Elon Musk has pledged to settle Mars. A prize-winning book offers a reality check

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2024-11-25 17:00:23

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The promise of starting life anew on Mars may appear alluring, even feasible, as the climate crisis intensifies and space and rocket technology advances.

But the reality would be dreadful, according to one book that argues that Elon Musk’s intention to settle the red planet within the next 30 years is doomed to failure.

Written by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, “A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?” won the 2024 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize and was published in November 2023.

The husband-and-wife authors investigate what life would actually be like in the unforgiving environment of the red planet and clear up any misconceptions about what it might involve.