A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?

Dr. Kelly Weinersmith (born Smith; biologist, science enthusiast) and Zack Weinersmith (born Weiner; cartoonist, science enthusiast) have written two excellent books: SOONISH and this book, which continues their thorough consideration about what the future might bring.The writers describe how even a devastated Earth would be more hospitable than orbital habitats, the Moon, or Mars. The first is extremely vulnerable to unhealthy amounts of radiation; the second and third are covered in dangerous material (highly abrasive silica dust on the Moon, perchlorates in Martian soil). Legal issues are very unclear. (Chapter 12 is titled "The Outer Space Treaty: Great for Regulating Space Sixty Years Ago.")Low gravity is a constant concern throughout the book. Our experience with microgravity raises concerns. Could Martian settlers have grandkids? Consider potential mothers born and raised in low gravity; would they develop strong enough bones and muscles to safely give birth? There is literally no data.They don't call for giving up on space. We should expand the list of things humans can do well in space, and do those things. (That list gets shorter as robots become more capable.) We should investigate the long-term effects of living in low gravity. We should still learn how humans in space could live with cosmic ray exposure. We should still visit Mars.The Weinersmiths aren't pessimistic about long term habitation in space. They only worry about doing so in the near future, a couple decades or less. They argue it would take several decades or longer to truly understand the risks and the opportunities. Until then, Mars really ain't the kind of place to raise your kids, and "cold as hell" doesn't begin to cover it.To quote from a negative review here on Amazon: "the book is well written, it’s humorous, and they’re probably right about everything.... This book, while undoubtedly correct, is just sad and depressing."Much as I'd like to, I can't argue with the Weinersmiths' conclusion.For an alternative take, read the ninety page (!) essay, "Critique of 'A City on Mars' and Other Writings Opposing Space Settlement" by Dale S. Skran, senior VP and COO of the National Space Society (and a friend of mine).

I've been a scifi nerd since I was a kid and fell in love with Star Trek and my dad's Heinlein collection of novels. As someone who's been taken with space travel and settlements ever since I was very eager to read this book.As I read it though I could see why the Weinersmiths were reaching the conclusions they had come to and despite my wanting them to be wrong I have to agree with many of their points.The book itself manages to tell do all this with entertaining and well written prose with a fun sense of humor and is a book I'd very much recommend.

The first 40% of this book is excellent. It will convince you that sustainable colonies on Mars (or even the moon) are, technically, almost impossible, at least for centuries. But then the book tends to trudge through issues like space law and, while of interest, are really quite drawn out. Still, an excellent read, at least those first 40%.

This book is a TO DO list of things we earthlings need to figure out, slowly, and carefully, before we start dreaming of planting our flag with a smiley face emoji on Mars. It's stuff you don't hear or read about when experts say humans will be able to conquer Mars within the next 10 years. This book is a a MUST READ. The book is an easy to read book that doesn't burden you with high science and physics. Reading this book feels like you are having a a very casual chat with the authors- it's like you meet up with the authors and somehow you find yourself talking about the movie The Martian and then it slowly goes into a conversation of why Mars isn't going to happen in the near future. Anybody who says we'll be living in some new human settlement 140 million miles from earth, encased in a glass dome right in the middle of the red planet in a few years, needs to take a little step back and read this book. Hey, it's ok to dream big, as the book says, but dream with a sense of responsibility, understanding, knowledge, and some heavy doses of real science, reality checks, before taking on Mars.Mars is an inhospitable planet. Mars doesn't like anything that has life in it. It sucks life out of any life. Mars is such a bad rock to live in, it killed off anything that may have lived there millions of years ago, and it'll stay that way. Some billionaire guy said he'll build some atmosphere converter and terraform the planet; he's seen to much of the Aliens franchise. On a normal day you get 60mph winds, not bad, but then you get temperatures that drop to -110F, and then there's dust. No such thing as a dust-proof device. Then you have the constant bombardment of radiation. You're basically surrounded by life destroying elements. If it's not the radiation, it's all the dust that's going to finish humans off. Forget about propulsion, and big rockets, and bespoke space suits...the biggest question is will a human even survive the trip. Space gravity means bones get brittle, internal organ damage sets in, radiation exposure- these are things that will totally ruin someone's day.Hope and pray that thingy that provides oxygen to your glass dome world doesn't breakdown because it's going to be a long wait for the next resupply to Mars. Again, science fiction doesn't tell you travelling to Mars isn't as easy as plotting a course and launching a booster rocket; there's a specific window you need to wait for, some kind of orbit positioning, in order to launch and land on that rock. Launch outside of that window and you'll miss dear old Mars.Oh but wait there's more...the book delves into the one challenge that everyone forgets. Space laws and treaties. Yeah, my first time to read about it. Governments have enacted their own brand of galactic laws. You can't just build a space platform out in space. Authorities down on earth have created invisible lines in space. Imagine that, the arrogance of man even reaching out into space. Sorry Darth, your intended galactic conquest won't cut it as soon as you enter our solar system; you might want to roll up your window when you fly by earth because things get really dirty here on planet earth. This book will show how how difficult it is, and even how silly to even think about going to Mars, but the book does give hope- but only if we earthlings study the challenges and find smart solutions and not rely on Star Trek or Star Wars or... Aliens franchise technology to find a solution. There's a difference between science fiction and science. Our billionaires talk about science fiction and ignore the science. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK!

