One-Way Ticket: Mars One Project Applicants Top 100,000

Bas Lansdorp's projected trip to Mars has a well-known catch: the ticket to space is free (rather than the millions of dollars for the more conventional kind of space travel available to civilians), but it's one-way only. That's a downside for any potential astronauts who'd like to do things like visit the beach or ever see their Earthside family again in person. Still, the Mars One project announced this week that more than 100,000 volunteers have announced their willingness to forsake this planet in favor of the next. The application process is ongoing; have you signed up?

Comments

what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[alen]

will they sterilize the women first or will they risk children being born on Mars?

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

I will make it my goal if i get accepted to have a child born on mars.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[sentientbeing]

Mars aint the kind of place to raise a kid

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Opportunist]

Why? Virtually no crime, pretty much nonexistent unemployment, lots of free space, no environmental issues, no civil unrest or wars anywhere on the horizon... it's THE place to be!

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[lxs]

In fact it's cold as hell.

Re: what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[ecotax]

Not so sure about there being no environmental issues...

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do you feel the need to make a shitty pop-culture reference, rather than coming up with some original content of your own?

We don't come here to read comments that are nothing but a lyric written by Bernie Taupin and sung by Elton John, William Shatner or that kid from Family Guy.

But on the bright side, at least you aren't one of those "obligatory xkcd" freaks. (Don't bother posting xkcd links, trying to be a smartass. We're just going to ignore them.)

Use your brain, and come up with something original, rather than just quoting somebody else.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[AchilleTalon]

No need to sterilize them, they will sterilize during the journey due to high level of cosmic rays.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[AchilleTalon]

It is very unlikely to succeed. High radiation levels and first of all, you need to survive at least nine months.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would they sterilize the women? Why not men? ;-)

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

The OP is probably referring to the fact that conception and gestation are likely impossible on Mars due to it's low gravity. And if a child is born there are still more hurdles:

1. The child will be unable to travel to Earth, because the higher gravity of earth will kill him or her.

2. If the child is part of this group then it will die of starvation or whatever, just as they will, except of course, they chose to die, and the child didn't. It's an ethical minefield. If these people are serious about going to Mars, rather than paying $38, they should volunteer to be sterilised if chosen. This way, the severe ethical and medical issues associated with procreation can be avoided. Oh, and instead of $38 each, they should be paying $38000000 dollars apiece. At that kind of money, and with 100 K people pitching in, we are getting closer to a viable enterprise. Of course, for that money, what they will get is to be able to fly their cremated remains to Mars and have them scattered on the surface by an automated probe. Same outcome.

But to address your points specifically:

Virtually no crime, pretty much nonexistent unemployment,

If as settlement is ever established on Mars, in the long term crime is likely to be a huge problem, owing to the desperate circumstances arising from the incredibly bad economic conditions. Mars will be in a very disadvantageous position WRT to Earth. They will lack power, industrial skills, economies of scale freedom of movement, everything that goes to making a society prosperous. Mars has nothing the Earth dwellers want or need, and craves the things the Earth can provide. Earth dwellers can travel to Mars, and then back to Earth, Long term Mars residents cannot travel to Earth. Mars lacks the water and sunlight to be competitive or even self sufficient agriculturally, it lacks the power, and likely, the metals needed for industrialisation, it cannot support a population large enough for a diversified economy. Mars will be a ghetto. Unemployment and crime will be rampant.

lots of free space,

Hypothetical residents on Mars will live underground in tunnels - they have to, due to the deadly radiation. They will rarely, if ever, venture to the surface. Space will be at an absolute premium, more like living on a submarine than living on Earth.

no environmental issues,

Well, Mars is dead, so it's true that we are unlikely to cause any environmental damage. Economic activity will be low to non-existent so Mars is unlikely to have many problems with industrial pollutants. However living quarters will be cramped and sanitation poor, plus many of the techniques used to move pollutants out of our nests on the earth (like flushing them into rivers) won't work on Mars - the water recycling strategies used on the ISS and similar will likely fail early in the piece owing to a lack of parts and the impossibility of buying new ones.

no civil unrest or wars anywhere on the horizon.

Mars will resemble the classic breeding ground for civil unrest for the reasons given above. Wars, maybe not, because there will never be enough people there to ever go to War, and the classic geographical style war is impossible anyway.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

In fact it's cold as hell.

I knew it. The end is near. Hell is frozen over.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's far easier to sterilize the men.

Re: what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[miketg23]

Mr Mustard, you're absolutely insane. Just an fyi

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[__aaltlg1547]

The OP is probably referring to the fact that conception and gestation are likely impossible on Mars due to it's low gravity.

That's not a fact. That's unfounded speculation.

1. The child will be unable to travel to Earth, because the higher gravity of earth will kill him or her.

More speculation. There's no data on which to base that conclusion. No person have ever been in gravity between 0 m/s2 and 9.8 m/s2 for more than a few days.

2. If the child is part of this group then it will die of starvation or whatever, just as they will, except of course, they chose to die, and the child didn't. It's an ethical minefield.

That's pretty likely.

Mars will be in a very disadvantageous position WRT to Earth. They will lack power, industrial skills, economies of scale freedom of movement, everything that goes to making a society prosperous. Mars has nothing the Earth dwellers want or need, and craves the things the Earth can provide. ... Mars lacks the water and sunlight to be competitive or even self sufficient agriculturally, it lacks the power, and likely, the metals needed for industrialisation, it cannot support a population large enough for a diversified economy. Mars will be a ghetto. Unemployment and crime will be rampant.

That also seems likely.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[__aaltlg1547]

One unsterilized woman can get pregnant. One unsterilized man can get all the women pregnant.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

The main problem with your analysis is that the kind of people they will (or ought to) send will be very easy-going, non-violent, kind, highly intelligent and well educated. There's never been a society of people like that, so our experiences from earth are irrelevant. Those were societies with plenty of violent people around to carry out the unrest. Children born to these parents are unlikely to have these characteristics to the same extent as their parents, due to regression to the mean, but their mean will be higher than for the population on earth due to both genetics and raising. Again, their society will not be like our societies - or rather, we do not have the evidence to know that it will.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[mikael_j]

I suspect humans make it there and create permanent settlements the crime and war situations may change rapidly.

Speaking of which, I should finish reading Green Mars...

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[interval1066]

Wars, maybe not, because there will never be enough people there to ever go to War, and the classic geographical style war is impossible anyway.

People will engage in war under any circumstances, geography is hardly a factor. A more likely scenario is that war will be difficult due to the scarcity of resources on Mars. War requires the squandering of vast amounts of resources, weather its money, goods, materials, or people. Far more likely is guerilla insugency, backed by earthly powers (countries) with some kind of vested interest in the social disruption of Martian society. Crime will be a given with the same scarcity of resources.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Already read that book.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[interval1066]

The main problem with your analysis is that the kind of people they will (or ought to) send will be very easy-going, non-violent, kind, highly intelligent and well educated.

Quite likely. For a working model we could actually use the early internet. Back before the arpanet became the internet there were fewer users and most were highly educated researchers. Forward to the present and we know what we have now.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Provocateur]

will make for one hell of a reality show

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[fustakrakich]

...no civil unrest or wars anywhere on the horizon...

Read Lord of the Flies, and remove all the nice 'tropical paradise' parts for a peek into their future.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[ahem]

Because then the kid might come back and form the Church of All Worlds, which would piss off the Fosterites.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[gweihir]

That would be a crime against humanity. It is one thing to throw your life away because you are stupid, but it is something else entirely to inflict this on e person that did not get a choice in the matter.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope you are kidding.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you not heard of the Virgin Mary?

Re: what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

The cut throat politics in mu corporation attest that intelligent educated people always live in love and harmony. Wait, not as intelligent and educated as astronauts supposed to be? What about that mega intelligent space girl who attempted kidnapping recently? Turned out she was a completely psycho when it came to reclaiming boyfriend. I value intelligence as much as you do but don't give it too much credit. The fact that these people want to abandon Earth forever already means they have a loose screw somewhere.

Re: what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because early internet was like living on a submarine with no hope of returning to civilization.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Dereck1701]

"High radiation levels"

You might want to do a little research, Curiosity has only recorded radiation levels equivalent to being aboard ISS, and that is without any shielding (I believe). Astronauts on ISS itself receive about 1 millisievert per day, whereas people in Colorado for example are probably exposed to 9-15 millisievert per year. So it is quite an increase from Earth normal, but even astronauts with long duration space stays only have a few percent higher risk (3% I believe). There is no doubt that inhabitants of Mars will have a higher incidence of Cancer (even with decent shielding), but they're not going to drop in 9 months. With even basic shielding 98% of people are going to live for decades, with decent shielding they're going to live quite normal lives. If you go extreme, with subterranean facilities for example, cancer risks for Long term Mars inhabitants could actually be below that of "Earthlings".

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Zero__Kelvin]

Evidently nobody told you, and I hate to be the one to break the bad news, but you would be required to leave your mother's basement in order to participate in this one.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Zero__Kelvin]

"The OP is probably referring to the fact that conception and gestation are likely impossible on Mars due to it's low gravity."

So you think that Elton John posts on slashdot?

