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Mars One Has 78,000 Applicants
An anonymous reader writes "Mars One reports that 78,000 people have volunteered for a one-way ticket to Mars. A quick calculation shows that this means people lined up coast-to-coast in a line with only 40cm per person! (As Robert Zubrin already predicted). If you want, you can still go and sign up (or sign up your worst enemy). Or you can just look at some videos of the would-be travelers."
I can think of several people that I would like to volunteer for a one-way ticket to Mars. Were these volunteers self-nominated, or did Mars One accept third-party nominations?
Wonder what they're going to do with it.
78000 people * 40 cm = 3120000 cm
3120000 cm = 312000 m = 312 km
Which two coasts are we talking about?
I know the idea of going to Mars sounds awesome, but are there that many emotionally stable and qualified applicants who will sign up to be the first to die on another planet?
I think this is a bad way to go about this.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
This is nothing but a fake reality show designed to try and fool people into thinking they're going to mars. I don't know how well they will succeed. But people can be pretty dumb sometimes.
But I know there are at least a 100,000 more qualified people that will volunteer and do a better job then I on the mission. I imagine a lot of people have not volunteered for that very valid reason. So these look like pretty decent numbers to me, maybe a tiny bit low. But not bad.
At around 40$ per person, that's already a good crowd funding campaign.
So, how long before the project is shut down because, you know, it's not so simple to go there?
Of course, if you're refering to the US coasts.
Anyone could volunteer to go to Saturn or Alpha Centauri, but the bottom line is we don't have the technology to go any of them.
A quick calculation shows that this means people lined up coast-to-coast in a line with only 40cm per person!
WTF does this mean?
I mean, I'd be happy to go, but I'm smart enough to realize I have basically no chance (I'm a cross-discipline engineer -- B.S.es in both E.E. and M.E. -- so I'm, let's say, in the top percentile. Big deal -- that only leaves many thousands of people with better qualifications), so it's not a rational use of my time to sign up. (It's probably also not a rational use of my time to type this post about rational uses of time, but let's don't go there, shall we.)
I'm sure there's many others like me who don't bother to sign up for the same reason, which just underscores the unshortage -- if there was a shortage, then we'd all sign up (because we'd have a non-negligible chance of being selected) and there wouldn't be a shortage.
Imagine how disappointed those people will be when they're dying on Mars and get word that a manned fly-by and return mission has just launched.
Look at those pictures Mars is going to be a sausage-fest!
If you read the Mars One, you'll see that they're counting on revenue from a reality program to fund the project.
So, the candidates must not only be emotionally stable and qualified, but be photogenic and charming enough to sustain the interest of viewers.
Imagine the horror if, after three years, all of the surviving colonists turn out to be phlegmatic, agreeable, no-drama workaholics and stable family-minded folks.
"These rating are terrible! My God, it's turned into The Waltons in space! Can we ship in some ninjas or a killer robot to liven things up?"
So? In this era of "liking" and "sharing" and "+1ing"... 78k "likes" isn't all that impressive. (And the vast majority probably aren't qualified and won't pass screening in the first place - they're just applying because it's "cool".)
3000km = 3*10^6 m
This result in each person being 38.46m.
Somebody needs a math lesson. 3000 miles * 5280 feet per mile / 78000 = 203 feet. That is a tad more than 40 cm.
40 cm per person? No... 40 m per person? Yes.
Great idea love! It sound soooo romantic to be the first couple to step on Mars. Our love will forever be remembered~ Let's do it!
*15 odd years later*
On second thought, let's not go to Mars. Tis a silly place anyway.
I hope the guy who did that calculation is not computing the path of the spacecraft.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
What the summary fails to mention is that the "application fee" was at minimum $20 USD, and went upwards towards $40 USD depending on the country. Worst case scenario they made about $1.5 million off of applications alone. I would think that volunteering to permanently leave your life behind would be enough collateral without needing to nickel and dime applicants. This reeks of the space-equivalent of vaporware to me.
Just wondering. What percentage of those are Telephone hygienists?
I always wanted to take over the world, but since earth is taken, maybe I can apply to be the new ruler there.
At $38 per application this means they have already generated $2,964,000 Clever way to get funding if you ask me..
shows that people will do ANYTHING to get the fuck out of their respective countries.
wikipedia from canada just went ......POOF now its so slow its not funny
This is about as likely to happen as North Korea landing a man on the moon.
