Science fiction allows us to experience other worlds without leaving our own. The good news is that even though these worlds are fictional, they are based in science. I actually started out as a physics major. Many years ago, my mind was jostled to complete fascination when I read books about parallel universes, quantum physics, and the nature of time, by people such as Fred Alan Wolf and Paul Davies, and later I fell in love with books by Michio Kaku. However, the study of our amazing universe isn’t just for theoretical or astrophysicists. It’s for anyone with a hunger for knowledge and adventure. Here are some articles, websites, and talks that explain more about the concepts used in my books. You’ll also find interesting info about Mars and its resources.
What can be grown in Mars soil?
Sprayberry Scientists Win Worldwide Mars Plant Competition (My oldest graduated from this high school)
https://www.cobbk12.org/_ci/p/78515
Mars Rovers
Where is Perseverance?
Use this interactive map to track the path of the Perseverance rover that landed on the Red Planet on February 2021: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/where-is-the-rover/
Learn all about the Mars rovers including image galleries, podcasts, and more at this link: https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/
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When the Ares visits Enceladus they find icy geysers shooting into the air. Five hundred years from now they’ve figured out how to avoid being sliced in half by them and how these fissures help them funnel heat from inside the moon. Learn about Enceladus here: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/science/enceladus
Materials Found on Mars
Minerals, Gemstones, and Ore…Oh My!
The Gemstones of Mars are Coming!
EM Bubbles/Warp Drive
“Though he recognizes these huge hurdles to building a warp drive, Lentz feels they are not insurmountable.”
Benjamin Skuse for Physics World
Controlling Mars’ Gravity With a Black Hole
Sounds utterly insane. Right? Well, believe it or not, it’s been thought about in a smaller context: using it to create artificial gravity on starships. Note Louis Crane and Shawn Westmoreland’s paper in 2009, “Are blackhole starships possible?” Yup, it’s absolutely been noodled out. The only issue is Einstein’s calculation that points out the smaller the black hole the faster it evaporates. However, this might be overcome with something feeding it to keep it stable. My idea, as it pertains to the book, is expanding this theory beyond the starship to Mars itself. This may indeed put the fiction in science fiction, but, hey, Stealing Ares is set 500 years in the future. I remember watching Captain Picard talk to Starfleet on his laptop and thought it was wildly futuristic that he could actually “see” the person on his screen. Give us 500 years and there’s no telling what will be possible.