Live and die on Mars?

[Matthew_T]

No not the chocolate!

A news story has arisen about an organisation who are going to send people to Mars and just leave them there to die. "The journey will be one way" "We have had over 1000 people request to be a part of the programme".

The Astronaut selection process will start in 2013 and be scheduled to be on Mars by 2023.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/mars-one-f...teers-for-one-way-trip-in-2023-160757378.html

I personally have a nice life on Earth and would like to stay with my family for as long as possible. It is nice to know that we arent too far away from populating Mars though. Its about time if you ask me, Earth is dying (by our hands) and it is time we relocate and possibly just convert Earth into a mining planet (it would work).

 

[Night Train]

I don't think it is so much 'leave them there to die' as it is a one way journey to populate a new world. Much the same as the first settlers heading over to America and Australia.

I'm not sure I like the 'reality show' style selection process. It needs to be a much more robust method of selection to ensure well balanced, intelligent and skilled people who are likely to be able to survive, not just the journey but also the emotional consequences of surviving on only what can be made on the surface.

If it were to be properly organised, with much of the infrastructure sent first and proven to be working, I would be tempted to go. I reckon there will need to be more frequent landings then four additional crew every two years to make it work though.

A great opportunity to start a better society, based on good sense, no conflict, and working communally and fairly. I guess that means it would only work if only non human creatures were sent....

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Cant we just send simon cowell instead?

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Send the Royals, job sorted!

Seriously though, it sounds nice, but without the choice of coming back, the reality could probably end up being quite horrific once you were there. I mean, I'd like to go, but only if I could come back home at the end.

 

[byegad]

I have a list of people to send, they can skip the selection process out.

Peirs Morgan

Rebecca Brookes

Andy Coulson

etc. etc. etc.

Just one condition. I want a guarantee that the equipment will render them all sterile. We really don't want them to breed!

 

[Drago]

That was considered as a means of getting to the Moon. Fire a bloke up there with a big supply of food and water, and fetch him back if/when the technology became available. They had some Air Force colonel all lined up and everything, but it was binned as in humane.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

I like the analogy with the early settlers that went to America from Europe. They went for life, to settle and survive and raise families etc. The mars trip would be similar without wooden boats and Indian raiding parties I suppose.

The technology these astronauts will have available will keep them in touch with earth I am sure and they can have tesco deliver to them if they download the app and order online.

If they have access to water up there then it's a goer, if they dont then they will either have to depend on a supply line from earth or die.

I guess also they will need 'breeding pairs', 'Community leaders and wise old folks', medical peeps etc.

Personally I'm all for using Mars as a prison colony for moron drivers and chavvy oiks however.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Personally I'm all for using Mars as a prison colony for moron drivers and chavvy oiks however.

That would be an insult to Mars though.

 

[green1]

Cant we just send simon cowell instead?

God no! We need to send him much further! Pluto at least.

 

[asterix]

No not the chocolate!

A news story has arisen about an organisation who are going to send people to Mars and just leave them there to die. "The journey will be one way" "We have had over 1000 people request to be a part of the programme".

A much larger number of people (telephone sanitisers and the like) have been sent to Earth and left here to die.

I've no idea what the experiment was intended to prove but Douglas Adams tried to find out.

 

[asterix]

Send the Royals, job sorted!

Seriously though, it sounds nice, but without the choice of coming back, the reality could probably end up being quite horrific once you were there. I mean, I'd like to go, but only if I could come back home at the end.

It doesn't sound at all nice! The package holiday from hell to end all package holidays from hell, and no beach.

 

[Cheddar George]

Satellite's gone way up to Mars,
soon it will be filled with parking cars.

 

[Sittingduck]

Problem is the engines on current spacecraft. Not enough welly to get to the destination in good time. It would be a really boring flight

Easy pickings on virgin Strava segments up there though. Guaranteed KOMs!

 

[Archie_tect]

Of all the bars in all the world, and you had to eat mine...

 

[Night Train]

I like the analogy with the early settlers that went to America from Europe. They went for life, to settle and survive and raise families etc. The mars trip would be similar without wooden boats and Indian raiding parties I suppose.

The technology these astronauts will have available will keep them in touch with earth I am sure and they can have tesco deliver to them if they download the app and order online.

If they have access to water up there then it's a goer, if they dont then they will either have to depend on a supply line from earth or die.

I guess also they will need 'breeding pairs', 'Community leaders and wise old folks', medical peeps etc.

Personally I'm all for using Mars as a prison colony for moron drivers and chavvy oiks however.

Theoretically the technology is available to make Mars habitable. Antarctic spec shelters, growing crops, finding water, making many of the other resources, etc. can be done. The problem, I think, is the cost of sending the equipment there first and having it all self establish to start making/collecting oxygen and water, growing plants, constructing shelters, and so on before sending the first 'caretakers' there to check it is all working as it should. Then the slow trickle of the masses could/would follow.
Governments wouldn't fund such a long term venture anymore and so private companies would do it. They would then claim rights and rents and return of profits, making less then altruistic.

I guess for settlers it would be initially be fit and healthy people in their 20s to 30s, who could rough it and breed, who will go first. However, realistically it should be older, skilled, and knowledgable 'do anything and everything' people, who are not planning on breeding when there, who should be the first settlers (people like me!)
They would check the viability of the system with no direct risk to their next generation from toxins, radiation, etc. and be willing to spend the time fixing and preparing for the next generation to come in and take over. The oldies would then be the wise ones and teachers who will guide the young ones in how to ensure the colony remains viable.

Technologically, Mars is almost the ideal place to build a space lift (Space Elevator) for bringing stuff to and from orbit. That could make it a better base for further exploration of the solar system. That could influence the sort of people who would/should go.


The more interesting aside would be how to sort out the Martian calendar.
A Mars day is 24 hours 37 minutes 22 seconds, so a tad longer then an Earth day. The year is nearly twice as long, 687 days.
Would Martians celebrate birthdays to the Earth calendar or the Martian one?
If conducting business and commerce with the Earth, where would one 'dispose' of the additional 38 minutes of clock creep?
If I went I would be around my very early 50s. I could then count my age in Martian years and the next 50 years of my life would only make me about 77 years old!


I would be very annoyed if 'the scum of the Earth' were sent to Mars. It would be such a waste of a world to start it off on a bad footing.