling and note-taking. Totally worth it, though, even if it’s not a beach read for most of us.

In the book, Zubrin is after what he calls dragons that might stifle human exploration for centuries: radiation, zero-gravity travel, dust storms, and back contamination (the introduction of extraterrestrial organisms into Earth's biosphere).

Here’s what Zubrin’s got to say about radiation: “A man could drink a martini a night for years and suffer no obvious ill effects, his liver having adequate time to cleanse his body after each drink. Drinking a hundred martinis in a single night, though, would kill him.”

Essentially, he’s arguing that humans actually need some radiation to stay healthy. Scientific arguments he presents for this seemingly bold claim are enough to convince many skywatchers like me, especially those with no background in physics.

One of the dragons, the human factor, that Zubrin tackles, is a bit easier to envision and understand. However, some might find Zubrin’s arguments outrageous. It appears he downplays concerns about the harsh conditions that Mars crews will face, including health hazards, lack of privacy, and social isolation, among others.

“My father, my uncles, and several million other GIs (the US armed forces members) were “away from home for three years” during World War II under vastly tougher conditions than those that will face the crew of Mars,” Zubrin argues.

He asserts that Mars-bound astronauts will be heroes capable of withstanding the challenging conditions they will face.

“Humans are tough. We have to be. We are survivors of the sabertooth tigers and glaciers, of tyrannical empires and barbarian invasions of horrible famines and devastating plagues. You name it, you’ve got ancestors who have faced it, and overcome it.”

However, this “toughen up, snowflake, your grandpa survived war” idea is not the most controversial in this book.

This Monday, US scientists revealed they found water reservoirs under the Martian crust – not just some puddle, but an ocean’s worth of water. This finding is crucial in the search for life on Mars and a promising sign for those dreaming of Mars habitats.

That’s where it gets interesting. To settle on Mars, humans need to terraform it, making it more Earth-like. According to NASA, temperatures on the Red Planet range from the 70s°F (20s°C) to -225°F (-153°C).

Scientists suggest that we need to induce global warming on Mars. They also might already know how to do it.

Humans settling on Mars would also probably involve building power plants there, exploding the asteroid ring for precious materials to trade with Earth, extracting water and oxygen, and, naturally, building houses and roads.

When framed this way, settling on Mars appears similar to building a new city in a desert. Zubrin even suggests that Mars could become the new American dream, where people might emigrate to work and send money back home. He estimates that a one-way ticket to a Mars habitat could eventually cost around $320,000 per passenger.

“Because the necessary income will be there to pay for the trip after it has been made, loans can even be taken out to finance the journey.”

Zubrin believes that civilization on Mars will be smarter, with only highly skilled workers needed. Hence, the salary would be big enough to pay off the loan for that one-way ticket to Mars.