Recap

Flex Fuel & Space Missions

President of Pioneer Astronautics, Robert Zubrin spoke about his plan to achieve American energy independence by mandating that all new cars be "Flex Fuel" compliant by 2009. Flex fuel vehicles can run on either gasoline or fuels such as methanol and ethanol. Such a plan would be a boon to the US economy, creating a huge market for farmers to grow crops such as corn and sugar (used to make ethanol) as well as decreasing America's reliance on foreign oil, he put forth.

While Senator Harkin has introduced flex fuel legislation, Zubrin believes its planned implementation is too slow, and that concerned citizens should write their Representatives and Senators to push for quicker action. For more on this topic, see his article published by The American Enterprise.

Zubrin also discussed NASA's space program and expressed concern that Mars exploration is still years off and that the next administration might not follow through on the Bush Mars/Moon Initiative. Expanding human civilization into space, by beginning with settlements on Mars, is truly a worthy goal, he argued. Additionally, he commented that if NASA bails on the Hubble repair mission it would be a disgrace.

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