A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? in Science and Inquiry

From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Thro...

Kelly Weinersmith,

Zach Weinersmith

Start date: April 1, 2024

Finish date: April 30, 2024

Discussion: Book Club 2024

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 28 topics — 435 comments total

Book Club 2024

November 2024 - Under Alien Skies
By Betsy , co-mod · 14 posts · 58 views

last updated Jan 31, 2025 03:54PM

December 2024 - Otherlands
By Betsy , co-mod · 7 posts · 61 views

last updated Jan 15, 2025 02:47PM

showing 2 of 2 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Mar 17, 2025 David Rubenstein rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, ethics, physics, psychology, environment, engineering, politics, technology

Putting a city on Mars won't be easy. There are so many technology issues and problems; this book takes the reader on a grand tour of the enormous difficulties. But not only does the book cover the physical problems -- it also discusses the political, legal and social issues at great length. For me, this was the highlight of the book, as I had never thought about all these other factors. If we cannot solve these problems on Earth, why do we expect to have solutions on Mars?

This is a fun book, p ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Dec 08, 2023 Steve Van Slyke rated it really liked it

Shelves: space, science

Management consultant Peter Drucker often stated that regarding business proposals, 鈥渋f you have no case against, you have no case for.鈥� For a long time there has been almost no case against colonizing the Moon and Mars. Billionaires, space exploration nerds (like me), and to a lesser extent, national space agencies, seem gung-ho to start sending humans to the Moon and Mars to establish permanent settlements within the next decade or two. This book presents the case against that goal, at least i Management consultant Peter Drucker often stated that regarding business proposals, 鈥渋f you have no case against, you have no case for.鈥� For a long time there has been almost no case against colonizing the Moon and Mars. Billionaires, space exploration nerds (like me), and to a lesser extent, national space agencies, seem gung-ho to start sending humans to the Moon and Mars to establish permanent settlements within the next decade or two. This book presents the case against that goal, at least in the short term. They present technical, biological, psychological, geopolitical, and legal arguments that suggest Earthlings are nowhere near ready to ship large numbers of humans to off-world colonies, especially Mars. They build a case for spending the next century or so doing the research and testing necessary to insure that humans can build a safe, sustainable and peaceful settlement on Mars before launching, and when we do go, to send a very large number (thousands) of settlers in a short period of time to help ensure that the critical mass of skills, knowledge and labor are available to meet the inevitable stresses of unforeseen problems and accidents that are likely to occur.

My personal view is that we are already doing wonderful science on Mars with our rovers, helicopter and orbiters, with much less risk and cost than sending humans. I watched Neil Armstrong step out on the lunar surface. I was thrilled to have witnessed that. It's natural to want to be alive when historic events like that happen. But at the same time I have to accept that I may not live to see the first human set foot on Mars. Just because we'd love to be present to see or even participate in these events does not justify rushing the projects to achieve them at the expense of doing so safely, responsibly and economically.

Some have said dinosaurs wouldn't have gone extinct if they'd had a space exploration program. But hey, they ruled the Earth for almost 200 million years. I agree with the authors. I think we have the time to slow down and do it right.
...more

2 likes · Like · see review