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[tuxgeek]

Virtually no crime

What planet are you from? General human nature makes us all selfish self centered pricks. Here, on earth, you put two people within 100 yards of each other and you're going to get some form of confrontation. Theft, argument, fight or death. That's just the way it is, was and has always been. Will pretty much be the same on mars as well.

Although I would like to nominate my ex wife to be on the next shuttle when it leaves ..

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? Virtually no crime, pretty much nonexistent unemployment, lots of free space, no environmental issues, no civil unrest or wars anywhere on the horizon... it's THE place to be!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

> what happens if the chick get pregnant?

Drama, a.k.a good TV.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, what a complete lack of vision...

Mars has a gravity of ~38% of earth's gravity. This would make it ideal for refining materials gathered from asteroids. You wont have to worry about your processes not working due to a lack of gravity, a lot less energy would be required to descend and ascend with loads of ores/refined metals and other goods. The lack of civilization means that you wont have to worry about the NIMBY culture when building your nuclear reactors to power the massive refineries and other such industrial sites. Heck, you could even use uncontrolled descents to deliver raw materials (full asteroids if they are not too big) planet side...

The only real hurdles to a mars colony is getting there, becoming self sufficient (would either need the materials to refine the required materials for the colony or to send the actual materials to build the colony and supporting infrastructure) and some of the technology required, such as recovering oxygen from either carbon dioxide in large quantities or refining it from minerals, does not exist yet as far as I know.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[voidptr]

Fun fact: having a child on Earth also means inflicting an uncertain existence upon them including certain death. That fact doesn't appear to have stopped significant numbers of earthers from breeding either, even in conditions most of us wouldn't want to spend a day in let alone a lifetime.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Will they find more qualified candidates? Most of the applicants are still just overly emotional kids who say they want to go *now* but I bet when they actually get there they won't be able to handle it and will be begging to return to Earth. Every applicant I checked out was some low skill, person who had superficial interests like video games, sports, music, etc, with a few pseudo-intellectuals that had some training through trade schools or other laughable "academic" institution and no high level work experience with anything.

If these are the people they're sending, then I wish them all of the luck in the world because this mission is going to be a disaster.

Re: what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[FatLittleMonkey]

Mostly. Yes.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[mdielmann]

Oh, and instead of $38 each, they should be paying $38000000 dollars apiece. At that kind of money, and with 100 K people pitching in, we are getting closer to a viable enterprise. Of course, for that money, what they will get is to be able to fly their cremated remains to Mars and have them scattered on the surface by an automated probe. Same outcome.

Of course, when you limit the discussion to the ultimate outcome, this is true for just about any activity that can be contemplated. You can live out your life, in all likelihood a mere cog in the machine called civilization, or you can be cremated and have your ashes scattered in some place of significance to you. So, are you planning on killing yourself today, or will you try to do something truly memorable instead?

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[93 Escort Wagon]

And there's no one there to raise them if you did.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[dkleinsc]

Actually, Hell freezes over fairly regularly in the winter.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[nukenerd]

Virtually no crime

What planet are you from? General human nature makes us all selfish self centered pricks. Here, on earth, you put two people within 100 yards of each other and you're going to get some form of confrontation.

Funny you should say that. I live in a backwood area (remote by UK standards) and my nearest neighbour is 1/4 mile away, four times your distance, separated by forest, and not even in sight. He is a guy with a tractor for hire. I never met him until four months after moving here, when he dumped a truckload of building gravel in a forest entrance near my house, incidentally blocking one of my two rights of way to my house. Basically, he started using the area as a storage yard. So we had a bit of a confrontation.

There will always be issues between people. The number of people simply determine the scale of it.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Belial6]

On what planet? Here on Earth, sterilization for both men and women is an outpatient procedure with a recovery time of a few days.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

In fact it's cold as hell.

No problem. We will outfit the Martian colonists with electric boots. And a mohair suit.

I read it in a ma-ga-za-INE.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[ultranova]

Virtually no crime, pretty much nonexistent unemployment, lots of free space, no environmental issues, no civil unrest or wars anywhere on the horizon...

And the reason why a Mars base won't have unemployment is the exact same reason why military submarines don't have unemployment. There's also about as much free space. Unless you exit through the hatch, in which case the consequences will be the same too.

We are not talking about a settlement, we're talking about a base. Well, actually we're almost certainly talking about a scam, but we're definitely not talking about a base.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

Not saying you aren't right. You are - full scale, cooperative, organised violence will likely be limited due to a lack of resources. My geographic comment was related to the fact that people will live underground and the underground will be prized ground whereas the surface will have no strategic value. Any parties engaged in fighting will be looking to preserve tunnels and infrastructure because they are such a premium. Thus territorial disputes, limited though they be, will be much more in the style of close urban warfare than wide geographic disputes e.g. artillery or tank battles.

I'm not sure there is a distinction between the two things the OP mentioned "civil unrest" and "war" or how, in such a setting, we would denote the difference anyway.

Re: what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because early internet was like living on a submarine with no hope of returning to civilization.

No, that was AOL.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[godel_56]

Actually, Hell freezes over fairly regularly in the winter.

I remember reading a memoir of a US soldier in WW2 who wrote about seeing a sign pointing to Hell in Norway, and noticing that the roadway headed UP from his current location.

That Hell regularly freezes over too. According to Wikipedia, the name come from a word for "cliff overhang" in the Norwegian case.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

Of course, when you limit the discussion to the ultimate outcome, this is true for just about any activity that can be contemplated. You can live out your life, in all likelihood a mere cog in the machine called civilization, or you can be cremated and have your ashes scattered in some place of significance to you.

I'm not telling these people what they can do with their own money. As long as it's their money, and not someone elses. As long as it's understood that this is about personal ambition and ego (as you have helpfully pointed out).

So, are you planning on killing yourself today, or will you try to do something truly memorable instead?

Well, that's a bit off topic, however - if I had $38000000 dollars I would not spend it on some death cult ritual, no building a monumental pyramid, self aggrandising statue made of gold, or scattering of my ashes on another planet. If I'm to be remembered beyond my death, I don't particularly want to be remembered for my ego, or my fascination/fear of death or even fear of life.

In earthly reality land, we have some significant problems to deal with. Climate change, for instance. The collapse of the rule of law and democracy. These problems need people who will stand and fight, not live for escapist fiction based fantasies about life on another planet. Not people who would rather cash in and commit suicide on Mars. In future generations, these schemes will come to have a kind of infamy, along with climate denialists and their cash cow sponsors. If I'm to be remembered, I'll be remembered for standing on the side of good.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[godel_56]

One unsterilized woman can get pregnant. One unsterilized man can get all the women pregnant.

Or you could ship fertilized embryos in heavily shielded containers and implant them there, although I'm no sure why you'd want to.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

The OP is probably referring to the fact that conception and gestation are likely impossible on Mars due to it's low gravity.

That's not a fact. That's unfounded speculation.

Not exactly: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15607544. The premise of the study is logical: to stave off the effects of low gravity, martians need to rigorously exercise. Constantly. Fetuses cannot do that. The need to exercise will increase dramatically during developmental phases. That is, in utero and childhood.

Of course, there have been no experiments that confirm these observations but we are choosing between 2 contrasting speculations:

(a) that despite our observations of the effects on post development adults, developing humans will be unaffected by low gravity or

(b) based on our observations of the effects on adults, developing humans will also be affected, severely and detrimentally, more so if the cannot be made to exercise.

Out of those speculations, we should pick the one that is logical.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[__aaltlg1547]

The OP is probably referring to the fact that conception and gestation are likely impossible on Mars due to it's low gravity.

That's not a fact. That's unfounded speculation.

Not exactly: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15607544. The premise of the study is logical: to stave off the effects of low gravity, martians need to rigorously exercise. Constantly. Fetuses cannot do that. The need to exercise will increase dramatically during developmental phases. That is, in utero and childhood.

Of course, there have been no experiments that confirm these observations but we are choosing between 2 contrasting speculations:

(a) that despite our observations of the effects on post development adults, developing humans will be unaffected by low gravity or

(b) based on our observations of the effects on adults, developing humans will also be affected, severely and detrimentally, more so if the cannot be made to exercise.

Out of those speculations, we should pick the one that is logical.

Fetuse in flotation, which is pretty much the same as zero G except for the resistance provided by the aqueous medium. There is no reason to expect that the minute differences would affect fetuses.

There's also no logic in either of your false choices. First, because there are no observations of effects of fractional gravity on adults and because there could be effects is not the same as there would be severe and detrimental effects.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[__aaltlg1547]

There would be no point until you had an established colony capable of raising them. If the colony is thriving, it would be advantageous because it would increase the genetic diversity of the population, which in the long term increases the viability of the colony. But there would also be an advantage is allowing natural selection to enhance the frequency of alleles that prove adaptive in the Martian environment. Different genes might prove adaptive to microgravity.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[gweihir]

I agree. Life is really cheap to most people as long as it is the life of somebody else, even if it is their child. The problem is of course just the original one: It is far too cheap and easy to produce more human beings. Kind of the main problem we have.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Hentes]

At this point, I think that's pretty much the least of their worries. For example, I doubt they have any solution to the problem of how to actually get humans to Mars.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[interval1066]

I'm using the classic definition of war; armed conflict declared between two opposing forces composed of professional armies going head to head. In that light the US hasn't been in such a conflict since the early 50's. The last such war ever that I'm aware of was the Iran-Iraq war. Everything else has been insurgencies.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

micro / milli ... who cars about orders of magnitude right... *facepalm*

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Woosh

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's why it's important to be extra certain about sterilizing all the women.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[mysidia]

Oh, and instead of $38 each, they should be paying $38000000 dollars apiece.