I finished the book, and my impression is the Moon is covered more than Mars. The problems are similar: cold, no breathable air, radiation, dangerous dust, low gravity damages human bodies. Except for being closer to Earth, the Moon is generally worse than Mars.I didn't discover any threats I'd never heard of, but the authors challenge the hand-waving optimism that the technologies to solve these issues is in-hand, or even close to being in-hand. They also challenge the usually-vaguely stated reasons to build settlements, and I don't think they create strawman arguments. (Ex: Humans have an urge to explore? Then, what % of folk risked their lives trekking to the south pole? or Mt Everest? Aren't most of us happy to be couch potatoes?)What I learned the most about was the legal framework and potential social/national conflicts that are likely to arise around space. Nerds may prefer to dream about massive rockets and cutting-edge technologies, but as long as humans are involved, the possibility that space exploits might start a war (cold or hot) on Earth is worth worrying about. Just not as much fun. Technical problems will eventually be solved. How do you solve people?The authors' conclusion that we're better off delaying until we can "go big" on settlements means I'll never see a Martian settlement in my lifetime. Bummer. Because the best reason to live in space (as the authors say) is because it would be awesome. I guess I'll rely on science fiction for my Mars settlement fix.

Longtime fan of the authors, I thought I knew what to expect from this tome. I was surprised by the lengths and depths they went in their research to sketch out not just a few, but a WIDE variety of options Humanity has for space settlement - and the problems inherent to each. If you are a space nerd and want a book that really digs DEEP into the concept of offworld colonies, this is a must-read.

I read this book to acquire knowledge of scientific issues related to fictional scenarios rather than insight into space colonization possibilities in my immediate future. And, I confess, I stopped reading where the narrative ends and the copious endnotes begin. (Though these may prove a precious resource as my research proceeds)Despite an often lighthearted presentation of successes and failures in space exploration, and the grim details of cosmonauts' daily grind in space (food, exercise, defecation, and periods), the text shocked me by highlighting how much space research around the world is about prestige and potential mining profits rather than human survival.The laws that successful nations will use to carve up space and administer territories once they get a foothold on the moon or Mars or an asteroid will become an especially fraught issue. In short, it doesn't look like there's much chance we'll all be friends up there.The husband-and-wife team responsible for this book are space aficionados who apologize for disappointing their readers. It seems that no nation is close to ironing out the practical side of surviving as a species in space, for example, a means to produce healthy colonial babies.Like Musk's autonomous electric cars and Bezos' "hands-off" policy at "The Washington Post," human settlements in space may be little more than pipe dreams for a considerable time.

