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Sending Astronauts On a One-Way Trip To Mars
The Narrative Fallacy writes "Cosmologist Lawrence M. Krauss, director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State University, writes in the NY Times that with the investment needed to return to the moon likely to run in excess of $150 billion and the cost of a round trip to Mars easily two to four times that, there is a way to reduce the cost and technical requirements of a manned mission to Mars: send the astronauts on a one way trip. 'While the idea of sending astronauts aloft never to return is jarring upon first hearing, the rationale for one-way trips into space has both historical and practical roots,' writes Krauss. 'Colonists and pilgrims seldom set off for the New World with the expectation of a return trip.' There are more immediate and pragmatic reasons to consider one-way human space exploration missions including money. 'If the fuel for the return is carried on the ship, this greatly increases the mass of the ship, which in turn requires even more fuel.' But would anyone volunteer to go on such a trip? Krauss says that informal surveys show that many scientists would be willing to go on a one-way mission into space and that we might want to restrict the voyage to older astronauts, whose longevity is limited in any case. "
Just make sure my wife's on board.
The added bonus is that they don't have broadband at home, so they'll accept an 8 minute ping from Mars.
Just make sure my wife isn't on board.
The first set of explorers are to seed the planet with their corpses so that the next wave will have something to eat.
The real problem is radiation exposure. 6 months there, 500 days on the surface, 6 months back.
So just transfer some auxiliary power to the deflector shields. Geez, do I have to figure everything out for you?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Tell them that there are 72 unspoiled virgins waiting for them.
But I wonder what would happen when they get very old.
This is just a guess mind you, but I'm pretty sure they would die.
Sign me in. I have a colon cancer with 2 year left to live (max).
All they need is a fabrication shop which is built entirely from parts which the shop itself is capable of manufacturing.
What if the part that breaks made the part that broke?
Indeed, they often did back in the old days, however, I am fairly confident that at the very least, they expected a breatheable atmosphere at their destination.
Not true! It's a little known fact that one of the reasons the Pilgrims were dependent on the natives for food that first Thanksgiving was because they'd wasted so much space in their ship's hold on canisters of compressed O2. You don't hear about this much, because the Pilgrims were so embarrassed when they first met the American Indians and wanted to know how they could survive without oxygen masks!
The enemies of Democracy are
Unless of course Mars is actually the cure for aging.
You can't take the sky from me.
ummm... speak for yourself. I think we should sell tickets to the live video stream to pay for the resupply missions. Make sure 80% of the crew is smoking hot babes and that everyone shares a single sleeping chamber under full view of the cameras (including a few the crew don't know about).
I think this is one instance where we can all agree that piracy would ultimately boost the ratings. I mean if nobody pays for the stream... no resupply...
Just make sure choice politicians are on board.
;).
Or hold a reality show called "Voted Off The Planet!".
I'm too lazy at the moment so I'll let you all imagine/figure out the details - e.g. 1-way or return.
Lastly if the "right" people get voted off the planet that might actually save a lot more than 150 paltry billions in the long run
You forget about the gateway to hell that will open up eventually. So need to send at least one space marine to clean the shit up once it hits the fan.
What if the Martians think we're sending gifts and decide to keep the stuff for themselves? Awkward...
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
Food, drinking water, and oxygen will be the major limiting factors. That's assuming you can take along a habitat to mitigate the temperatures and dust storms. If the team lasts say 10 years, you'll run into other problems, like clothing and maintaining the shelter.
Presumably, there would be a mechanism for extracting a tolerable atmosphere for breathing and for growing food, and equipment for turning Martian dirt into agrochemicals. Essentially, Martian raw materials will be processed into food for plants, which will convert it into food for humans, who will convert it into shit. Only some of the shit can be recycled back into the soil (human shit is not as good for plants as horse shit is). After 10 years of dumping the surplus shit outside, you'll have made a good start on terraforming the local surroundings...
After sufficient time, Mars would be knee-deep in shit, and look just like Earth.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire