Mission To Mars
That’s heaven…something wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake – they look like tentacles to me… [scream]
In the last hundred years, Martians have invaded Earth, in movies, novels, and comic books.  What if we turned the tables and
invaded Mars—for real? Booster ignition- and lift off!
Mars is where the future is.  Mars is the closest planet to the earth that has on it all the resources needed to support life. …Hold on!
Support human life here, in this frozen wasteland? Average temperatures are -80 degrees Fahrenheit. There’s no breathable
air, and no freshwater streams or rivers.  And yet … We think that at one time in the ancient past mars was very similar to the
condition of early earth. …That’s right, billions of years ago, Mars may have been warm and wet. … That means life could have
evolved there. And if it did, why couldn’t the entire universe be full of life? There’s only one way to answer that question for sure:
Send humans to Mars—more than 34 million miles away. Aw, it’s Spectacular! Just spectacular! Aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin
has a plan to pull it off: Mars Direct.
[Explosion] 3-2-1—The first step?—Zero. Booster ignition—Getting there.  [Blast off]
The farthest any human being has been is the moon, and Mars isat least 150 times more distant. It’s so far away that no spaceship
can carry enough fuel to sustain astronauts once they get there—much less get them home. The solution? Make fuel on Mars.
First, we’ll send an unmanned Earth Return Vehicle, or ERV.On Mars, converters will suck in carbon dioxide and combine it
with hydrogen to make methane-oxygen fuel. [Drip!]
Next: we’ll launch a crew of astronauts in a Habitat, or HABmodule.  3-2-1… [Engine roar]
After a 6-month voyage, the colonists land near the ERV—and goto work exploring the planet.
The first humans on Mars will find frozen water at the poles andin the soil, melt it, and purify it for drinking water. …[Beep]  And—
—we better press on for the big boulder…For the next year and ahalf the astronauts map the planet. They collect samples, and
search for fossils and micro-organisms—any signs that life onceexisted on Mars.
Finally, the crew returns home in the ERV. [Engine roar]
Soon, more HABs are sent to the same site, and linked togetherinto the first human settlement ever on another planet. We may
even have the capacity to engineer a new climate on Mars—making it warm and wet again. So far, no government has fully
committed to Mars Direct or any other plan. But, a private group
called The Mars Society, has people planning and practicing, in research stations that simulate conditions on the red planet.
So someday, we might find out first-hand if there was ever life on Mars. And possibly make another home for ourselves—
We’re on Mars everybody—[cheers]—34 million miles from Earth.