As a kid growing up in the moonshot era, I figured The Space Age would just keep going - space stations, moon colonies, manned exploration of the outer planets. But we didn’t get that sci-fi future, and this book details why. It turns out, as meticulously reported in A City on Mars, space exploration is extremely difficult, expensive and dangerous. And trying to live there - or anywhere off planet Earth - for an extended period of time? Even more so.The book brings up so many issues I hadn’t even considered. Like, be sure to completely wipe your boots when you come into your Mars habitat from a stroll outside it - because the dirt on the surface outside is toxic. Carbon is a major requirement for growing food. The only source of it currently on the Moon? The poop bags left behind by the Apollo crews. And it gets worse from there.From the grim realities of living in space without getting killed, they go onto the even greater problems faced trying to create new generations off planet. There, the problems are not only biological; social and psychological issues you might ignore in a shorter trip become major issues for a colony trying to span generations.Finally, the book dives into all of the legal and diplomatic issues space colonists will face, should they survive all the challenges of just existing. Researching this the authors discovered the few treaties and laws we have in place are untested and vague. The book reveals, for example, that the Russians actively threatened the Starlink satellite network in retaliation for its use in the Ukraine war. This missed the news, but the Wienersmiths uncovered the obscure UN proceedings where the statement was made.The book, well illustrated with Zach Wiener’s cartoons, is one of the most entertaining and detailed looks at the realities of space colonization to date.

I'm a fan of SMBC and I really enjoyed the previous book, Soonish. This book is well written, and the arguments very well reasoned. However, the areas they focused on aren't as interesting to me...This book mostly goes into why building settlements on Mars isn't a good idea. Generally, it's approached from 3 directions: what benefits might there be, what technological challenges need to be overcome, and how will people's ability to cooperate affect the development of space (spoiler: on this last point they are about as optimistic as For All Mankind). While all 3 topics are interesting to me, I am by far most interested in the challenges that need to be overcome, and I purchased this book assuming it would be the primary focus. Unfortunately, it is split almost evenly with the stuff on how people interact with each other. While both topics are interesting, I wish they would have gone more in depth on the technological side and spent a little less time on the people/legal stuff. They don't spend a lot of time on the benefits of a Mars settlement because, as they point out, the benefits are far outweighed by the numerous obstacles.

It’s not that the authors claim humankind’s future in space is a bad thing. They just suggest it’s not a good idea right now…and not in the very near future, either. There are things we need to get in order on our home planet before exploding outwards helter skelter, not the least of which is the law and regulation that will be required before settling on other celestial bodies. In fact, the book spends the bulk of its time on such considerations, after pointing out a few other obstacles like radiation, the effects of less or no gravity on things like bone density, procreation on other planets, and other areas we need to study through a limited presence in space before going all out. It’s an argument well worth pondering.

The research in this book is first rate. But the conclusions are based on lots of false assumptions. The book basically takes the approach of "Don't try anything until it is completely safe". But that is not the kind of leadership that is needed. We will only figure out how to create cities on Mars and the Moon by trying it. Failures are inevitable, but that is how we learn. People who want to go know the risks. Astronauts know the risks.The book begins with the assertion, "Earth-based governments do have authority over Mars activities—Mars is regulated by long-standing treaties..."But Such treaties are unenforceable when it comes to private entities. If people in a Mars settlement decide to violate a treaty, how would governments enforce the treaty? Should the company that sent the people try to compel them to follow instructions by withholding supplies that are needed for life? And if the company is incorporated in a country that has not signed the treaty, then what? Also, over time, a large Mars colony would want its independence, unless we want a repeat of Colonialism.I.e., the book makes a sweeping generalization that basically says, "Mars will always be governed as the current treaties say". That's a very, very, very big assumption and is almost definitely not true.It continues like that, downer after downer, but always based on incorrect assumptions. What is more likely is that humans will solve the myriad problems. There is no single problem that is inherently unsolvable. It is only that the authors think that we are not up to the task.The other main narrative is that we should go slow. But who is "we"? China already has long term plans for the Moon and Mars. Should other countries sit back and be spectators, waiting for everything to be completely safe? That is a prescription for failure.This book is a huge disappointment: two scientists wrote it, and it was an opportunity to show vision about how to solve the myriad challenges. Instead, they take an "everything is too hard" approach.Maybe just stay home, because life is too hard.

