Permanent settlement on Mars could be built in 20 years: advocate

Humans could build a permanent settlement on Mars where a new branch of human civilization and social order could be created, said a Mars exploration advocate on Thursday. "We could easily have humans on Mars in 10 years or faster if it is an international project," Robert Zubrin, the Mars Society president, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Thursday in Beijing. By then, human beings could go back and forth between Mars and Earth anytime by taking reusable rockets and the technology would be cheaper and cheaper as the spaceflight frequency to Mars increases, he said.

http://www.globaltimes.cn