Dr. Robert Zubrin spoke to Supercar Blondie about what technology he thinks will thrive on Mars, and estimated when he thinks we\u2019ll be moving to our second planet.<\/p>\n
EXPLORE SBX CARS<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Supercar auctions starting soon powered by Supercar Blondie\u00a0<\/p>\n When does Dr. Robert Zubrin think humans will get to Mars? <\/p>\n It\u2019d be hard to find a person who argued more passionately for Mars colonization than Dr. Robert Zubrin.<\/p>\n In 1998, he founded the Mars Society, which has kept up public interest in human colonization on the Red Planet.<\/p>\n The work of the Mars Society has been credited<\/a> with encouraging the US Government not to cut funding for Mars rover missions.<\/p>\n In addition to his work through the Mars Society, Dr. Zubrin has written countless books on the subject \u2013 The Case for Mars, On to Mars, and How to Live on Mars, just to name a few.<\/p>\n His most recent book, The New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet, comes at a particularly pivotal time.<\/p>\n After all, interest in the colonization of Mars has never been more palpable<\/a>, with governments and private companies alike vying for the opportunity to be the first there.<\/p>\n But this has been a topic of interest for decades now \u2013 when does Dr. Zubrin think we\u2019ll be setting foot on Mars?<\/p>\n \u201cThe first human mission to Mars, I believe, could happen in about 10 years,\u201d Dr. Zubrin told Supercar Blondie.<\/p>\n \u201c[That could happen even] faster if Musk was to refocus on SpaceX<\/a> and not on his other activities. <\/p>\n \u201cI believe we can have a permanent human base on Mars within 10 years after that.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Zubrin believes that used launch vehicles will make the prospect of going to Mars more affordable in years to come.<\/p>\n \u201c[Elon] Musk told me on one occasion that, he could make the Starship \u2013 that is the upper stage, the part that would actually travel to Mars \u2013 for $10,000,000.<\/p>\n \u201cWhich means that either he or one of his copycats, would probably be willing to sell it for $20,000,000,\u201d Dr. Zubrin said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then that means that eventually such things will be available used for $2,000,000.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, $2,000,000 [paid for] by 100 people is $20,000 per person, which is quite expensive for an airplane ticket, but it\u2019s not a forbidding number for someone who wants to move to a new world.\u201d<\/p>\n What will the new colonies on the Red Planet look like?<\/p>\n Mars has been touted as a second home for several reasons \u2013 oceans of water in glaciers and ice sheets, and vast quantities of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, along with very small amounts of oxygen.<\/p>\n But what will life look like for our descendants who settle down and become the first Martians? <\/p>\n In The New World on Mars, Dr. Zubrin makes the case that the population there will be inventive and resourceful.<\/p>\n He envisioned a society \u2018that puts the utmost premium on intelligence, practical education, and the determination required to make real contributions\u2019. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re gonna have on Mars a technologically adept population, in a frontier environment, which absolutely challenges them to innovate,\u201d Dr. Zubrin said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is colonial 19th-century America to the nth power.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so you\u2019re gonna have a society of tinkerers and inventors, and they will be addressing all sorts of problems.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will be working on ultra-productive bioengineered crops because they need to grow food in greenhouses, which sharply restricts the acreage available.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will want to really make fusion power practical, because Mars doesn\u2019t have fossil fuels.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they, I believe, will make very significant advances in applied artificial intelligence, because Mars is gonna have a severe labor shortage.\u201d<\/p>\n When we think of the future, we often imagine robots will play a part, right?<\/p>\n We only have to look at the 1X NEO robot<\/a> to see what that future could potentially look like.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really think the things we [currently] have on Mars are robots<\/a>. I think we have highly automated exploration tools,\u201d Dr. Zubrin said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut clearly robotics is coming along, and it\u2019s going to be a big thing both on Mars and on Earth.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the Martians will certainly be doing things in that area.<\/p>\n \u201cTo build a robot with all its complex electronics and everything requires a global division of labor, actually, to make all the products that actually go into a robot.<\/p>\n \u201cOn Mars, we\u2019ll only build all the components that are massive, and the tiny little sophisticated parts will need to come from Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n Time and time again in his book, Dr Zubrin argued that robots will be an inevitable part of Martian life due to initial labor shortages.<\/p>\n He envisioned that they would \u2018nearly all the hard and risky work [\u2026] in the potentially lethal Martian outdoors\u2019.<\/p>\n Throughout a lot of his work, there\u2019s a sense of innovation and positivity, whether he\u2019s writing about Martian colonies or nuclear power.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no wonder that author Marian Tupy described him as \u2018one of the high priests of American techno-optimism\u2019.<\/p>\n Is that an easy thing to be in a time when a lot of new technology is viewed with suspicion and fear?<\/p>\n \u201cIn 1932, not that long ago, Franklin Roosevelt ran for President on a slogan of a chicken in every pot. That is, vote for me and you will be able to buy chicken,\u201d Dr. Zubrin said.<\/p>\n \u201cNow I was just at the supermarket, and you could buy chicken for $2 a pound. In the United States, minimum wage is $7 an hour. <\/p>\n \u201c[That\u2019s possible] because of advance of technology. <\/p>\n \u201cThe advance of technology is the primary thing that has transformed human existence in a positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n To learn more about the work that Dr. Robert Zubrin and the Mars Society do, visit the organization\u2019s website<\/a> or follow Dr. Robert Zubrin on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Robert-Zubrin-1024x510.webp.webp\")
<\/a>The Mars Society\/YouTube<\/p>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Robert-Zubrin-book.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Supercar Blondie<\/p>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mars-1-3.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Pixabay<\/p>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mars-3-1-1024x683.webp.webp\")
<\/a>SB Media\/ChatGPT<\/p>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mars-2-1-1.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Pixabay<\/p>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mars-2-3-1024x784.webp.webp\")
<\/a>NASA<\/p>\n![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mars-4-1024x576.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Pixabay<\/p>\n