Book Review: A City on Mars

And why I’ll stay here…

I recently finished reading A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith. As the book’s name suggests, the Weinersmiths explore the all-encompassing reality of “colonizing space.” (Given its implications throughout human history, the Weinersmiths start with a discussion on the advisability of invoking the word “colonize.”)

While tech billionaires pronounce their visions of Mars settlements by mid-century, A City on Mars reigns in that hubris with sober humility.

Elon Musk believes we have failed as a species if we don’t spread our seed into the cosmos. At least Mars. He is not alone in such thinking, though he arguably has the most incentive to see its fruition.

It’s not going to happen. Not in my lifetime, yours, or Elon Musk’s. Money can’t buy everything. That’s not to say it won’t or necessarily shouldn’t happen at some point in the future (centuries). It doesn’t preclude ongoing robotic exploration of the solar system or a handful of astro-explorers landing on Mars sometime this century.

But colonize with a permanent and semi-autonomous human population? It will take more than a giant rocket to pull that off (and a lot of big rockets).

The authors discuss the minimum viable population for a colony to survive long-term on Mars. Of course…