Direct Democracy is real democracy. Its the "will of the people" expressed directly in a referendum or ballot initiative. It should come as no surprise that thinking people are outspoken on this subject. Serial mega entrepreneur and visionary Elon Musk stated, "The form of government on Mars would be a direct democracy, not representative"
Civic tools must be upgraded to allow citizens to be accurately polled on pending legislative proposals. Inventor of the Web, Tim Berners Lee wants to see the web used as a tool for democracy . In his Ted talk ,"A magna carta for the web" he includes it as something he is still awaiting to manifest.
We can have direct democracy on earth before we make it to Mars. This inherent democratic human right is already embedded in the constitutions of many countries and is currently practiced in a variety of forms like referendums and ballot initiatives. Its only a matter of society being adequately informed on the subject.