Dr. Robert Zubrin has devoted more thought than any other person alive to the goal of reaching Mars and making it a new home for humankind. A former Senior Engineer at Lockheed Martin, in 1996 he founded Pioneer Astronautics, an aerospace R&D company which he led for 27 years until selling it in 2023. Founder and president of the Mars Society, in 2000 and 2001 he led the construction of Mars analog research stations in the Canadian Arctic and American deserts, and has overseen over 300 simulated Mars exploration missions conducted there since. Zubrin created the original Mars Direct plan, to reach the red planet using existing technologies and Martian resources. He is also the author of twenty patents and twelve books, including The Case for Mars, now in its 25th Anniversary Edition.
