NEWS

‘Case for Mars’ author, astronautical engineer to give April 18 lecture

CHAPEL HILL -- An internationally renowned astronautical engineer and author will give a lecture April 18 that makes a case for the settlement of Mars -- an issue central to the mission of a new student organization on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

Space Talk, a student organization representing faculty and students at UNC and Duke University, was founded for the purpose of advocating the human exploration of Mars and space. Space Talk is organizing the lecture, the first in a series of scheduled talks on space exploration.

At 7 p.m. April 18 in UNC’s Morehead Planetarium Star Theater, Dr. Robert Zubrin will discuss "The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must." The lecture is free to the public.

"Dr. Zubrin’s talk is about looking beyond the moon and daring to dream of Mars," said Adam Friedman, the vice president of Space Talk. "People of all ages and education levels can take an interest in his plan for exploring the red planet."

Zubrin, author of the international bestseller "The Case for Mars," is a former senior engineer at Lockheed Martin. He is president of the International Mars Society and founder of Pioneer Astronautics, a space exploration and development firm. During the month of July 2001, Zubrin commanded the International Mars Society’s simulated Mars mission in the Arctic Circle.

In his lecture, Zubrin will present a blueprint for how humans can use present-day technology to send people to Mars within 10 years, produce fuel and oxygen on the planet’s surface with Mars’s natural resources, how humans can and why they should build bases and settlements, and more.

"Sending humans to Mars may seem like science fiction, but we have the opportunity to make it science fact," said Space Talk founder and president Kate Harris, who is also a Morehead Scholar at UNC. "Mars is within reach, and Dr. Zubrin has a visionary plan that can get us there in a matter of decades."

The lecture is sponsored by the Carolina Union Activities Board, the Robertson Scholars Collaboration Fund, the Carolina Union Student Opportunities Fund, the Morehead Planetarium and the Office of Distinguished Scholarships and Intellectual Life.

In the fall of 2001, Space Talk received a grant from the Robertson Scholars Collaboration Fund, instituted to further the Robertson Scholars Program’s mission of providing shared educational experiences between UNC and Duke.

Space Talk’s objectives are the following:

· Promote the space sciences and the exploration and development of space.

· Create a joint UNC-Duke undergraduate seminar series on astrobiology and space exploration.

· Educate elementary and secondary school students about space.

· Provide a forum for students, faculty and staff with a heightened interest in space exploration.

The Robertson Scholars Program is a merit-based scholarship program jointly administered by Duke and UNC. The goals are to foster collaboration between the two universities and recruit top students to both schools.

The first group of Robertson Scholars, 15 undergraduates at Duke and 15 at UNC, matriculated in fall 2001. They are taking courses at both universities, participating in special colloquia and joint programs, and, during their sophomore year, will live one semester on the campus of the other university.

The program is funded by a gift from Julian and Josie Robertson. Julian Robertson is a 1955 business administration graduate from UNC and Josie Robertson is a member of Carolina’s Board of Visitors. One of their three sons, Julian Spencer Robertson, graduated in 1998 from Duke. Another son, Alexander Tucker Robertson, recently graduated from Carolina with a degree in history.

For more information on the lecture or on Space Talk, visit www.unc.edu/space.

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News Services contact: Deb Saine at (919) 962-8415

Space Talk contact: Kate Harris at (919) 914-2873