Geoffrey A. Landis is both a scientist and a science fiction author. His best known fiction is Mars Crossing, which was published in 2000. Around Mars, its explorations and the chances of a human colonisation of the Red Planet we made up a conversation with a writer who often has been compared with David Brin. More on Geoffrey A. Landis can be found on Wikipedia. Geoffrey Landis, you're both a scientist and a science fiction author. Did you ever feel a conflict in between the two things?


Science and science fiction are in some ways very similar, and in some ways quite different. In science fiction, science is always so easy! Every breakthrough is always real, and never an error, or noise in the data, or some other effect. Every experiment works, and every breakthrough seems to result in a working apparatus by the end of the chapter. Real science is a lot harder: people make mistake, and sometimes experiments don't work.

As a scientist, you took part in the Pathfinder mission. Is there something else you're working to, such as projecting the first human mission to Mars?

Most recently I've been working with the science team of the Mars Exploration Rovers, which are now exploring the surface of Mars and discovering fascinating new information about the role of water in the early history of Mars. I also work a lot with designs for future missions, including both human missions to the moon, and also planning for human missions to Mars.

Which problems could a human mission to Mars encounter on its way and later on, on the planet's surface?

In any space mission, there are always a lot of possible problems, and the worst of the problems are the ones that we haven't thought of. One problem we've thought about a lot is whether the dust of Mars might be dangerous to humans. If people are on Mars, some amount of the dust will get into the habitat, and if it has chemically reactive components, like peroxides or sulfides, will that create a hazard? If it is a hazard, then we need to work on technology to remove the dust from the outside of space suits before the astronauts finish their surface walks. That is something I've been working on, methods of dust removal. But I think that it's very important that we have to always remember that exploration is dangerous. The only way that exploring can be prefectly safe is if we don't do it at all.

What about colonizing Mars? Is it realistic to speak of such?

In the long term, I think that humans will have to expand out from Earth and learn to live on other planets. Mars is a good start, but it is not the end-- we will expand out into the solar system, the asteroids, the moons of Jupiter and beyond, even the atmosphere of Venus.

The red planet is always suggesting plots for fictions. It seems as if good old Mars still represents a good share of our imaginary for what science fiction is concerned. Do you agree with this statement?

Mars has always been a beacon for the imagination, because it is in some ways very Earthlike, and it is nearby in a relative sense, the next planet out. But it is also very different from Earth. This is part of what has made it so fascinating to science fiction writers, the fact that it is both similar to Earth and very different.

Turning back to your writing. You've been compared to David Brin and other, say, "epic" writers. How do you consider yourself?

It is always difficult for writers to serve as a judge for themselves. I admire David Brin's work, and I am very flattered to be compared to him. I try to be a writer who is accurate to science, trying to describe the universe as it realy is (or, at least as far as we know it), and also true to real humans, and the way that people in the real world love and hope and dream.

Which authors do you feel closest to?

There are many writers that I like and admire-- too many to name them all. Some writers I've liked recently have been Greg Egan and Michael Swanwick, both of whom have written some very interesting speculative work. And I've always used Larry Niven as a role model-- especially his early hard-science work. Joe Haldeman is another role model, particularly the way he can write stories that focus on plot and character, but nevertheless have all the science details correct. And I could hardly fail to mention some more mainstream speculative writers, such as Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges, who have worked to stretch the boundaries of speculative fiction.

Are you working on something special at the moment?

For several years I was so involved in the real-world Mars missions that I had not had much free time to work on science fiction. But in the last year I have started working on fiction again, and have finished some new short stories. I am just getting back to work on my new novel, and hope that within a year it will be ready to send to the editor.


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