Robert Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer, author, and advocate for human exploration of Mars. He and his colleague at Martin Marietta, David Baker, were the driving force behind Mars Direct, a proposal in a 1990 research paper intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission.

Summary
Zubrin recaps his early interest and hopes for space exploration. He speaks about the mission creep that plagued space travel efforts in the 90’s and his efforts to make Mars the focus of space travel once again. He is adamantly against on-orbit assembly and the generally more complex plans that people come up with for Mars bases.

He also touched on his interactions with Elon Musk and SpaceX. After founding the Mars Society, Zubrin needed money to develop practice locations for Mars colonization. He held a fundraiser where they met, and from there, Musk was all-in on getting humanity to Mars.

Robert continues to create innovative technologies with his independent company. Even with his success at stimulating SpaceX and other organizations to explore Mars, he continues to push for more progress toward the red planet.

Full session summary: https://foresight.org/summary/robert-zubrin-the-mars-society/

The Foresight Institute is a research organization and non-profit that supports the beneficial development of high-impact technologies. Since our founding in 1987 on a vision of guiding powerful technologies, we have continued to evolve into a many-armed organization that focuses on several fields of science and technology that are too ambitious for legacy institutions to support.

Allison Duettmann is the president and CEO of Foresight Institute. She directs the Intelligent Cooperation, Molecular Machines, Biotech & Health Extension, Neurotech, and Space Programs, Fellowships, Prizes, and Tech Trees, and shares this work with the public. She founded Existentialhope.com, co-edited Superintelligence: Coordination & Strategy, co-authored Gaming the Future, and co-initiated The Longevity Prize.

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