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| Art from the cover of Robinson's Red Mars, obtained here. |
Sci fi author Kim Stanley Robinson reflects on Elon Musk's vision of travel to Mars. Spoiler alert: He thinks the plan is unrealistic. Read about it in Why Elon Musk's Mars Vision Needs 'Some Real Imagination' (interview by Eric Roston)
I love Mars. Love love love. My first experience reading science fiction was the Young Astronaut series, about--guess what?--colonizing Mars. I made great grades in science for years because of those books. (They are every bit as cheesy as they look, by the way.)
We can't help but be attracted to Mars. Given enough time and resources, it really could be a second home--not as hospitable as earth, but close enough to reach, and viable. The moon...well, the moon doesn't have enough atmosphere to make intensive terraforming possible, and it's just less exciting. Robinson makes a good case for a Moon base, though.
He doesn't really believe that his colonization of Mars is possible in the same timeframe/scale he used to anymore =(
ReplyDeleteI know! Double sad face! This interview also made me think about how he's writing science FICTION--he's really good about trying to show us realistic ways forward, but it's still fiction. I like seeing that he knows this. I dislike not going to Mars.
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