Part of the TED series: How We`ll Live on Mars It sounds like science fiction, but award-winning journalist Stephen Petranek considers it fact: within 20 years, humans will live on Mars. We`ll need to. In this sweeping, provocative book that mixes business, science & human reporting, Petranek makes the case that living on Mars is an essential back-up plan for humanity, & explains in fascinating detail just how it will happen. It`s clear that the race is on. Private companies (driven by iconoclastic entrepreneurs like Elon Musk & Sir Richard Branson); Dutch reality show/space mission Mars One; NASA & the Chinese government are among the many groups competing to plant the first stake on Mars & open the door for human habitation. For Elon Musk, it`s the ”ultimate awesome thing.” For other entrepreneurs, it`s about competition & opportunity. For NASA, the Chinese government & the leagues of other private companies & foreign nationals racing to get to Mars, there are more urgent reasons as well: life on Mars has potential life-saving possibilities for us on earth. Depleting water supplies, overwhelming climate change & a host of other disasters
- from terrorist attacks to meteor strikes
- all loom large. We must become a space-faring species to survive. In this close-up narrative chronicle, Petranek introduces the circus of lively characters all engaged in a big-money, big-drama effort to expand the limits of human knowledge
- & life
- by being the first to settle on the Red Planet. How We`ll Live on Mars brings first-hand reporting, interviews with key players & extensive research to bear on the question of how we can best, & most plausibly, expect to see life on Mars
- within the next 20 years. Petranek can also be seen discussing his fascinating ideas in his TEDTalk 10 Ways The World Could End.