When I was much younger, I always hoped to be an astronaut. I dreamed of going to the moon or Mars and living there. Or on a space station like in 2001. I even had satisfaction in imagining being one of the crew that would be the first generation of a ship that would take off for the stars. (I also thought I would love to be an Antarctic explorer like Scott or Shackleton, living at McMurdo Station and greeting the penguins.)As I got into my twenties, I realized that the problem with my being an astronaut or Antarctic explorer was that, in reality, I would hate it. I hate flying, not having my morning shower, being in close proximity to other people, the cold. So, I gave up these dreams. I am still a great believer in the importance of space exploration, however, if I don’t have to be the one to do it. Kelly and Zach Weinersmith also believe in the importance of space exploration, I think, but they have laid out all the reasons why it’s going to be a longer and more difficult road than most people like to believe.In the first half of this book, the Weinersmiths describe the challenges of living anywhere other that the earth: the need for water and food, the effects of low gravity and radiation, isolation, the ease with which death will find you if the slightest thing goes wrong. These were things I had long considered, but the Weinersmiths tell the story well from a personal point of view, and I enjoy the cartoons that highlight the issues. I was particularly impressed with how they were able to point out how little we still know about living in space long-term.A little over halfway through, at the start of Part IV on space law, I put the book aside for a bit. I’m afraid I didn’t think I’d be interested in a discussion of laws and government in space. I admit freely, I was wrong. If anything, the second half was more interesting than the first, since I knew so little about it. The Weinersmiths discuss the treaties that already exist about space and how future ones may come about. They point out that there will be no independence in space for a long time, as the ability to create the infrastructure to separate from earth will likely take generations to build, and that the biggest dangers of space settlement will be the political impacts on earth.In the end, the Weinersmiths seem to come down on the side of continuing to do basic research and exploration but to understand that fantasies of cities on the moon and Mars are nothing more than that: fantasies. For the time being, at least. Don’t believe me based on this summary? Read this excellent book!

Explains the real issues with human settlements in space. It is sad to see billions being spent on this when the planet we actually live on is so in need of our full attention. Please be aware that the problem is not space exploration by remotely-controlled craft and in near-earth orbit, both important and worthwhile. The problem is burning up resources chasing after fantasies about living on Mars or the moon. That makes no scientific sense at the present time. We haven't even made a useful start on how humans could live in a low-gravity environment (or create gravity) with extreme (hundreds of degrees) temperature variation, no atmosphere (or a toxic one) while being bombarded by deadly cosmic rays. I've watched as much Star Trek as the next person. It's a lot of fun, but it's fantasy. It's not just that faster-than-light travel will never happen, but we aren't ever going to be transporting down to "M-class" planets all over the place and romping around without spacesuits. Period. Earth is it. We ain't livin' nowhere else in any of your grandchildrens' lifetimes (or possibly ever). And don't tell me this is being done with private money. Resources in the tens of billions should not be controlled by individuals, because nobody, however worthwhile his (and it's only men who are doing this) accomplishments, can actually claim to have "earned" that much individual power. Earth needs us now. You don't burn down your house before you find another place to live. I'm sorry. Don't hate me. It's just reality.

A City on Mars is a book about the space settlement movement and the ideas within, written and illustrated by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, respectively. Scientific, educational, and witty, this is a fun read.The pro-space settlement enthusiast will not find this book encouraging. All of the “yeah-yeah-let’s-do-it” hype consistent with most pro-space ideas is missing from these pages. However, a thoughtful, deliberate, and reasoned appeal pervades the pages towards a hopeful—if distant—future result.A City on Mars is a balanced read. Consider this excerpt, for instance: “We understand it’s weird for a discussion on space settlements to ask what the cost of rent is going to be or whether the local store is charging too much for canned goods, but this is the stuff regular lives are made of. Space-settlement proposals tend to skip this, assuming that our awesome spacefarers will be focused on the task at hand and perpetually oriented around the glory of settlement itself. We should always remember that these settlers will be regular people, and regular people’s daily concerns are much less about grand narratives than about their homes, their jobs, and their groceries.” (Page 347, middle paragraph in my eBook version.)Written in a fun, hilariously hyperbolic style, this book is a joy to read. I highly recommend it. Fun and family friendly, A City on Mars is a delightful addition to the space-themed section of my home library.

