website review

These websites were interesting because they showed the lives of two individuals who have dedicated their lives to the study of the planet Mars. The first, Robert Zubrin, is a man wholly devoted to creating a manned Mars exploration. The second, Richard Hoagland, is convinced that life on Mars exists and continues to exist due to geographic evidence he has interpreted.

Dr. Zubrin’s stance on Mars is the most fascinating to me because he really believes that putting humans on Mars will change our world, and that of Mars, for the better. Dr. Zubrin is a very educated man and thus his argument is more convincing because he understands the theories of science which back up his ideas. His website is clearly sending a message to its audience: settlement of Mars is necessary and should be accomplished by all means feasible.

Mr. Hoagland also strives to convince his readers of the truth behind the theories on his website. Although Hoagland employs educated language in his arguments, the text is so wordy I had a hard time understanding exactly what his message was trying to convey. This website seems a bit less professional than that of Zubrin. The “open letter to President Clinton” is an interesting aspect because it allows the reader to see all of Hoagland’s “evidence” for previous colonization of Mars; however, I was not convinced by his data. And upon further surfing, I found that he is speaking at a convention of people that believe that Martians are continually coming to our planet.

I also thought it was interesting to notice the similarities between the two websites even though they addressed relatively different Mars issues. The website designs were both futuristic, flashy and space-like, probably meant to attract the typical web-surfer since both messages carried a political movement component. Both Zubrin and Hoagland believe that with the power of the general public they will be able to accomplish their goals with regards to Mars.