Dr. Zubrin is the founder and President of the Mars Society, as well as a member of the organization's Board of Directors.

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"We're better prepared for a journey to Mars now than we were when we sent men to the moon in the 1960s, " Zubrin told CNN.

CNN: Life on Mars?

Robert Zubrin Dr. Robert Zubrin, Senior Fellow.

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The Mars Society is a privately funded organization dedicated to promoting human exploration of the Red Planet, and the recent find will give the society's president Dr Robert Zubrin and his team more hope for a manned mission.

CNN: Life on Mars?

Viewed as a respected author and a renowned expert on Mars, Dr. Zubrin has testified in recent years before several government committees and in 2009 spoke in front of the Augustine Commission on the subject of the future of America's human space flight program.

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While it will probably take at least another 20 years before Zubrin -- or anyone else for that matter -- makes it to the Martian surface, NASA and other space agencies are already drawing up plans for a voyage that will present astronauts not only with physical but also psychological challenges never faced by humans before.

CNN: Mars on the brain? Red Planet pioneers to face cosmic mind trip