I picked up A City on Mars as I am a fan of SMBC, as well as Kelly and Zach's previous novels Soonish and Open Borders. This book is a significant departure from their previous works. Where Soonish and Open Borders included large full-color comics I was disappointed by the paucity of illustrations and their being black and white. There's no question that if this book had come from any other author I wouldn't have purchased it. Before I go into the details of my thought on the book, I just want to say I hope that they return to form in their next book, with more pop and less sci.My feelings for this book are conflicted. I would like to say I disagree with Zach and Kelly, but that's impossible to do as they never detail their true thesis or vision for ideal space colonization. They use the tagline "wait and go big", but never actually get around to defining that viewpoint. "Wait"? How long? 50 years? 100 years? Longer? I agree that founding a large Mars colony in the next 20 years is likely a waste of resources, but we can't wait forever for a perfect moment. How big is "go big"? Without this chapter the book will always feel incomplete.The true thesis of this book is "Space is Hard", and for this thesis Zach and Kelly provide a wealth of deeply researched facts, statistics, and anecdotes. With every new challenge they brought up, I couldn't help thinking how (relatively) easy each problem would be to solve in isolation with even a humble amount of resources. I also spotted a number of logical inconsistencies in the arguments. In one chapter Zach and Kelly talk about how absolutely barren and worthless the land of Mars is, and then in the next say that there could be nuclear wars over land on Mars! Either the land is worthless and no one wants it, or the land is valuable enough to cause conflict, and either way this could be resolved with a reasonable policy for land claims. A large amount of time is also spent discussing space reproduction, but in the next 100-1000 years there's no real need to have babies in space, since Earth produces a ready supply of aspiring Martians who are orders of magnitude cheaper than trying to raise a child to adulthood in-situ.Then there are all the legal arguments, to which I say that for as long as space colonies are pure thought experiments, there will be no pressure to drive the international agreements and legal frameworks which Kelly and Zach see as a prerequisite for safe human expansion. I would argue that it is necessary to build a small colony on Mars or Luna to expose our technological and legal weak points and drive the public interest in space necessary to drive progress. But that's enough nitpicking. Maybe someone else wants to write an alternative novel to rival A City on Mars in the marketplace of ideas, but I am not devoted enough to put as much time and energy into such an endeavor.

As a scientist, I was pretty invested in the *Musk* version of becoming an interplanetary species. Clearly I am an idiot. SO many things I had never thought about.Required reading for anyone who thought physical access to Mars/Moon was the limiting factor. The leagal/political considerations were a bit of a drag to get through, but I'm betting those are MUCH more important in the long and short run. Science and engineering can get done, because eventually, after arguing and a couple of drinks, all scientists and engineers will come to an agreement - if not on all the facts - at least on experiments that will fish out the truth.Politicians, lawyers, activists - all have their ABSOLUTE versions of reality, flavored by money, and the likelihood of being re-elected and keeping their status.We're friggin' doomed.

"A City on Mars" provides a refreshingly honest discussion of the perils of getting to Mars and living there for an extended period. With clarity and humor, the authors challenge assumptions found in much of the existing academic and popular literature that almost uniformly call for getting humans to the planet as soon as rockets that can do the job can be built but fail to fully consider the potential perils of a long-term stay. These include issues such as the effects of extended weightlessness or low gravity, radiation, lack of health care, limited diet, reproductive hurdles, and the broad assortment of psychological stresses a long-duration stay may generate. Potential ethical and governance issues are also discussed. The authors are not, however, necessarily against humans going to Mars. They do, however, suggest that waiting until technology has advanced to the stage where hundreds of humans can make the trip rather than a dozen or two would better avoid potential pitfalls.