Ticket to live in Mars

[CorSair]

Can't remember if there was a thread about it but...
Happened to read something from internet today. Specifically, about a one way ticket to live in Mars.
Article from CNN:
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-883671

And here's the actual site about this.
http://mars-one.com/en/

So... Just some awesome scam? Or a real possibility?

[Shadow Dweller]

I remember hearing something about that about a week or two ago. I won't be throwing any money at it, I've already got enough problems here on Earth as it is.

[Quast]

CorSair said:

So... Just some awesome scam? Or a real possibility?

This is old news really. IIRC we had a thread on mars one a few months ago.

Anyway, human habitability on mars (let alone safe and reliable travel to and fro) is just not feasible in any regard in a technical sense. The problems with infrastructure, logistics, bureaucracy and the various systems needed to be in place are beyond legion to make it work.

But even if it were possible, I think it brings up another interesting point: ought we, even if capable? If mars once held life and perhaps still holds subsurface microbial life, what business do we really have contaminating the martian biosphere? It certainly doesn't help us in any scientific endeavors we might attempt in learning more about the martian past.

Bottom line is that it's not going to happen. And that might not even be it's real purpose. Bringing awareness, interest and more specifically investment into private spaceflight is almost certainly it's primary goal, NOT flying humans to live permanently on mars by 2033.

[printz]

Sounds nightmarish for anyone, especially the months/years-long space travel. I'd rather stay home.

[Kirby]

Whenever I hear about this I always think back to one particular Calivin & Hobbes strip that falls in the same vein

[Clonehunter]

Would we get to dig up martian ruins and artifacts and create teleportation machines under the lead of a crazy german scientist?

If so, sign me up!

[188DarkRevived]

They just need to send a platoon of marines to set up base over there and prevent Hell from reaching the Earth.

[DooM_RO]

Clonehunter said:

Would we get to dig up martian ruins and artifacts and create teleportation machines under the lead of a crazy german scientist?

If so, sign me up!

Will we also get chainsaws?

[DoomUK]

Quast said:

ought we, even if capable?

You might as well ask if humans should have migrated anywhere throughout history. We all owe our heritage to someone being bold enough to take a step out of their environmental comfort zone and explore new territory, even if was a matter of survival instead of curiosity, or if it sometimes had less than desirable consequences for whatever or whomever was there first. Provisionally, I'm in full support of a project like this, even if I wouldn't be one of the ones to participate.

That said, I do think we need to learn much more about mars before its terraforming is undertaken, besides overcoming the logistical problems of getting us there and taking care of ourselves when we arrive. Unlike our African ancestors or the 16th century Spanish, we have the technology to observe and interact before we physically set foot on mars and risk damaging whatever ecosystem it might retain, albeit without a belligerent intent.

[Maes]

Careful, you might be sent to Phobos instead and be issued a BFG scooter.

[188DarkRevived]

^ ... Well, I wouldn't mind a free scooter, but don't you dare throw a mop at me!

[Quast]

DoomUK said:

You might as well ask if humans should have migrated anywhere throughout history.

Maybe, but that's not the point really, since we can't change the past anyhow.

We all owe our heritage to someone being bold enough to take a step out of their environmental comfort zone and explore new territory

Uh huh, we also owe our heritage to our ancestors moving, migrating and colonizing areas with plentiful food, water, breathable air and even helpful native peoples among many other things. I can't really agree with that comparison.

[mrthejoshmon]

I would go there as long as its like red faction: seeming perfect air, sun light and infinite destruction.

[DoomUK]

Quast said:

I can't really agree with that comparison.

Doing things for the fuck of it can be as important as doing things out of sheer necessity.

[darknation]

Quast said:

But even if it were possible, I think it brings up another interesting point: ought we, even if capable? If mars once held life and perhaps still holds subsurface microbial life, what business do we really have contaminating the martian biosphere? It certainly doesn't help us in any scientific endeavors we might attempt in learning more about the martian past.

wtf? Keep Mars Tidy?

And why the fuck is there no Moon Base Alpha yet? When I was a kid, we were promised this shit. I'm sure all the arguments against space exploration are all very reasonable, but by fuck are they boring.