No... they should spend $38 each to get there.... but before they leave, they should sell all the rest of their assets, and use the proceeds to create an enormous foundation whose purpose for existing is to get them back to earth: in case they later realize the mistake they have made.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

If as settlement is ever established on Mars, in the long term crime is likely to be a huge problem, owing to the desperate circumstances arising from the incredibly bad economic conditions. Mars will be in a very disadvantageous position WRT to Earth. They will lack power, industrial skills, economies of scale freedom of movement, everything that goes to making a society prosperous. Mars has nothing the Earth dwellers want or need, and craves the things the Earth can provide. Earth dwellers can travel to Mars, and then back to Earth, Long term Mars residents cannot travel to Earth. Mars lacks the water and sunlight to be competitive or even self sufficient agriculturally, it lacks the power, and likely, the metals needed for industrialisation, it cannot support a population large enough for a diversified economy. Mars will be a ghetto. Unemployment and crime will be rampant.

Wow you couldn't be further from the truth. Mars will actually be able to utilize what is known as photo-catalysis. A huge advantage to being there is that Mars has no magnetic field to block the higher energy, shorter wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. With this, materials with large electron band gaps can be deployed that will work extremely efficiently. A case and point would be photo-catalytic splitting of water. Mars has polar caps, thus water is available. Photo-catalysm of water into hydrogen and oxygen would allow for that to be consumed in either a fuel cell or ICE to generate power. Power would be no problem.

Lack metals? Um, the red tinge of mars is due to high amounts of iron-oxide. Reduction of this will yield iron.

Mars has nothing we want or need? well seeing as how planets end up with material from exploding stars (which can create noble metals), I would say there is a good chance Mars has things we desire greatly.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[kthreadd]

According to Wikipedia, which is always right, there is a Hell in Norway too. But it's not that high up, only 14 meters of elevation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Norway

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

2. If the child is part of this group then it will die of starvation or whatever, just as they will, except of course, they chose to die, and the child didn't. It's an ethical minefield.

That's pretty likely.

What's likely, the ethical mine field?

I personally believe that the whole Mars One thing is nothing but a giantic scam. But. There's no minefield, ethical or whatever, here. They will die, no mater what they do. We all will. Having children is the ONLY way to avoid dead somehow. That's what every species do when in danger, including our own. And that's surely what they would try to do.

Mars will be in a very disadvantageous position WRT to Earth. They will lack power, industrial skills, economies of scale freedom of movement, everything that goes to making a society prosperous. Mars has nothing the Earth dwellers want or need, and craves the things the Earth can provide. ... Mars lacks the water and sunlight to be competitive or even self sufficient agriculturally, it lacks the power, and likely, the metals needed for industrialisation, it cannot support a population large enough for a diversified economy. Mars will be a ghetto. Unemployment and crime will be rampant.

That also seems likely.

It's not likely. Mars IS very disadvantageous for us. But so is the Arctic, or the Sahara, and there's people that call them "home". And who knows what the future may bring, specially long term? What if there's a global catastrophe in Earth, like a mass extinction event? Asteroids are a possibility, but also there's still the global nuclear war (or accident) thing. The late is impossible on Mars right now, so you could think Mars is a bit safer in that respect.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

That and or develop a terminal cancer and die within 6 months up to a year. Having unplanned kids is hardly the issue here I would say.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[mysidia]

If the child is part of this group then it will die of starvation or whatever, just as they will, except of course, they chose to die, and the child didn't. It's an ethical minefield.

No... if having a child on mars is an ethical minefield, then having a child on earth is also an ethical minefield. How come people living in 3rd world countries on earth aren't required to sterilzie themselves?

Survival of the human race depends on reproduction. Forced sterilization is a cop-out.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[ianare]

There is a major difference though: the Internet's population has increased by connecting the rest of humanity to it, not only by the children of the early Internet.

A better model would be communes, where people join on the basis of religion, philosphy or purpose. In many cases the children born in these communes stay and continue the exmple set forth by their parents.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

Any other sounds you'd like to share?

Re: what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

Well, thanks for letting me know, I'll be sure to note that down.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

Fetuse in flotation, which is pretty much the same as zero G except for the resistance provided by the aqueous medium. There is no reason to expect that the minute differences would affect fetuses.

So you imagine that somehow, amniotic fluids cancel out gravity waves? *facepalm*

Just an FYI - uteruses aren't anti gravity devices. Foetuses feel gravity just the same as born people do.

There's also no logic in either of your false choices. First, because there are no observations of effects of fractional gravity on adults and because there could be effects is not the same as there would be severe and detrimental effects.

You're in denial.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

He might.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

They plan to fund this with a reality TV show. Do you think they'll get many viewers if the candidates are as you describe?

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[__aaltlg1547]

Fetuses don't work against gravity to move their bodies. There's a pressure gradient to be felt across their bodies, but it's small as a consequence of their bodies being small. You have absolutely no data showing that in-utero animal development is affected by gravity. Yet you feel qualified to extrapolate from that zero data to a conclusion that humans can't (or probably can't) reproduce on Mars.

You say I'm in denial, but you're obviously presenting baseless speculations as if they were established facts.

Here's a fact for you: no large animal species has ever been observed during pregnancy in any gravity environment except Earth's.

Re: what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[DasSquid]

The issue is that there IS no environment

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well... not yet anyway...

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

On what planet?

Given the topic, I'd hazard a guess and say Mars.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

How are babby formed?

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[mdielmann]

You're right, doing things for silly reasons like patriotism, religious freedom, and the joy of discovery never brought us new or better things. So why bother?

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[MalachiK]

I'd mod this up if I had points. Shavano, thou art righteous.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise a kid. In fact it's cold as hell. And there's no one there to raise them if you did.

The first statement implies that someone or something is considering raising a kid on Mars.
But then the lyrics continue to express that there is no one there to raise them.
I never understood this. Wouldn't whoever is raising the kid be there to raise the kid?

Re: what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mr Mustard you lost your anonymity here with that last comment ðY

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

Are you words supposed to relate to this topic somehow? Because at the moment they do not through any conceivable mechanism.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

Fetuses don't work against gravity to move their bodies.

Irrelevant.

There's a pressure gradient to be felt across their bodies, but it's small as a consequence of their bodies being small.

Irrelevant.

Do you think the whales will magically be unaffected by a micro gravity environment even though land based mammals clearly are? That the effect of microgravity is confined to needing to find new means of propulsion and pressure differientials in the surrounding media? It has nothing to do with those things .

You have absolutely no data showing that in-utero animal development is affected by gravity.

Absolutely no data?. Feel free to continue to deny science. What's next, will you allude to a conspiracy of science trying to keep down the plucky efforts of the cultists who are trying to establish themselves on Mars - on somone else's dime?

Yet you feel qualified to extrapolate from that zero data to a conclusion that humans can't (or probably can't) reproduce on Mars.

On the basis of available data, yes. Rather than getting all huffy and self righteous, maybe you should provide data to indicate why, against the flow of evidence, we would expect either adults or developing humans to be unaffected by the low gravity on Mars as opposed to the microgravity in LEO. See here, here and here. Don't just quote your religious texts, don't just get angry because there are people who don't believe. We are not condemned due to not being members of the Mars cult.

You say I'm in denial, but you're obviously presenting baseless speculations as if they were established facts.

I say you're in denial, because your tactics so far resemble those of climate denialists:

(a) Shout loudly about how there is no evidence or research, when there is

(b) Bring up irrelevant samples of information (in your case, factoids about buoyancy) and act as if they cancel out fundamental forces

(c) Claim the supposed lack of data supports your side that there a zero long term effects from micro/partial gravity on humans when the lack of data (if there were a lack of data) would allow us to draw no conclusions.

Here's a fact for you: no large animal species has ever been observed during pregnancy in any gravity environment except Earth's.

Once again: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15607544. The reason no large mammals have been transported into LEO or similiar is that we have technology that allows that to happen. Let alone beyond LEO. Yet Mars One justs collected $3.8 MILLION dollars, they do not have a spacecraft, any roadmap to build a spacecraft, or a habitat.

In fact, they do not intend to go to Mars.

What they intend to do, and have in fact done already, is to make money from the gullible.

It's a scam.

There's a fact for you.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

The mistake that they made was to give $38 to these scammers in the first place. Does anyone honestly believe these people have any intention of even "looking into" a manned spaceflight to Mars?

