Press Release: "Mid-Century Life on Mars" Talk at University of Hawaii

Wondering what life might be like for Mars settlers?

Join in on a talk on "Mid-Century Life on Mars" by science fiction author and regular Space.com journalist, Doug Turnbull. Second Life audience members can ask questions. The event will be live streamed to/from the University of Hawaii.

When: Friday April 11th, 2014. 9:30 PM PDT
Where: Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii
http://slurl.com/secondlife/UH Aquaculture Program/48/85/26

 
About the Talk:

Since the late 1800s, and the discovery of "canals" on Mars by astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, science fiction and science fact have come together in a productive, though hotly debated, symbiotic relationship driving both curiosity and progress toward our understanding the Red Planet. Most recently, a similar fact versus fiction debate emerged in the news surrounding the lack of space science realism in the hit movie 'Gravity.' As a writer of 'hard science fiction,' Doug Turnbull has successfully balanced elements of astronomical fact and fiction in his novels, novellas, short fiction and science publications. During his interview by Alan Boyle, NBC News Science Editor, Boyle noted that science fact and science fiction are an "interesting intersection." Boyle compared Turnbull's more realistic approach to "the John Carter on Mars stories that Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote," saying that given the plentiful information provided to us by orbiters and survey robots like Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity, that "fanciful views of Mars...seem so old fashioned nowadays" as readers count on science facts to ensure the believeability of science fiction.

Doug's talk, 'Mid-Century Life on Mars' will be based on his Space.com Op Ed article that had over 40,000 readers and became the subject of great debate, with more than 230 specialist comments on LinkedIn groups like 'NASA,' 'National Space Society,' and 'Science, Technology & Innovation Policy.' His discussion will present a variety of real efforts currently underway designed to reach Mars, prepare astronauts for living on Mars, and speculate upon the challenges that will be faced by Mars astronauts. Throughout the talk he will explore--both fictionally through his characters and factually with completed and concurrent atmospheric, radiation, and geologic studies--the possibility of humans living on Mars by the mid-twenty-first century.