Comments on: Mars Society executive director steps down

By: Robert Smith

Robert Smith — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 23:18:36 +0000

Personally, I like Robert Zubrin. Personally, I like Chris Carberry. I always got the feeling that their two different personalities were required to offset each other and make the tug of war that is needed for any “start-up” organization to live.

That said, I personally never had the overwhelming desire to put myself too close to Dr. Zubrin because it is obvious he is very very passionate and that type of “private company CEO” can be stressful beyond a limit… Relatedly, getting too professionally close to Mr. Carberry always gave me the feeling of not having enough required absolute face-time passion for tactical short-term down & dirty projects.

One thing I will never ever stop believing is that Robert Zubrin is one of the absolute Greatest speakers for the Space Movement; yes, he is focused on Mars but boy does he know how to stir an audience. And he does know his stuff.

Recently I taped him at the Downey California Human Spaceflight Forum (along with Greason, Hopkins and Aldrin) and my admiration for his speaking abilities were solidified. Plus I did note a slightly less Mars-ONLY slant to his message; he was very on topic for Spaceflight itself, and Mars was put in as a point but not as an obsessive hammer & nail.

If this site allows urls, then you can see the video if you want at smithvoice.com/downey-human-space-forum-video

I wish both the Mars Society and Explore Mars all the best. I have become jaded and honestly see very little coming out of non-profits but these men try and these men put action behind their dedication to Space, and that is admirable.

2 pennies.
Robert Smith
Burbank, CA
smithvoice.com

By: Chris Castro

Chris Castro — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 22:33:40 +0000

If President Obama has his way, if Congress is misguided enough to approve his Proposed 2011 Federal Budget, then you basically have a repeat of the Space Shuttle/ ISS decisions; where we are totally trapped on LEO forever!!! We CANNOT let this happen! We of the space advocacy community have got to contact our Congressional Representatives & Senators, and appeal on them to STOP the axing of Project Constellation. This is THE PROGRAM THAT WILL GET US OUT OF LEO! Without it, just what the hell are they planning to do?! You all have already heard about the extending of the ISS clear until 2020—which was a presidential deadline for U.S. astronauts to have finally broken orbit for deep space. These short-sighted, deluded people, who are content with the status quo, and boring business as usual will thenafter have our astronauts confined to going to and from a couple hundred miles up, to float around in a tin can, with no destination inevitably; —and for the following decade all the way to 2030. Groundhog Day, over & over again! If the ISS (and low earth orbit exploits) has to end so that we can embark on new groundbreaking lunar & other journeys, then so be it! Let’s not let the Obama administration destroy a still-in-the-womb grand future in deep space! Support the continuance of Project Constellation!! We must lobby on this matter before it’s too late.

By: Robert G. Oler

Robert G. Oler — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:26:11 +0000

Marcel F. Williams

what I find funny about both the Mars first people and the “return to the Moon’ folks is that they dont grasp the real political situation.

There is little enthusiasm for either goal, past their respective (and small) space groupie camps…because they cannot in any fashion explain why Mars or the Moon is any different the ISS…ie we spend a lot of money and at the end of it we have people on the (place) and yet other then “we have to take the next logical step” there is no real reason to do anything else.

There is no next logical step…there have to be a reason for steps…

Robert G. Oler

By: Anime Master

Anime Master — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:32:47 +0000

If you would just use a still suite you would only loose a thimble full of water a day. There is more water on the moon then there was on dune and look at how many people lived there. GO LUNA

By: Marcel F. Williams

Marcel F. Williams — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:27:58 +0000

The Mars First people having been shooting themselves in the foot for a few decades now because they fail to see that the fastest way to get to Mars is to finally establish permanently manned facilities on the surface of the Moon. Once this is done then the next logical step would be establishing permanently manned facilities on the surface of Mars.

If we had established a permanent base on the Moon back in the 1970s or 1980s, we’d probably already have permanent out post on the surface of Mars during the first decade of this century. But if we once again fail to support a lunar base program, then the Mars vs. the Moon debate will go on for many decades more without any human presence on either world.

The Moon is the fastest way to Mars because it will finally end the Mars vs the Moon debate and will finally allow us to go on to Mars and the moons of Mars after a permanent lunar base is established.

By: MrEarl

MrEarl — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:32:52 +0000

Don’t sugar coat it Martin, just tell us how you feel about Zubrin straight-up.

By: Martin Finn

Martin Finn — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:42:57 +0000

Zubrin has clear mental issues – he is paranoid, he is a compulsive liar, and he sours the waters of everything he touches. His presence is detrimental to the avowed goals of TMS. His penchant for Larouche-style politics compounds this problem.

By: Neil H.

Neil H. — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:39:28 +0000

Mark said:
>By the way, in a kind of back handed defense of Bob Zubrin, he is not a psychotic or insane. Zubrin has developed useful strategies for exploring and colonizing Mars that can also be used for other destinations.

The two sorts of things aren’t mutually exclusive, you know. For example, nobody can deny that Isaac Newton was a genius, but he was also a crazy egomaniac who was responsible for generating some vast schisms in the scientific community of his day.

By: Ferris Valyn

Ferris Valyn — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:35:26 +0000

Doug – if you pound your chest enough, and demand enough, no doubt everything you think NASA needs will come down from the clouds

That, or you’ll put a hole in your chest

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:23:27 +0000

Flex path…look don’t touch = slow boring death of manned space program. Real space activist would be out there fighting for more funding for robust boots on the ground program not just turning the other check. What a bunch of pathetic weasels…fight man for what you want or believe in do not settle for anything less. I give Zubrin credit to
hang in there and fight for it. To bad we don’t have more like him minus the ego of course. Get some balls and fight for it shoot the moon ULA showed the way A-panel just gave up. Boots on the moon we want our justified fundingâ€¦fund it and get err done now not in the 22nd century! Stand up, shout and fight for what you believe in NEVER GIVE UP OR SETTLE FOR LESS. Space advocacy lacks focus, ingenuity, political leverage and balls. Flex-path BS generation merely stands in the shadow of the greatest generation ever that put men on the moon.