It's a scam.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[__aaltlg1547]

I'm reading the same abstract you are. The abstract is very unclear and badly written. "On the basis of published Magnetic Resonance Images and the values of the specific fetal and amniotic fluid weights, apparent weight of the fetus from the 18th week of gestation until term was determined. Up to the 21-22nd gestation week the fetus is in conditions similar to neutral floating, while after the 26th gestation week the apparent weight of the fetus is 60-80% of the actual weight. Decreased effect of the buoyant forces that affect the fetus in human species during the last trimester has a number of implications for the colonization of the solar system. During space flight it is impossible to apply the existing countermeasures against microgravity deconditioning of the muscular and cardiovascular systems to the fetus. Absence of gravitational loading during the last trimester of gestation would cause hypotrophy of the spinal extensors and lower extremities muscles, reduction in the amount of myosin heavy chain type I in the extensor muscles of the trunk and legs, hypoplasy and osteopeny of the vertebras and lower extremities long bones, and hypotrophy of the left ventricle of the heart muscle. Because of decreased capacity of postural and locomotor stability, acquisition of the gross developmental milestones such as sitting, standing and walking could be delayed. In the authors' opinion, only artificial gravity (rotating platform) during space flight will allow physiological development of the human fetus. Independency of offspring's of the guinea pig as regards locomotion and nursing increases probability of successful breeding in microgravity compared with rat offspring's, and make this species a candidate for future experiments under conditions of microgravity and hypergravity. Examining the gestation of this species in different gravities requires first the experimental determination of the amount of buoyant force to which the fetus is exposed in physiological conditions." What species of was measured with MRI and under what conditions? I know it wasn't people in fractional gravity because there is no MRI machine in space big enough to scan a human, nor were there any other large animals in space in decades. What I see here is barely any data, taken on unstated animals in unstated conditions and then a whole lot of speculation -- presented as fact -- that doesn't follow from anything they have shown. I guess you're in good company. These guys got published even though their abstract is shit.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[mdielmann]

Yes, I'm sure you've never used a VCR, or a computer, or any of the other cool things that came out of the Apollo program, which, when you get right down to it, is ego on a national scale. And willing lives were taken in the process. And, given the odds you're an American, you're part of a country which was founded, in part, by people who were woefully unequipped to live where they went, and many of them died in the first few years. And we've benefited by people spending their lives, and many of them losing them in the process, in exploring one of the last and most dangerous frontiers on our planet (Jacques Cousteau is one who didn't die performing his research).

People throw their lives away all the time. You might see what this group is doing as pure ego stroking. I'll agree that that is certainly a component. I'm unwilling to concede that that means nothing good will come of it, though. Of course, you're entitled to your opinion, as well. I'll assume you won't be one of the volunteers or patrons of this little project. So quit pissing and moaning, and support something you believe in, instead.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[Anonymous Coward]

They're human beings, not cattle.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[RivenAleem]

Any man can provide sperm, but only women can carry a child. You should sterilise all the men on the trip and bring a supply of sperm for later impregnation if the conditions permit it.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

Mars has a gravity of ~38% of earth's gravity. This would make it ideal for refining materials gathered from asteroids. You wont have to worry about your processes not working due to a lack of gravity, a lot less energy would be required to descend and ascend with loads of ores/refined metals and other goods.

The first thing to do would be determine what possible substance you could mine from asteroids that would make such an enterprise worthwhile. As others have pointed out, there is no substance that would not be cheaper to make in a nuclear reactor, pound of pound, then mining from an asteroid - let alone the huge overhead of sending mining equipment to Mars, and then lifting the final product out of the gravity well of Mars - what an absurd proposition.

The lack of civilization means that you wont have to worry about the NIMBY culture when building your nuclear reactors to power the massive refineries and other such industrial sites. Heck, you could even use uncontrolled descents to deliver raw materials (full asteroids if they are not too big) planet side...

I don't think many people would take that job - living in an asteroid impact zone, in an area where civilising influences are being deliberately suppressed? Better to return the nomadic life of 4000 years ago. You will live a longer , more fulfilling life in greater comfort.

The only real hurdles to a mars colony is getting there, becoming self sufficient

No, the primary hurdle is finding a reason to go that is not gob smackingly stupid and naïve.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

Yes, I'm sure you've never used a VCR, or a computer, or any of the other cool things that came out of the Apollo program,

Well, I don't drink Tang.

I have used various technologies which arose independently of the Apollo program, like VCRs and computers.

which, when you get right down to it, is ego on a national scale.

It was, in summary a dick waving contest, which is why the public lost interest in it almost straight away, and it was cancelled. Why anybody thinks that this scam, would be of any more interest, given that Mars One will never go to Mars, and doesn't intend to go to Mars. It exists to scam people.

And, given the odds you're an American

Odds are that I'm not. And I'm not.

People throw their lives away all the time. You might see what this group is doing as pure ego stroking.

Actually I see them as gullible proles how fell for a transparent scam.

I'm unwilling to concede that that means nothing good will come of it, though.

Yes, hopefully in the future people won't be so easily scammed.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

Feel free to publish your own proof of your assertions.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[KeensMustard]

If the child is part of this group then it will die of starvation or whatever, just as they will, except of course, they chose to die, and the child didn't. It's an ethical minefield.

No... if having a child on mars is an ethical minefield, then having a child on earth is also an ethical minefield. How come people living in 3rd world countries on earth aren't required to sterilze themselves?

People who live in 3rd world countries don't have a choice. These people do. They say they expect to die. Under what circumstances would they even consider having children?

Survival of the human race depends on reproduction.

These people and the so called "colony" aren't going to survive. As I said, if they have babies, those babies will die just as soon as they will. This is not a survivable scenario.

Forced sterilization is a cop-out.

Nobody is forcing them to go to Mars.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[jonadab]

What do you mean, what happens? The same thing would happen to the kids as to the parents, duh. They'll all die off *well* within a generation. (If I were entering a betting pool, I'd probably go for "within a year", but the exact timeframe is rather difficult to predict without knowing the particulars of exactly who and what they're planning to take.)

There's no way to pack even remotely enough resources to last anywhere near a lifetime, and there aren't any meaningful resources to be found on Mars. If you can somehow manage to haul in enough solar collectors from Earth, it might be possible to keep yourself in air and water until the equipment breaks down, but food's going to be a serious problem, and you can just forget about anything complicated like medicine or the ability to repair the air-making equipment when it breaks.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[kermidge]

Yup, I've been there, it gets winter, or did, when I lived nearby.

Mar One, a scam? Maybe; a lot can happen in ten years. I'm gonna wait and see, I live so long. If it is a scam, the few folks at the top ought to make a living at it for a while. What they'll do after is a question.

Re:what happens if the chick get pregnant?

[mysidia]

People who live in 3rd world countries don't have a choice. These people do. They say they expect to die. Under what circumstances would they even consider having children?

Expect to die doesn't mean will die. And certainly doesn't mean their children would die.

Soldiers go to war expecting to die. That doesn't mean we sterilize the women, so they don't get pregnant, and have a child at risk.

So, wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

Do these people have plans for recycling systems and habitats that can survive and/or be reset easily in the case of a habitat collapse?
As well as have medical staff to deal with people possibly being injured and/or dying?
And any attempt to expand the colony with time for possibly more people?

What about landing? Landing is going to be hard, it was already a pain in the ass for satellites, the expense for a bunch of PEOPLE is going to be considerably more.

Or is it just one of those "lol go to Mars see the views oh yeah you'll die there, quickly." types of fruitloop missions that might not even happen in the first place and is just to register all of these people in some sort of government watch list as "potentially unstable"?

Re:So, wait...

[taiwanjohn]

Yes, at least they are attempting to provide for all those things. But even with multiple redundant fallbacks, it will be a very risky endeavor.

As for landing, Elon Musk claims his next-gen Dragon capsule will be able to land (propulsively) on Mars. That remains to be seen, but at least on paper it is possible. If he can get the Falcon rocket to be fully reusable (another big "if"), it would dramatically reduce the cost of the mission, possibly to the point where this odd "reality show" funding scheme might have a chance of working.

Still, it's not the death I'd choose. But for some adventurous types I can understand the appeal of it.

Re:So, wait...

[nukenerd]

Do these people have plans for recycling systems and habitats that can survive ... As well as have medical staff to deal with people possibly being injured and/or dying?

Don't worry, maybe they will folow the example of the Pilgrim Fathers, who went to America equipped only with several hundred copies of the Bible (but not a single book on agriculture) to help them. The only qualification to go was that they shared some religious issues which today seem not of the slightest importance, and the hope that by resettling in the middle of nowhere their children could not be "drawn away by evil examples into extravagance and dangerous courses". Presumably these volunteers are the present day equivalent nutters.

Re: So, wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

The religious idiots had an advantage : they could slaughter the inhabitants and just seize already cultivated land and resources and eat all the animals they could find. Settling 'Murica was probably the easiest in the history of mankind.

Re: So, wait...

[drinkypoo]

The religious idiots had an advantage : they could slaughter the inhabitants and just seize already cultivated land and resources and eat all the animals they could find. Settling 'Murica was probably the easiest in the history of mankind.

The advantage they actually had was that the native Americans had already been decimated (in the modern sense; actually, they were reduced to the tenth man, not by him) by contact with the diseases of the Spanish.

Re: So, wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

Spaniard-Tards ARE religious idiots.

Re:So, wait...

[MysteriousPreacher]

Don't worry, maybe they will folow the example of the Pilgrim Fathers, who went to America equipped only with several hundred copies of the Bible (but not a single book on agriculture) to help them. The only qualification to go was that they shared some religious issues which today seem not of the slightest importance, and the hope that by resettling in the middle of nowhere their children could not be "drawn away by evil examples into extravagance and dangerous courses". Presumably these volunteers are the present day equivalent nutters.

