Trying to think of where to take your next vacation? Well, if you can stand to wait 10 years, then you could visit Mars.

This is according to Dr. Robert Zubrin, who is the driving force behind the Mars Direct project. This plan is important, he said, because it significantly reduces the cost and complexity of a mission to Mars by using the Martian atmosphere to produce enough rocket propellant for the return trip to Earth. In 1998, Zubrin formed the Mars Society, which is an international organization that advocates a manned Mars mission. He has written several books about different aspects of space, including The Case for Mars, Entering Space and First Landing.

During Zubrin's Academic Speaker's presentation at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13, he outlined the Mars Direct plan, which was developed while he was working for the Martin Company. He was quick to point out his plan is not the only one out there, but he thinks that it is the cheapest seriously proposed plan that has been developed for getting humans to Mars in the next 10 years.

One other plan besides his own that he talked about in detail was one developed by NASA. This plan called for a craft that would contain technology that doesn't yet exist and 75 percent of the craft's mass would have to be the fuel and oxygen the crew would need to return to Earth. With Dr. Zubrin's plan, the craft would be able to produce 95 percent of the required return propellant while still on Mars.

Other problems with the mechanics of NASA's plan are, he said, that the craft would have to be 100 yards long, would have to be built in orbit and it would hit Mars at Mach 30. All that is needed for Zubrin's plan is boosters, habitat modules, earth return vehicles and aeroshell modules. These are things that he has already built or at least knows how to build.

While NASA's plan would cost $400 billion, Zubrin said his plan would only cost $20 billion. Although even his plan's amount may seem high, he said this is "a small price to pay for a new world."

While all of this may sound good in theory, some people are skeptical of the reality of Zubrin's Mars Direct plan.

"The problem with Zubrin's plan is that it is not designed with the reality of today's space exploration mission in mind. There is almost no way his plan will come to fruition within the time limits he set. He himself knows that his plan can only happen if things get started rather quickly and nothing impedes his progress," said Dr. Lionel Crews, assistant professor of physics at UTM.

Zubrin said the problem with NASA is that the agency is not doing anything worthwhile. He believes it should focus more on manned missions.

"I very heartily disagree with Dr. Zubrin's comment. The Hubble Space Telescope, Galileo mission to Jupiter, Magellan mission to Venus, Cassini mission to Saturn and many others are proof that NASA has been constantly at the forefront of expanding human knowledge. Granted, these missions were not manned, but had they been, they would have cost so much that the number of missions would have been fewer," Crews said.

But Zubrin said the only thing missing from his plan is money.

He believes that his plan should be able to get humans to Mars 10 years from whenever the money becomes available.

Dr. Zubrin gave several reasons why it is so important that humans go to Mars now and not 20 years from now. He said that if America waits too long, Congress would cancel the plan because politicians will only spend so much time and money on a project before they decide to get rid of it. Another reason is that if officials don't move quickly, the political conditions that allowed the program to get started may not be in place long enough for the plan to be completed.

To show how serious he is about the Mars Direct program, Zubrin, along with the Mars Society, has started several training stations in the Canadian Arctic and the Utah desert to help simulate situations astronauts would encounter on Mars.

In these stations, there are crews of six "astronauts" who live in Mars-like conditions.

Right now the Mars Society is looking for volunteers to spend two weeks in one of the training stations. For more information about volunteering, the Mars Society or the specifics of the Mars Direct plan, visit the society's website at www.marssociety.org or www.nw.net/mars.