Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Propose One-Way Trips To Mars
vortex2.71 writes "Invoking the spirit of Star Trek in a scholarly article entitled 'To Boldly Go,' two scientists contend human travel to Mars could happen much more quickly and cheaply if the missions are made one-way. They argue that it would be little different from early settlers to North America, who left Europe with little expectation of return. 'The main point is to get Mars exploration moving,' said Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University, who wrote the article in the latest Journal of Cosmology with Paul Davies of Arizona State University. The colleagues state — in one of 55 articles in the issue devoted to exploring Mars — that humans must begin colonizing another planet as a hedge against a catastrophe on Earth."
They had to spend months with only what drinkable water they could carry, which was at that time as daunting as it is now to carry the fuel(energy) needed to get to Mars
Frankly, I've got a LOT of politicians in mind that I'd happily vote off the planet!!
But seriously, if nothing else, why not take volunteers from people on death row, that were sufficiently intelligent? Go through training, go to Mars, stay there and you get to live.
I figure some of them might take the choice, and we'd be solving a few problems at once that way...
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
hey I am not in a death row, and I would volunteer. I am already well trained for that mission.
If they provide enough resources for a lifetime, I would not feel more alone on Mars than right now here among billions of people who do not give a shit about me.
There's no technical reason not to launch all the equipment the settlers would need to be self sufficient in those areas all at once in a Project Orion vehicle.
Send me, a half dozen inflatable greenhouses, enough plants to eat/breathe from, and some quonset-type buriable shelters. I'll be standing by for any other stuff you'd like done, can get a lot more science done than a rover, and will be happy to have my paycheck handed over to my wife and kids here. Of course, if you end up sending along my wife and kids, and some other folks, I'll plant a flag, declare independence, and do my best to sieze the planet as soon as I'm self-sufficient.
The preceding comment is my own, and in no way construes an opinon of the Emperor of Mankind.
Here's a question. Why haven't we already sent large pods of photosynthesizing/oxygen producing bacteria or rugged desert plants to at least see if it's feasible.
Who's it going to hurt?
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
And what if an asteroid does it?
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
That's fine, but how many of those "certainly thousands" are *actually qualified* - physically, mentally, and psychologically, to be a Mars settler?
I get a strong impression that most people saying "I'd do it" are (choose one or more):
1) Ridiculously naive about the hardships and privations it would involve, and the physical and psychological stress that would place them under; Look at the death rates, disease, and physical hardships endured by colonists in North America when they arrived, and then consider that they had breathable atmosphere, arable land, many sources of water, and natives there before them who were disposed to trade and interaction, and that they arrived primarily as farmers and laborers, which don't require multiple PhD's and an extra 10-20 years of research & training to become an "expert" in.
2) Woefully underprepared physically - a lifetime of reading sci fi novels and hacking open source doesn't necessarily translate to surviving and thriving in a harsh physical environment which demands peak physical conditioning; Not all geeks are out of shape, but a good portion of them are due to an overwhelmingly sedentary lifestyle.
3) Psychologically incapable of understanding the stresses because they view martian colonization as some sort of fun "getaway" from all the "stupid people" back here on earth. Being a "loner" who hates other people is not a plus in cramped quarters where you will have NO privacy, and be unable to survive without relying on MANY other colonists, who in turn must rely on you. There is a difference between being "self sufficient" and being a misanthrope. I suspect a lot of the people chiming in saying "I'd volunteer" fit more closely into the second category, making their psychological state suspect at best for an endeavor of this sort.
Of the thousands that were interested in volunteering, I'd be surprised if more than a handful were able to pass the requisite physical & psychological tests, and had the mental acuity & training to be of much help. Going to colonize the new world, you could take people along as farmhands. Going to Mars, even your "farmhands" need PhDs. And let's not forget that to make this colony "viable" as anything other than a death sentence, you need women, and you need to be able to have (conceive, deliver, care for, and raise) children, too. Otherwise, you'll end up with a rapidly aging population (stress and hardship do harsh things to a body) with nobody to replace them, resulting in a geriatric colony unless you commit to: supplying them constantly with new members, and (hopefully) shipping injured/sick/too-old-to-be-helpful people back to earth - I say hopefully, because the other option would be to implement a death penalty when they become too much of a drain on the colony to support.
Transfering between Mars and Earth orbit is actually quite a low energy trip, if you are prepared to take a long time like a year or two.
The solution is simple.
Send equipment and infrastructre their in long slow ships, perhaps using spent rocket boosters to hold it all. Aero brake into the atmosphere and park it at a landing site.
Send canned primates there fast in a very small minimal ship. Perhaps even no bigger than an Apollo capsule, just punch it up to high speed with technology in reach like a plasma rocket. 14-25 days to Mars anyone?
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.