Fortunately this time they won't have any native peoples to christianise or kill. It'll be just them in a small capsule, muttering bronze age incantations to Jesus and the sky goblins, asking that the merciful Lord grant them a functioning CO2 scrubber.

Re: So, wait...

[nukenerd]

The religious idiots had an advantage : they could slaughter the inhabitants and just seize already cultivated land

The Pilgrim fathers were idiots, but were idealists, and I don't think you can accuse them of that behaviour. That was by later waves of settlers who only came when they heard exagerated stories of free land and gold. It was always so with vested interests trying to encourage migration (that is why Greenland was called "Green" land or even "Vine" land - as if it were warm enough to grow vines). We see similar today, with immigrants wanting to get to the UK and USA in the mistaken belief that the streets are paved with gold, the only difference being that the paving belief is now a figurative one.

In fact the Pilgrim Fathers nearly starved to death and the native Indians took pity and gave them food, so some survived. I would not have blamed the Indians if they had left the Pilgrim Fathers to rot, as many other early American colonists did, but are less well known because they did not live to tell the tale.

That's OK, You Can Go First!

[theodp]

How a Mission to Mars Could Kill You

Re:That's OK, You Can Go First!

[ElementOfDestruction]

They split that article into three pages? Discovery fucking sucks. I miss when the internet wasn't all about shoving as many baiting images to bullshit stories as they can on one page. Might be time to bust out Lync again. Here is the web page you requested: 20% information, 40% video, 40% links to other bullshit. Maybe I shouldn't use NoScript since then the links might be somewhat relevant, but fuck them.

Registration fee?

[Anonymous Coward]

At $38 a pop, they've raised $3.8M on an endeavor that will almost certainly fade into obscurity? Talk about a fucking scam!

Hey, I'm going to send people to Mars, too, and my application fee is only $35. Everyone come sign up!

Re:Registration fee?

[redback]

whip up a signup site, start spreading it around on facebook.

Re:Registration fee?

[Deadstick]

$30, and I'll name a star after you too.

Re:Registration fee?

[MysteriousPreacher]

I'll do it for $20. I'll put the name in a database, and will print a handsome certificate of ownership.

As a bonus

[countach]

All 100,000 get honorary darwin awards.

Re:As a bonus

[oodaloop]

And the remaining 7 billion people left on this dying planet get them as well.

Re:As a bonus

[JoshuaZ]

And it wouldn't surprise me if someone said something similar about the humans who first moved out of Africa. And it applies as well to those who went on voyages of exploration, or those scientists who selflessly used their own bodies for medical tests (a category often underappreciated and discussed Lawrence Altman's excellent book "Who Goes First"). We progress by taking risks and we should be grateful for those willing to do so.

Re:As a bonus

[Vanderhoth]

It's funny how we claim in western culture that we should be free to do as we please as long as it's not hurting anyone else, but there are so many that feel the need to jump in and stop others from go on what could be the greatest adventure any of us could ever go on, possibility for the betterment and all mankind, but everyone and their dog feel it's absolutely necessary to try and stop them.

I find it very disheartening

Re:As a bonus

[nukenerd]

And it wouldn't surprise me if someone said something similar about the humans who first moved out of Africa.

No doubt they did, but walking from Africa only meant going through a progressively changing environment in which you could turn back at any point, and which you could do in small stages over generations. Even those who sailed away in ships (a closer analogy) had no thought that it might be impossible to breathe air or find water at the destination (they were OK as it happened), or have to be confined to a small enclosure. They assumed (rightly as it happened) that it would be the same as home with perhaps some funny new plants and animals.

A trip to Mars however is far worse than those old migrations because we know that the place has no plants or animals, and is not survivable except in a very confined space and with some very specialised kit of finite reliability.

Re:As a bonus

[epiphani]

There's a real problem here: they're planning to fund this project through Survivor type television selection process.

And there is a relatively high probability that these people could die. We'll have the world watching as we send a group of four likely under-equipped people to Mars. I would wholeheartedly like to see us go to Mars and beyond, but I'm concerned that this half-hazard approach may end up damaging the long-term will to do this than succeeding.

We need better radiation shielding - which is easily done with a meter or two of water in the hull. The problem is cost and construction - and I think we really should be putting our efforts towards orbital construction: building things in orbit - not plugging modules together. Honestly, I think the largest impact we could make to long-term, long-distance space flight at this point is getting good at one thing: welding in orbit.

Re:As a bonus

[interval1066]

...building things in orbit - not plugging modules together...

You will apparently be surprised to learn that modern building techniques make heavy use of modularized materials.

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

You are assuming the space fanbois are able to grasp your points. They have the attention span of children and the knowledge to match.

Re:As a bonus

[Princeofcups]

It's funny how we claim in western culture that we should be free to do as we please as long as it's not hurting anyone else, but there are so many that feel the need to jump in and stop others from go on what could be the greatest adventure any of us could ever go on, possibility for the betterment and all mankind, but everyone and their dog feel it's absolutely necessary to try and stop them.

I find it very disheartening

The problem is that statistically they are all lying. Maybe there are a few who understand and accept the risks for a higher cause. But for the most part these are people hoping for their 15 minutes. Maybe a quick interview on local news, maybe a bragging right on Facebook, maybe just frat boys who think its funny. Sorry, but almost no one is taking this seriously.

Re:As a bonus

[CodeBuster]

It's funny how we claim in western culture that we should be free to do as we please as long as it's not hurting anyone else, but there are so many that feel the need to jump in and stop others from go on what could be the greatest adventure any of us could ever go on

It's a disease of the mind that we call Liberalism. Common symptoms include an insatiable desire to meddle in the affairs of others and irresistible urges to insert themselves into situations where they're neither invited nor welcome instead of minding their own business. The end result is a dependent and needy adult who cannot make their own way in the world without government assistance and with absolutely no clue about how the economy works or why nobody wants to pay them a "living wage" as a reward for their "enlightened" way of thinking.

Re:As a bonus

[jklovanc]

The difference is scale. The things you mention do not cost a lot of move and worst case a few people doe for no gain. An outpost on Mars will cost hundreds of billions of dollars for little or no good at all. There are far better things that can be done with that money than send a few people to live on a hole in the ground on Mars.

Re:As a bonus

[jklovanc]

There is a difference between dying due a resupply ship malfunction (or cutting of funds) and dying in a few thousand generations.

Re:As a bonus

[oodaloop]

I don't what planet you're from that has thousands of generations of natural resources left on it, but I'd like to move there.

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

abortion rights say hi. gay marriage say "whazzup!".

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

The first humans out of Africa likely did not walk to what would be Europe. They expanded their homes and hunting/foraging grounds a couple km/generation.

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a difference between dying due a resupply ship malfunction (or cutting of funds) and dying in a few thousand generations.

All in all only a couple of them will actually go. Since this whole thing will be televised, I can promise you there will be plenty of shagging and shotgun marriages going on during the pre-selection to offset the loss of a handful of breeding couples.

Re:As a bonus

[Belial6]

I'm not sure how much welding is the key. As I understand it, the primary reason to use metal for the hull is to protect against space debris. The reason you would need to weld is so that you get air tight structures out of the metal. It seems that metal structures that clip, bolt or rivet together would be more than adequet if an inflatable structure was put inside. Metal on the outside to stop the debris from puncturing the soft air tight inside.

Re:As a bonus

[ultranova]

The end result is a dependent and needy adult who cannot make their own way in the world without government assistance and with absolutely no clue about how the economy works or why nobody wants to pay them a "living wage" as a reward for their "enlightened" way of thinking.

No employer wants to pay a living wage, or any other kind of wage, or for assistance, for the same reason no one wants to pay for anything: they have less money that way. On the other hand, if these dependent and needy adults get neither a living wage nor assistance, they face the choice of lying down and dying, or simply taking what they need to live, quickly learning the skills necessary for doing that. And at that point things tend to get... unpleasant. And that's why I advocate both rising minimum wage and assistance programs: I don't need them to feed myself, but I need them to avoid becoming food.

I understand this is a difficult concept to comprehend, after all it requires emphasising with other people enough to understand they will break your rules rather than die, so take your time and don't be ashamed if the subtleties of the situation evade you at first. You can also try googling "let them eat cake" for a more detailed explanation. Or the Russian revolution.

Re:As a bonus

[DNS-and-BIND]

Are you sure we are actually saying this? Or are you just making shit up?

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/mar/07/its-your-own-good/

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

I think "ten" would be extremely optimistic and generous.

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

This one. Unless someone has a tame black hole, pretty much all the resources ever used by humanity are still right here. As a matter of fact, they've been concentrated for us. As long as the Sun shines, we are OK. Oh, we might have to change our social model as to HOW we assign these resources. But that's happened many times already in our history, we have a knack for it.

Re: As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

the bad part about a thought experiment is when you start talking about it. oh, and the thought part.

