One-Way Ticket to Mars?

ahogue writes "Paul Davies, who has written several very accessible books on physics and cosmology, proposes an interesting way to get a manned mission to Mars - leave them there. [NYTimes, free reg. req.] While it may sounds shocking at first, the financial and exploratory benefits seem to outweigh the social negatives. Any volunteers?" Reader docanime writes with some sober news: "All this recent talk about Mars rovers and orbiters has made one space fan checking out how well Mars has been deflecting and destroying the space probes. The Mars Scorecard lists all the known fly-by, orbital, and landing attempts/failures made by humans. In case you're curious, Mars is winning 20 to 16."

Comments

G Dubya wants Martian Oil or Mars Needs WMD!

[Fluk3]

Maybe that is where Osama is hiding? Are there spider holes on Mars?

Do it in waves

[jeffasselin]

Ship out an initial crew of 4-5, specialists who can evaluate the terrain, make measurements, etc. Then a few years after, send up 10-20 people, more varied, with a lot more equipment, to set up a bigger site, and ready for the next wave: within 5-10 years after initial launch, send 100-200 people of all kinds, who are going to start colonizing, and expand from there, gradually. Don't expect to get any of them back, they're going to stay, but expect it to grow over time as we send more and more people with more resources, and do all we can to make it more self-sufficient.

Now, where do I sign up?