I'll volunteer to be the first man to arm wrestle an alien.
They would have doubled their budget.
Mars One intends to fund this decade-long endeavor by involving the whole world as the audience of an interactive, televised broadcast of every aspect of this mission, from the astronaut selections and their preparations to the arrival on Mars and their lives on the Red Planet.
Sounds like the biggest, most expensive television reality show, to-date. Question: what happens if the ratings aren't good?...or what happens if the audience decidedly hates one of the contestants after the mission launches/lands on Mars? :P
Can someone apply in Justin Bieber's name? Then, after the mission launches and he lands on Mars, lets cancel the show.
I signed up for the news letter and was planning on applying but they want 38 fucking dollars as a registration fee. Screw that. If I actually thought this was gonna go anywhere I'd gladly pay it. If it was 5 bucks or so I'd gladly pay it just on a lark even thinking as I do that this will probably amount to nothing. 40 bucks just to apply for something that will probably fail and that I probably won't get picked for even if it does succeed? Fuck that noise!
This is nothing but a fake reality show designed to try and fool people into thinking they're going to mars
or, more likely, a fake fake reality show designed to fool viewers into thinking that the contestants thought they were going to Mars.
(Actually, putting even one "fake" before "reality show" is redundant).
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
You can whittle that down to about 3 that have the nerve to actually do it as launch day approaches.
a 3D printer. There's no Home Depot on Mars, you know.
NT.
If I recall correctly, a trip of that amount of time and distance will expose people to all sorts of life shortening types of energy. I'm not sure I see the point of that trip without protection from all of that. Is there SPF-2000 yet?
From their website:
"The Life Support Unit is able to collect 1500 liters water and 120 kilograms oxygen in 500 days time."
That's 3 liters of water per day, for drinking, growing food and sanitation, per landing craft. That won't even support ONE person.
The presence of a 'Merchandise' link on their site is a good indication of what this project is really about.
I'm still waiting for Pan Am to let me know when my number comes up for the Moon First Flight Club...
/hhgttg
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Didn't the Hitchhiker Guide have an episode in which the all the middle-managers were sent on the first space ship and the rest of the people were to follow? Ha...
I'd go to Mars, but their reality-TV process is offputting.
Anyone notice the extremely high male to female ratio?
Assuming that the calculation in the summary is accurate (which is just as valid as assuming a given country) we are looking for a location that has a coast to coast distance of between 30 and 40 km.
WELL if we want to get in the business of apologetic measurements, I believe Mars One is based in the Netherlands. So assuming that back of an envelope calculation was being applied to the location of operations, we could assume they are referring to the inverted shores that are the endpoints of Afsluitdijk Dike which happen to connect North Holland province with Friesland province and measures 32 kilometers in length.
My work here is dung.
NASA had 6300 applications on their latest call for astronauts, Mars One receives 78,000 in just two weeks? Guess people are more excited about Mars exploration than comet capture after all. Who would have guessed.
Just smaller than originally envisioned...
PS - captcha: disturbs
Well, technically they'll die on Earth as well.
Really, it's a matter of timelines.
If they had a real plan to start a self-supporting Mars colony (or at least self-supporting within a timeline when aid of some sort could be sent), I wouldn't see a big issue with that. Not much different from the early exploration/colonial days.
Self disqualification is much higher for Nasa then for a T.V. show?
But seriously I thought you had to actually be a pilot in the air force or hold some similarly rigorous qualifications to apply to Nasa's astronaut program.
The reality is according to the standards set forth there are just not that many people who can be Astronauts and this makes sense.
A take on a oldie-but-goodie : What do you call 500 lawyers sent on a one-way missions to Mars? A good start.
Sort the videos by rating, 4 of the top 5 are 20-something women, such as Ilona from Finland. Her bio reads;
maybe I'm just a cranky old codger, but that sounds a lot like the vapid, not-really-saying-anything "hi I saw your profile so let's chat" kind of e-mail spam we get all the time.
Because you get rid of so many more idiots?
When you look around who is seated next to you and realize that the rocket ship you are on only contains politicians and lawyers and in that moment you know it is almost a statistical certitude that A) the ship is headed directly towards the Sun, and B) it has no pilot or controls of any kind.