Re:As a bonus

[gl4ss]

fun fact: material doesn't disappear just because you eat it. plenty of resources to keep going for a thousand generations, lifestyles might change and overall population might go up and down but that's to be expected.

compared to mars we're living in garden of eden. any tech that would sustain you on mars would sustain you easier here(in biodomes or whatever, if you think the atmosphere is going bust) and mars isn't filled with unobtanium magic feed crystals...

if you just count stuff such as oil and coal as natural resources(and not soil) then tough luck since mars has none of that.

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it just me, or do paedophiles and libertarians have the same rhetoric?

Re:As a bonus

[ewibble]

No they thought they might fall off the end of the world. Anyway you are right they will most certainly die (relatively quickly) but I am sure many previous explorers had a high change of death.

But in the end, if we ever want to expand to other planets some people are going to have to take incredibly risky step of being the first people to go.

Can we wait until we have better technology, yes, but at some point we will go (or at least I believe so).

Their deaths will provide invaluable knowledge about next time, in a much quicker fashion than laboratory tests, and simulations.

Think of it this way people climb deadly mountains http://gearjunkie.com/worlds-10-most-dangerous-mountains the worst has 41% death rate and what for? Someone has already climbed it, you aren't going to live there. At least with going to Mars are knowledge of colonizing planets will be increased, and if they will be famous for a very long time.

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL Failboat. The Russian revolution? You mean the one that put in place the government that toppled in the 90's? Ya you're right - those are the footsteps I want to follow.

Seriously - the problem is the rising of min wage and increasing assistance works at any single moment to make the problem go away. Unfortunately, as the saying goes - time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana - and over a longer term those decisions might have consequences you aren't thinking about.

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

All 100,000 get honorary darwin awards.

Why r u such a hater? U mad, bro?

Re:As a bonus

[Time_Ngler]

I think you put too much faith in these "needy" adults to do much of anything. There are many countries where people live in far worse conditions with far more unemployment and far less military and police technology to deal with these types of things. I also don't think you'll get very far with the government with a rising minimum wage, at least not in any meaningful sense.

Why do you thing the US G keeps printing money expect as a way to reduce everyone's effective paycheck even further than what it is now?

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

It's probably just you. Seek help friend, before it's too late.

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

it requires emphasising with other people enough to understand they will break your rules rather than die

I must be tired! It took a long time to remember the correct word... empathising

Re:As a bonus

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you raise an important point: the word "society" comes from the Latin socius which means "fellow traveler". Same as "socialism" by the way.

As long as people are indoctrinated to forget that they are "on the same road" as their fellow people (mind you, you don't have to like those other people! That's not required!) they will ignore the broader picture and believe in mirages like "the economy".

Society exists. Economy does not.

Re:As a bonus

[crunchygranola]

LOL Failboat. The Russian revolution? You mean the one that put in place the government that toppled in the 90's? ..

He probably meant the second Russian revolution, that overthrew Tsar Nicholas II on 2 March 1917 due to the dire condition of most Russia citizenry, and the Tsar's mismanagement of the war. It established an elective democracy led by Alexander Kerensky.

There was a previous revolution in 1905, for similar reasons, that established some measure of democracy, but not enough.

You are thinking of the Bolshevik coup d'etat, which was not a revolution at all, and which led to a civil war. It is true that the Soviet government established by the coup called it "the Russian Revolution" but you shouldn't be so gullible as to swallow Communist propaganda.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Sign up for indentured servitude!

[random_ID]

The Company owns the food, the clothes, the housing, the air itself... and you.

Re:Sign up for indentured servitude!

[Opportunist]

So you want to say Mars ain't the place where we could escape that?

Re:Sign up for indentured servitude!

[Anonymous Coward]

It is like saying England owns 13 states of the USA.
It is even harder to send ships to take back Mars.

Re:Sign up for indentured servitude!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just stop sending them supplies...

Re:Sign up for indentured servitude!

[Anonymous Coward]

One would hope that once the Company gets what it wants, it will give the people the air.

Free?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a new use of the word "free" that I had not heard of before. Does this mean that it is, with this new use if the word, free to play the lottery too?

Re: Free?

[Anonymous Coward]

where have you been the last 6 years?
It's free as in obamacare.

How to build a better world

[gmuslera]

Reject all those applications and send to Mars the 100.000 that are in the top 0.1%. Uh, and later send a second batch with lawyers.

Re:How to build a better world

[Bremic]

Destination - Golgafrincham

Re:How to build a better world

[Anonymous Coward]

Mars the prison colony aka Australia 2.0?

Re:How to build a better world

[Anonymous Coward]

This batch contains dreamers, optimists and idealists.

If I ask you what you consider a 'better' world, will it read like "1984"?

Re:How to build a better world

[Anonymous Coward]

nevermind, I totally misread you.

I had almost considered it...

[Anonymous Coward]

...but evidently tall people arent allowed on Mars...no drugs or alcohol either? Big buzzkill, cause what else does one do with a big hydroponics lab and everyone knows astronaut helmets are beggin to be filled with some hunch punch.

Mars One torn to shreds by their own AMA

[Quiet Sound]

These people know nothing about space travel and are completely incapable of answering technical questions about the project. They aren't legitimate.

Re:Mars One torn to shreds by their own AMA

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the signup fee screams that louder than any expertise or lack thereof.

Re:Mars One torn to shreds by their own AMA

[Anonymous Coward]

As Admiral Ackbar might say, "It's a scam!"

Mars Needs Women!

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope it's an even split between men and women volunteering.

Re:Mars Needs Women!

[PPH]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSzoLCCX-Y#t=1m30s

Can we volunteer *other* people?

[gestalt_n_pepper]

I a little list. They will never be missed...

Re:Can we volunteer *other* people?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we can fill 535 here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress
and the rest with fortune 500 CEOs.

I'm sure she'll be fine.

[Andunelen]

No, but I signed my mother-in-law up.

Re:Old Barsoomian Proverb

[kannibal_klown]

Really? I heard

There are nooooo cats on Maaarrs, and the streets are paved with cheeese!

DOA

[ebonum]

One solar flare pointed in the wrong direction and they will fry before they get there. Without science fiction, there is no practical shielding tech that offers a solution (a room with 6 inch think lead walls is heavier than you think). Keep in mind, if you have a heavy shielding solution and you get that thing up to speed, slowing down becomes a problem. You could end up flying right past Mars. You could bring some big thrusters to slow you down. Oh wait, that is more weight. Or you could use some superconducting magnets to deflect the charged particles. But then you'll have figure out how to get the spaceship to run without computers. Computers and huge magnetic fields don't mix. And superconducting magnets are extremely heavy. Don't worry. We'll just do it the way they do it in Star Wars.

Are they going to land on the surface? I doubt it. The atmosphere makes it very hard to land anything larger than the rover without making a new crater. If you landed, you would have supplies for a few hours before death. You can't do it with parachutes. You need a big rocket to slow you done. Oops. A lot more weight.

It goes on and on. Mars is distraction. Money and energy should be spent on more practical projects. We'll all be dead from a antibiotic resistant super-bug before we have any hope of putting someone on Mars.

Re:DOA

[jkflying]

I heard one idea of using the water supply as shielding. If we could get the water from the moon it would save a lot of energy lugging it out of the gravity well.

They could do a 'reverse-slingshot' maneuver to bleed off speed using one of Mars's moons.

As to landing, yeah, thruster-based is really the only option. Maybe some way of using some of that shielding as a propellant would work to cut down weight. If they land in the right spot they can dig for more water once they are down.

If a comet comes along at the wrong angle, the human race is toast. I really think our best bet is to get some people off this planet, and self sustaining, ASAP. Maybe if we stopped killing each other for a while we might have the resources to do so.

Re:DOA

[drinkypoo]

One solar flare pointed in the wrong direction and they will fry before they get there. Without science fiction, there is no practical shielding tech that offers a solution (a room with 6 inch think lead walls is heavier than you think).

sigh, and also sigh. It's called water. You need it anyway. It's good for everything.

Are they going to land on the surface? I doubt it. The atmosphere makes it very hard to land anything larger than the rover without making a new crater. If you landed, you would have supplies for a few hours before death. You can't do it with parachutes. You need a big rocket to slow you done

You missed some punctuation there: "You need a big rocket to slow you. Done."

It goes on and on. Mars is distraction. Money and energy should be spent on more practical projects.

Yes. Like asteroid mining. Which would give us the mass in orbit necessary to build meaningful interplanetary missions.

We'll all be dead from a antibiotic resistant super-bug before we have any hope of putting someone on Mars.

Unfortunately, aerospace engineers aren't very useful in solving that problem. Probably we should still let them work on getting us off this mudball before the impactor arrives.

Re:DOA

[AchilleTalon]

They will need radiation shielding on Mars too. Not only for the trip to Mars. So, you have to figure out how to land this mass safely.

Re: DOA

[Anonymous Coward]

Deep valleys/rifts on Mars can be used as radiation shields. That's the official idea.

Re:DOA

[Anonymous Coward]

" If we could get the water from the moon it would save a lot of energy lugging it out of the gravity well."

Yeah, it'll be so much simpler to lug machinery around to get water from an arid hell in a vacuum. Why do you Space Nutters have such a bad understanding of reality?

Re:DOA

[Anonymous Coward]

"Probably we should still let them work on getting us off this mudball before the impactor arrives."

