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Trip to Mars


beemerboy

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I just read an interesting article about 400 people who have expressed an interest to participate in a one-way trip to Mars.

 

The article appears in the Journal of Cosmology and details a privately funded, one-way mission that could depart as soon as twenty years from now. The article apparently garnered a lot of interest causing as many as 400 readers to volunteer.

 

Nevermind the unlikely event of this happening but, would you consider doing something like this? I gave it some thought and was surprised at the range of ideas and emotions that popped up.

 

So, uNrally on Mars, anyone? :D

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I could easily come up with 400 people that I would volunteer for a one-way ticket to Mars.

 

Oh, did I misunderstand something? Sorry for my bad English, I'm not from around here, you know.

 

--

Mikko

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Come on now, let's get serious and answer the question. Could you volunteer for a one-way trip to Mars knowing you'd never see your family, friends, or Earth again? Could you live without the warm fuzziness of successfully completing a valve adjust & TB sync? No more cheeseburgers. No more Torey. No more sports. No more barley pop/scotch/whiskey/wine/etc.

 

Nothing but endless vistas of solar systems, dwindling comraderie, and then an uncertain death.

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Nothing but endless vistas of solar systems, dwindling comraderie, and then an uncertain death.
And that's different how?

 

Without a few more details it's hard to answer the question seriously. How long would it take? What is the plan once you get there?

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Nothing but endless vistas of solar systems, dwindling comraderie, and then an uncertain death.
And that's different how?

 

Without a few more details it's hard to answer the question seriously. How long would it take? What is the plan once you get there?

 

So, uNrally on Mars, anyone?

 

Since it's an UNrally there are few plans.

Uh, I am quite sure I can't make this one. I'm not that good off road.

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From what I've read the idea is not at all to make it anything like a "suicide mission". It's just that the crew should commit to live on the new planet for the rest of their lives.

 

Something like 80% of the fuel/money/resources/supplies etc. of a "there and back" expedition to Mars would be used to cover the way back to Earth.

If there's no return ticket, the mission becomes helluva lot easier and cheaper.

 

The situation is not vary different from how it worked for many of the Europeans who crossed the Atlantic to settle to the newly discovered America.

Most had no realistic plan to ever go back to where every they came from. And the "new world" was probably more unknown to them as Mars is now to any potential space explorer.

 

 

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Its hard to go back and second guess your state of mind 40 years ago (to be of an age that might be considered good to go), but I suspect I'd have said "I'm in! Where do I sign?". What an adventure !

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I wouldn't do it, unless there were some likely tangible benefit to my family and friends. I wouldn't do it for the sake of science or discovery, as I cannot fathom leaving behind those whom I love.

 

It's a pretty interesting concept, though. Many who settled America over the past three centuries or so have had to make a decision with the same practical consequences, forever severing their physical ties to those they love. I find that amazing.

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I think my old girlfriend was from Mars. I've always waantd to meet her parents. So, yes, count me in, one way ticket on the

super natural highway.

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OK, so it's obvious that the family oriented and reticent would not go. For myself, if not for a wife i'd already made commitment to, the 'family' would not be a consideration. I'm gonna get old and die anyway and loose any connection. Why not have a go at something remarkable. My name would be up there with some other explorers that have holidays named after them. The second wave always seem to get lost in the mist of time. The subsequent Martian generations may have NOTACOP day off from work. That's huge man.

And you guys wanna stay home to ride to a motel to have dinner....

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I'm afraid that at some point I'd realize that I was in a little tin can surrounded by mega miles of vaccuum. And the little tin can was getting smaller and tighter and the vaccuum was getting bigger and bigger. Don't think it would work. Kind of like being in a cave and suddenly realizing all the tons of earth are pressing down on me. Not a happy camper and no way out.

 

----

 

 

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Nothing but endless vistas of solar systems, dwindling comraderie, and then an uncertain death.
And that's different how?

 

Without a few more details it's hard to answer the question seriously. How long would it take? What is the plan once you get there?

 

Let your imagination run wild, Bob. The article said it would take ten months to get to the red planet and that the initial goal would be to determine if colonization would be possible. Somewhere in all this are all kinds of challenges, some known, many unknown. Anyway, I submitted the post merely to get people thinking. So, think away.

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If you had asked before the family came along, I would say sure!

 

It would be easy to come up with tens of thousands of volunteers (most would not qualify, however).

 

 

[edit] .....emphasizing that the qualifications for a flight to Mars would be apolitical...... ;) [edit]

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What would the weather be like? Too cold? I cannot take cold, I can take the heat, but not cold.

What kind of food. Like mostly McDonald's, or a real chef, and special orders?

Would the others be smoking, or would this be a totally non smoking endeavor?

Do I get paid, or do I have to pay to go?

Who else is going?

Can I bring whoever I want, whether they want to go, or not?

What types of activities will there be? Internet? TV? Earth TV, or interplanetary tv?

You just raise more questions here than can be answered.

dc

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with family, I'm in. What an exciting place for kids to grow up!

 

No "second wave" for me! My forebears came over in 1635 (second wave), and nobody had heard of them.

 

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