Most people will die eventually.
They won't "voluntarily" leave the ship. Cause that is where their private World of Warcraft server will be.
How else do you think they go so many volunteers? Bet they promised the "elitist gear", a higher level cap, and a new playable Martian race too.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
We all see those pictures of Mars with a red atmosphere, but the reality isn't just that the atmosphere doesn't have O2 and N2, but that there really isn't much of ANY atmosphere. It's just enough to add color to the photos and move a bit of dust around. Might as well be planning to live on the moon - it's just as habitable but Mars LOOKS more like earth.
Any plans to terraform it? What life could we actually put there that might survive?
Mars One = Mars One-Way Trip You Stupid Idiots
Just signed up my worst enemy. Wonder if he will ever realize how, what, why. A foretaste of vengeance remote....
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
It's not dumb, it's fraudulent. They have no intention of actually launching a spacecraft. This is America. Imagine the lawsuits when a crew full of TV stars dies!
It just doesn't make financial sense when you think about the end game. I am sure their intention to actually launch a spacecraft is every bit as real as the Amish mafia.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
I think it very brave for so many to volunteer for a dangerous and technically challenging mission. To kiss earth good bye... The real challenge (based on the volunteer profiles) as I see it is... How will NASA or perhaps a Space Venture Start-up "TRANSPORT MOM'S BASEMENT TO...MARS!"?
For the most complicated and expensive way of removing oneself from the gene pool.
I'm not sure which one bothers me more...
A) It is a scam. 78000 people fell for it. Thanks for your money.
or
B) It is not a scam, but the project never gets anywhere. Thanks for your money.
or
C) It is not a scam. They get to Mars. Based on some arbitrary selection process any one of these 78000 people may become responsible for a good part of the genetic makeup of all future Martians...
where are all the females?? I think on average 1 in every 3-5 pages has a female entry. Looks like the Mars colony is going to be a giant penis fest.
If it's going to be a reality show like BBC's "Castaway 2000" on Taransay, it's going to be fascinating television to watch! I can't wait!
Out of thousands, only a few candidates are chosen.
The trip is a one-way ticket (to die).
Candidates are sent to an inhospitable environment.
Candidates must survive on their own or die hungry.
Candidates are televised 24 hours a day.
Candidates can be sent care packages from people watching them on TV.
Candidates are not given weapons, but they are given a 3D printer. *wink wink*.
Only the strong will survive. The weak will perish.
Statistically, most of the applicants are males, and not really too many attractive looking women of the opposite sex. Going to the mars mission is *probably* not going to get you laid, and you'll probably wind up mating every 7 years or so like the Vulcans. Or just using your hand. Even though I'm not one to point fingers, most of the applicants (men AND women) seem to be a little bit psychologically unstable. Quite frankly, I think I would rather be on a single person mission that results in being locked in a decaying orbit around neptune wherein I only have my own thoughts to drive me over the edge, and headfirst into the gaping void of insanity. That's just my two cents, though.
Yes, it is true. I applied. Not sure if I represent us well, but should we (as slashdotters) be worried ;)
http://applicants.mars-one.com/profile/6cf2c6c2-0862-4994-a255-8caa980cea85
Let's assume the shortest possible distance, 3,347 km by crow from San Diego, CA to Jacksonville, FL.
Let them all lie down (1.7m average height) - after all this will take a while.
And then throw in 40cm between them for comfort.
You could still fit in 1.5 million people and change, or about the population of Idaho.
USA coast to coast great circle distance is about 3,400 kilometers which is 3,400,000 meters or 340,000,000 cm... divided by 78,000 persons is about 4,400 cm per person... or 44 meters... seems someone is off by a factor of 100.
What is the value of sending someone to another planet, when you can't return them? There is no glory for the human race. There won't be any new science, just making temporary use of what we have. So what if someone stands on the planet and says "I was first" just to immediately die. What good does that do for them? And all for money. It makes almost as much sense as watching people beat each other's brains out for money. At least they tend to live through it, though a lot of brain cells died in the process.
A one way trip is no glory for mankind. A round trip, however, is worth it.
This is all going to end with cannibalism. Bank on it.
Wow, it's going to be amusing to see all the sociopaths on that spacecraft fighting for being the first human on Mars.
This whole comment thread is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Off Topic.