Can you define a value of "us"? How many people is that? And how are the other planets not mud balls and not at risk of the "impactor"? Do you realize how little difference there is between you and a regular doomsday cult? Do you hand out flyers in shopping centers too?

Re:DOA

[drinkypoo]

Can you define a value of "us"? How many people is that?

I mean the species. But if we had space elevators, and we stopped breeding, and we built sufficiently large ships, we could probably get a significant portion of the population out of here.

Do you realize how little difference there is between you and a regular doomsday cult?

Yes. The only difference is that most of them are worried about something that will probably never happen, whereas I am concerned about something that will probably happen eventually.

Re:DOA

[interval1066]

One solar flare pointed in the wrong direction...science fiction...blah blah...

And then you go on to paint a very bleak portrait of space travel. We have sent men to the moon, have functioning sattellites, and sent man-made probes to Mars. Also, "one Solar flare" will be a factor with diminishing consequences the further from the sun you are. Clearly your "Space Travel == Instant Annihilation" scenario is not exactly (not even remotely) true. Are you writing a Science Fiction novel?

Re:DOA

[Anonymous Coward]

"But if we had space elevators, and we stopped breeding, and we built sufficiently large ships, we could probably get a significant portion of the population out of here."

" I am concerned about something that will probably happen eventually."

Really? Even without your precious "impactor", evolution is still happening, and there won't be a human race in less than a million years. And?

Anyways, you are a religious person and there is nothing that will change your faith. You'll have to realize by yourself that your beliefs are nonsense.

I mean, you know you're going to die, what are you doing about that?

We also know that small meteorites hit the Earth all the time. How much have you invested in building a titanium roof?

Re:DOA

[DamonHD]

The "we must not do anything speculative until all more mundane problems are totally solved" view is broken on many fronts, not least of which is ignoring the potential parallelism in progressing our culture and expertise, and the actual practical intractability of many of the "simple" problems especially if they are even defined in relative terms.

Life is neither binary nor single-threaded.

Rgds

Damon

Re:DOA

[tchuladdiass]

There is no need to slow down once you get to Mars (due to the Sun's gravity and orbital mechanics). It's called a transfer orbit. Think of it like throwing an object up on the roof of a building. If you toss it just right, it will land softly. This is also why it takes so long to get to Mars -- if you go any faster, then you would have to "put on the breaks" when you get there.

Re: DOA

[Anonymous Coward]

I honestly hope someone reads it and decides to prove you wrong. And besides, the technology that will be developed that allows us to overcome all those obstacles and the unmentioned obstacles of living on Mars will have many practical applications here on Earth.

Re:DOA

[Applehu Akbar]

Power the ship with a fission reactor, and you can use the fuel load, in combination with your water supply, as emergency shielding. The reactor will also come in handy when you get there.

Re:DOA

[couchslug]

"I mean the species. But if we had space elevators, and we stopped breeding, and we built sufficiently large ships, we could probably get a significant portion of the population out of here."

We don't need to evacuate anyone. Making a colony doesn't require moving a bunch of Terrans with short lifespans to Mars, it requires moving a cadre who whose progeny will become Martians.

Ants don't make new anthills by moving the group.

Re:DOA

[jkflying]

Machinery only needs to be lugged up once. In fact, it could even be manufactured up there.

Re:DOA

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh gods, would you shut your fucking pie hole please? You're exactly the kind of antagonistic asshole who makes arguing on the internet a pointless endeavor. You've decided to take up a contrary position just to be argumentative, regardless of how stupid is to argue against a near statistical certainty. My dog could form more coherent arguments by drooling into the keyboard -- only he would actually know better than to take up such a ludicrous position. Just sit down and be quiet until the adults are done talking, fool.

Re:DOA

[FatLittleMonkey]

a room with 6 inch think lead walls is heavier than you think

Minor point, but lead (or any metal) is not the appropriate shield in space. It produces secondary radiation showers that are worse than the incoming radiation. The shielding of choice is hydrogen. That means high-H plastics or water, the latter is preferred for long duration missions for reasons that should be obvious.

Re:DOA

[FatLittleMonkey]

They could do a 'reverse-slingshot' maneuver to bleed off speed using one of Mars's moons.

Mars' moons are way too small to do any kind of gravitational slingshot manoeuvre. You'd probably use an inflatable heatshield and aerobrake into orbit.

Re:DOA

[ShooterNeo]

Not true. At the end of the trip using a transfer orbit, you're still going about 6 kps. That's what the MSL mission control video mentioned on reentry.

The expensive (and completely impractical way) to slow down from 6 kps to under 1 is to bring enough rocket fuel and an engine to make that kind of velocity change. However, you'd need to have a lander almost as big as the rocket that launched the mission.

Or you can try to skim the atmosphere and use a really great heat-shield. That's what MSL did. I understand there's problems with bigger spacecraft doing this, however. That's why landing methods are in doubt.

Re:DOA

[Anonymous Coward]

Except there is no such machinery, and you are assuming it's 100% reliable and will never need spare parts... And you're assuming we have anything near the capability to manufacture anything up there. More magical machinery that doesn't exist to lug up, eh?

Sci-fi is fun, but it's not real, you know?

Re: DOA

[Anonymous Coward]

it makes me uncomfortable to point this out, but we are really not killing each other. (aside from some arabs-but i digress), the point is WE are killing you and we have plenty of printing presses to insure it will continue as long as it's in style.

Re:DOA

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you had your blood sugar level tested recently?

Re:DOA

[jkflying]

The awesome thing about humans is that we have these people called Scientists and Engineers who make things which haven't been done before. No really, true story. /snark

Stop being such a downer. If you had your way we'd be sending these messages to each other on papyrus scrolls.

Re:DOA

[terrycarlino]

We sent men to the moon as a cover for developing intercontinental ballistic missiles. And as a nationalistic fueled PR stunt. Note how once the U.S. succeeded in sending men to the moon the Soviets gave up? Note how once the Soviets gave up the U.S quickly close down the Apollo program? Of course we sent man-made probes to Mars. We've sent them throughout the solar system. It makes much more sense to send unmanned probes out to collect information than it does to send people. As a matter of fact ask any genuine planetary scientist which makes more sense to send and unmanned probe will be answer every time. Most believe manned space flight is a distraction that prevents money being put into programs which are actually useful for scientific purposes, like more unmanned probes. Sending Satellites into orbit does not require sending people into orbit (unless you're a dysfunctional government agency.) It does make it easier to repair faulty satellites (which have been built by your dysfunctional government agency.) Your solar flare analysis is actually pretty valid. It is much more likely that another Carrington Event will hit Earth than some tine spec of a spacecraft. We should definitely be more worried about it.

Re:DOA

[kermidge]

"We sent men to the moon as a cover for developing intercontinental ballistic missiles."

Of all the bits of revisionist or mis-stated partial histories so far in this thread I can't let that one go.

We needed no cover for developing ICBMs. We, the Sovs, and others did quite nicely developing them openly. We already had ICBMs and were developing others and continued to do so well into the '80s. See:

http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/nudb/datab3.asp for land-based, historical and current, and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_missile for submarine-based ICBMs in current inventory;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICBM gives an overview and history.

You will note that Saturn was entirely separate from ICBM development, started by Eisenhower who favored solid fuels for ICBMs as in Minuteman, Polaris, and on.

Name me one ICBM derived from the Saturn stack.

Re:DOA

[tchuladdiass]

The 6kps speed is due to the gravity of Mars pulling the spacecraft into it. From a pure orbital mechanics standpoint though, once the object gets to Mars's orbit, if the planet isn't there to catch it then it will fall into an elliptical orbit about the Sun, with the high point at Mars's orbit and the low point at Earth's. So the trick is to to have it meet Mars at the right time, so that it captures the spacecraft in it's planetary orbit. At that point, the only energy needed is to break orbit and land (which as you pointed out is about 6kps). (I was wrong to use the analogy of "landing softly", I should have been more clear that it was referring to getting to Mars's orbit without breaking).

Re:DOA

[ShooterNeo]

6 kps is faster than escape velocity for Mars. So if you don't have a way to slow down, won't the spacecraft just hurtle past Mars (or slam into it at high speed)

I understand sorta what you're talking about regarding an elliptical orbit, it makes sense via conservation of energy, and it works that way in KSP. :)

In any case, from an engineering prospective, to land on Mars with a big heavy lander full of people and supplies is a difficult problem. I *think* that a similar approach to that used by the MSL may work, that a capsule the size of SpaceX dragon can slow down using it's heat shield, then deploy parachutes, then use rocket engines for a soft touchdown.

But it's by no means guaranteed and is extremely dangerous. Also, there doesn't seem like there is any room at all for aborts or error. When the spacecraft comes screaming in at 6kps towards Mars, they gotta either land or die, right? No way to go into orbit around Mars without it costing a lot of fuel.

Re: Look to the 1700s, my friend.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh please not another right-wing overly-religious gun-crazy shithole devoid of common sense, humanity and decency. One 'murica is already too much. If it wouldn't be for California and the East coast, 'Murica should be nuked for good.

Re:Old Barsoomian Proverb

[Anonymous Coward]

What the hell is a "Barsoomian"?

Can we make a list

[Anonymous Coward]

of all the space-related hype that never, ever happened over the decades?

