Biography

Robert Zubrin, formerly a Staff Engineer at Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver is now president of his own company, Pioneer Astronautics. He holds Masters degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a doctorate in Nuclear Engineering. He is the inventor of several unique concepts for space propulsion and exploration, the author of over 100 published technical and non-technical papers in the field, as well the book "The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must" (Simon and Schuster, 1996), "Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization (Tarcher-Putnam, 1999) and "First Landing," (Ace Putnam, 2001). He is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and a Board member of the National Space Society. Most recently, he founded the Mars Society; an international organization dedicated to furthering the exploration and settlement of Mars by both public and private means. Prior to his work in astronautics, Dr. Zubrin was employed in areas of thermonuclear fusion research, nuclear engineering, radiation protection, and as a high school science teacher.