Kuthunur reported in early November 2023 that it wasn't until maybe a year before we were done writing — and we wrote for four years — that we decided this book is actually about why space settlements aren't coming soon.
"A City on Mars" by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith. (Image credit: Penguin Random
House / Zach Weinersmith)
These days, it feels almost a given that humanity will soon become a multiplanetary species, perhaps as soon as 2050. Setting up colonies on the moon and Mars is a tantalizing goal, perhaps even a necessary one for those who believe it to be a backup strategy that can save humanity from crumbling due to catastrophe. However, space settlement — developing livable stations outside Earth so humans can stay there for years, perhaps forever — is currently naively optimistic, according to authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith. It needs a dose of realism, they say.
The Weinersmiths are self-described "space bastards" who remain excited about space exploration and settlement but argue many first-order questions of how human life works in space, like in terms of reproduction, space farms, democracy and legal frameworks (to name just a few concerns) need to be answered before humans can actually live in space.
The authors systematically tackle these questions in depth in their engaging new book: "A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?" (Penguin Press, 2023).
"A City on Mars" is a breezy read about human space settlement, blending together subjects like history, psychology, law and, of course, the sciences, into an honest yet hilarious summary of the field. Despite the sobering outlook for humanity's future beyond Earth, delightful cartoons sprinkled throughout the book are sure to pull chuckles out of you.
Space.com sat down with Kelly Weinersmith to discuss the book. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
(Read an excerpt from "A City on Mars.")
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