[geo]

One way trip to Mars. So they just kill someone and take their money right? Or do they do Total Recall?

[Kontra Kommando]

I believe wealthy people will be the first pioneers of Mars, and will use it as a tax-free, libertarian haven. Moreover, they’ll set up HQs of trans-national corporations there as well, while the Earth will be left to be an industrialized worker planet for the lower classes. We’ll literally be ruled by Martians lol.

[Maes]

On their website they handwave the "small" detail that a space vehicle-lander allowing for sustained 7-month spaceflight with full life support for a significantly large crew plus a useful payload AND maneuverable enough to land delicately on Mars without using parachutes or airbags does not exist. They do mention the booster stage (Heavy falcon) but nothing about designing a new spaceship w/lander from the ground up and sending it to Mars within the next decade. Oh yeah. And the whole shebang must be able to make the round trip...

I guess it could be done if you had access to supernation-class funding and had engineers working 24/7 on it, as well as sending it out with practically no testing. Sure, they can base some of their work on experience gathered from the ISS and the Moon landings, but the protracted manned spaceflight part (not just orbiting around good ole' Earth) will be a first, and at best it can only be simulated on earth by locking people in an underground spaceflight sim or somesuch for a few months.

[Kontra Kommando]

Maes said:

I guess it could be done if you had access to supernation-class funding and had engineers working 24/7 on it, as well as sending it out.

That's why I believe this will be facilitated by the super-wealthy and the private sector, they have the resources to do so. Bioshock is already becoming a reality as well.

http://theweek.com/article/index/218393/libertarian-island-a-billionaires-utopia

[Merry Widow]

I would like to go to Mars,too.And now everyone can ignore my post.

[GreyGhost]

Kontra Kommando said:

I believe wealthy people will be the first pioneers of Mars

Can't see that happening myself, not if there's the possibility of it being a one-way trip, having to rely on systems that are probably only partially proven and hoping your minions back on Earth don't forget to send a re-supply ship now and then. The pioneers are more likely to be semi-autonomous robots, volunteers, forced labour and other expendables who'll field test the habitats - once they're deemed safe and self-supporting the wealthy can start moving in.

[188DarkRevived]

William Shatner could've been the first to boldly go where none of us have gone before, literally. They offered to send him up into space a few years ago, so they would've definitely also offered for him to set foot on Mars if he hadn't refused the first offer.

[Kontra Kommando]

GreyGhost said:

Can't see that happening myself, not if there's the possibility of it being a one-way trip, having to rely on systems that are probably only partially proven and hoping your minions back on Earth don't forget to send a re-supply ship now and then. The pioneers are more likely to be semi-autonomous robots, volunteers, forced labour and other expendables who'll field test the habitats - once they're deemed safe and self-supporting the wealthy can start moving in.

I see robots doing the heavy labor, and construction. But once its terraformed, or a base set up for habitation, I think eccentric millionaries and billionaires would probably be the first. There will need to be scientists and engineers living there as well. I definitely think the private sector will be bankrolling the projects. Perhaps the biggest push will come if states figure out how to regulate the world economy; Mars and moons can be the future tax-free havens.

[Avoozl]

Perhaps Japanese robots will be capable of being sent to do work on Mars some time in the future.

[Maes]

Kontra Kommando said:

Mars and moons can be the future tax-free havens.

And sufficiently off-reach of physical audits...

[Aliotroph?]

Avoozl said:

Perhaps Japanese robots will be capable of being sent to do work on Mars some time in the future.

Right now American robots are far more capable in that regard. The Japanese sort seem to be geared to taking care of your grandparents while you go to Mars.

[DoomUK]

Aliotroph? said:

The Japanese sort seem to be geared to taking care of your grandparents while you go to Mars.

Creeping the fuck out of them in addition:-

[188DarkRevived]

^Awesome! I always suspected that the ancestors of Lieutenant Commander Data might be Asians. :p At least this provides a reasonable hypothesis for why his skin is so pale.

[joe-ilya]

Have you ever heard of Billy Blaze aka commander Keen? He made a good spaceship that can fly in space.
Ask ID for more detail.