Why Icarus Took Flight

By Zsolt Bugarszki

I wasn’t born on Mars. I was born in Hungary, lived in Estonia for years, and now I’m based in Singapore with my family. And while I’ve never been an astronaut, an astrophysicist, or an engineer — I’ve always been a writer.

Even when I didn’t finish my stories.

Since the age of twelve, I’ve filled school notebooks with short stories, sketches, scenes and outlines. Most were never completed. But the writing never stopped — journals, notes, essays, ideas, fragments. Something was always unfolding on the page.

Zsolt Bugarszki, author of Icarus – The Mars Chronicles, photographed in Singapore.

And now, at 53, I’ve finished my first novel. It’s called Icarus. A science fiction story about Mars and the fragile beginnings of a new human civilization.

But Icarus is not about rockets. It’s about people.

I hold a PhD in social sciences, and I teach as an associate professor at a university. My work — and my life — has always centered around human behavior, relationships, systems and change. I could have set this story in any environment: a megacity, a village, a research lab, or a warzone. But I chose Mars.

Why?

Because Mars is real. And it’s close. Because it forces us to strip away the noise and see what matters. Because when survival becomes the main priority, we see who we really are — and what we're truly capable of.

Icarus has been a discovery process for me in every sense. I spent countless hours researching Mars, current technology, atmospheric science, closed-loop habitats, quantum AI systems and space infrastructure. The science was my learning curve.

But the human dimension — that was always inside me. And I wanted to share it.

Thank you for being here. For stepping into this world. Because the story isn’t mine anymore.

It’s yours, too, now.