Monday, February 10, 2003

WILMINGTON, NC – Author and engineer Robert Zubrin will present “The Case for Mars” at 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 27, in Cameron Hall Auditorium at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Dr. Zubrin, who is president of the Mars Society, is author of The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must and Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization. He holds a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics and a doctorate in nuclear engineering.

Zubrin created Mars Direct, a step-by-step plan using present technology to send humans to Mars within 10 to 12 years, produce fuel and oxygen on the planet using Martian natural resources, build bases and settlements and “terraform” Mars to pave a way for sustainable life. NASA has adopted Zubrin’s blueprint as the basis for its own mission.

A former senior engineer at Lockheed Martin, Zubrin is founder of Pioneer Astronautics, a space exploration research and development firm. He is also senior vice president of the National Space Society.

Zubrin’s free, public presentation is sponsored by the UNCW Honors Scholars Program. A reception and book signing, presented by Bristol Books, will follow the lecture.



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For more information, contact the Honors Scholars Program at 910/962-4181.