Mars to Stay it is assumed the planet will be a magnet for settlers as wage costs will be high. Because of the labor shortage on Mars and its subsequent high pay-scale, Martian civilization and the value placed upon each individual's productivity is proposed as a future engine of both technological and social advancement. In the fifth chapter of "Mars Direct", Zubrin addresses the idea that radiation and zero-gravity are unduly hazardous. He claims cancer rates "do" increase for astronauts who have spent extensive time in space, but only marginally. Similarly, while zero-gravity presents challenges, near total recovery of musculature and immune system
The Gods of Mars the two Viking missions which found a dead, frozen world where water does not exist in a fluid state. The Valley of Dor, with the ring of cliffs around it and Sea of Korus within it, is placed in a mile-deep crater at Mars' South Pole. However, Burroughs makes a mistake in that he has the sun rise in the east and set in the west as elsewhere in the planet, and the moons are visible from the Valley. In reality, at the South Pole, Mars' moons would not be seen, and the sun would not rise in the east