Re:Can we make a list

[Anonymous Coward]

1) The Space Shuttle will be a cheap and safe way to go to low Earth orbit.

Alright, your turn!

Re:Look to the 1700s, my friend.

[Anonymous Coward]

What happened when European men and women landed upon the shores of the glorious New World? Why, they had children.

They also had breathable air, food and the possibly of a resupply within 1-2 months. They also had the benefit of visit a land that was already occupied by humans.

Who did these children grow up to become? THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

Early visitors mostly died or went home. You seem to be under the impression that these volunteers will be starting families and chowing down on turkey dinners with the natives. A manned trip to mars is very ambitious, and with no way back these volunteers will probably die. Even if they had a return ship, it'd still be over six months of travel time. Just to remind you: No air, no native food, no Squanto, no raising kids and colonising Mars - at least not at this stage.

What would happen to the first children on Mars? They would become THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF MARTIAN AMERICA!

They'd probably become founding members of the Mars Base graveyard.

Re:Old Barsoomian Proverb

[Anonymous Coward]

You could actually search for it before inquiring about the core details of one of the most prolific scifi novels of the previous century:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barsoom

A Terraforming Project!

[Anonymous Coward]

One-Way Tciket to Mars = A Terraforming Project!

Not that bad

[SuperKendall]

They will need radiation shielding on Mars too.

In a talk on current measurements for radiation levels on Mars I attended, the scientists responsible for the radiation measurement instrumentation said the rough dose you would get per year is around 100 x-rays worth. That's quite a lot, but not going to kill you anytime soon.

That was with little solar activity, but you could provide a shielded area to retreat to if something happened to hit while the sun was up.

Hoax - The project of stupiity

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't how someone can apply to 2 this outrageous idea. If ever it happens it would be similar to suicide. At least i don't see any feasibility next 15 years.

Re:Hoax - The project of stupiity

[Applehu Akbar]

150 years ago, large numbers of people decided to go one-way to California. An easy decision, you say? There was no Silicon Valley and no Hollywood. The northern part of bear-infested wilderness, and the southern half was uninhabitable because it had no water supply.

Nope

[DerekLyons]

"The application process is ongoing; have you signed up?"

Nope. I'm not a fool.

And I suspect all but a tiny number of those signed up would turn tail and run if and when they were actually selected and it came time to board. The number of people chasing a 'net fad is pretty much meaningless.

This is a publicity stunt for a low-budget TV show

[Anonymous Coward]

The whole thing is a hoax, they're never going to send any people to Mars.

Re:Old Barsoomian Proverb

[interval1066]

Seriously? You must be new to American Geek Culture.

Hollywood title to come in a near future.

[TheP4st]

Cabin Fever 2.0, based on a true story.

Will not survive!

[Anonymous Coward]

Even if they survive the trip, then won't survive the stay.
All it takes is one broken bone, and they're done.

And Mars One will be like a TV reality show, everyone will be pleading for money and food,
because the Dutch company won't have enough money to send them care packages every 7 months.

So, the people of Earth will be expected to pay a million-dollar bill, or watch them die.
Help! Send us Money! Sens us Food! Or we will die on Mars!

Re: Look to the 1700s, my friend.

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope the NSA finds you. Your life is worthless.

Stop giving this scam free press!

[notanalien_justgreen]

I really wish people would stop posting MarsOne propaganda. It's a scam, pure and simple. It's been pointed out time and time again that their team is primarily artists and PR people. Just look here for yourself:

http://www.mars-one.com/en/about-mars-one/team

Of the 7 people listed there's: an artist, an editor, a communication specialist, a communications director, and an MD. There's only 2 people who could conceivably have any expertise on getting to Mars.

They did an interview (AMA) on reddit and were torn apart:

http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/ufb42/ama_i_am_founder_of_mars_one_sending_four_people/

STOP FEEDING THESE PEOPLE FREE PRESS!

Re:Stop giving this scam free press!

[tibman]

That AMA is pretty hard to read. All the Mars-one posts are buried. Looks like a bunch of people shouting at someone who isn't in the room.

Re: Look to the 1700s, my friend.

[Anonymous Coward]

Lol. Does it burn? The truth hurts.

Not in this body

[TuringCheck]

Considering my age and health - I'll pass.
However, if a cyborg or fully synthetic body becomes possible meanwhile...

Life imitates art

[jtownatpunk.net]

"I don't want to live on this planet any more."

    -- Hubert J. Farnsworth

(Made you read that in his voice.)

Registration Fee

[Anonymous Coward]

Registration... fee? Why do I suddenly get the feeling this could be a complete con. :-P $38 to register as a US citizen? $5 for Zimbabwe? Much more for Qater? This is... bizarre. They're going to spend millions-to-billions to send people to Mars... and they want a registration fee. What, to filter out the random "oh, I wanna go!" morons?

Hmm.

Re:Registration Fee

[Zero__Kelvin]

" They're going to spend millions-to-billions to send people to Mars... and they want a registration fee. What, to filter out the random "oh, I wanna go!" morons?"

Yes. They clearly want the predictable "oh, I wanna go" morons.

100,000?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, how many of you submitted timothy's name?

Biggest Event on Earth or Biggest Scam on Earth?

[Anonymous Coward]

Would you give 6 billion dollars to a private, unknown Dutch company, who has zero experience in sending people
(or anything else) to another planet? This is not NASA. Their track record is ZERO.

Mars One = one-way trip baby.

Can I volunteer someone else?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can think of a lot of people we'd be better off if they went to Mars....

more than 100,000 volunteers have announced their

[Anonymous Coward]

Listen, these numbers include wives/girlfriends signing their SO up without their knowledge,
actual numbers are around three who actually applied themselves...

C = 'winces' and yes I did...

I don't think it's really a one-way ticket

[Anonymous Coward]

Even if Mars One don't plan a return trip, sooner or later someone else will get there, and it's quite possible that in a few decades the traveler(s) will find a ride back home.

BYE!

[Anonymous Coward]

BYE! Have a nice trip!

forget the humans

[ebno-10db]

Never send a man to do a robot's job.

Re:more than 100,000 volunteers have announced the

[ebno-10db]

Listen, these numbers include wives/girlfriends signing their SO up without their knowledge

So that explains my name on the list.

Re:Look to the 1700s, my friend.

[Shadowmist]

What happened when European men and women landed upon the shores of the glorious New World? Why, they had children.

Who did these children grow up to become? THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

What would happen to the first children on Mars? They would become THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF MARTIAN AMERICA!

It's not an equivalent situation. Conditions in the early American colonies were harsh because the colonists weren't prepared for the transition and unused to the climate which led to a 50 percent mortality rate in the first year. However as settlements stabilised, the environment soon became as habitable as the one they left. Mars isn't like that. It hasn't got an atmosphere worth a dam, and you're going to have the option of striking out and staking your acre of land as you're not going to be able to grow anything just by relying on what "nature" provides. It will remain just as hostile an environment 200 years from now as it is today. Given the living conditions that are going to be available, you pretty much have to be willing to consign yourself to an effective prison for the rest of your life. Granted that there are people who are so disfunctional with their present lives that they will sign up. But are those the kind of people you want to start a colony around?

Potential PR Nightmare

[MBGMorden]

I understand this - I really do, but the potential for negative publicity is high here.

Everybody's imagining brave souls doing this for exploration and such, but when death is closer the chance of one person buckling is much higher. Can you imagine the videos circulating of one or more of these people sending back messages when they got there saying that they made a mistake and begging for help? Help that we couldn't really provide even if we wanted to? It could really taint the public perception of space travel.

Call me a cynic, but if we are going to send something there is should at a minimum provide enough soil, solar generators, etc to keep the crew alive for the foreseeable future once they get there.

One way trip is fine - I just don't think the "You get the and then starve to death or commit suicide." route is productive.

Re:Potential PR Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

The best but most expensive route would be to have regular food and supplies shipments from Earth, relying on the colonists being able to grow their own food sounds like a recipe for disaster (pun intended)

As phony as could be

[braindrainbahrain]

If this project is real, where are the rocket designs? Where are the hundreds of engineers and scientists working on the project? In fact there is NOT A SINGLE ONE! Not one person with scientific, engineering or technical knowledge has been identified as working on this. There are no want ads to hire those hundreds of engineers either.

Re:Look to the 1700s, my friend.

[mysidia]

Early visitors mostly died or went home. You seem to be under the impression that these volunteers will be starting families and chowing down on turkey dinners with the natives. A manned trip to mars is very ambitious, and with no way back these volunteers will probably die. Even if they had a return ship

Or not... assuming the plans are suitably laid out ahead of time, and they receive appropriate training.

To be successful they do not a reasonable plan that results in a sustainable settlement, where the inhabitants can be expected to live out the rest of their natural lives without starving, getting suffocated, irradiated, or freezing to death, etc.

Well,

[Anonymous Coward]

since it's Mars, at least they aren't sending criminals and lunatics...

Do they have good 'blow' there? --Barry Sotoro

[Anonymous Coward]

Got good blow, Iz got to go!
--Barry Sotoro

Does anybody remember the Curiosity landing?

[Anonymous Coward]

People may want to check out the 7 Minutes of Terror video. They needed a heat shield, a supersonic parachute (opening it created 9 Gs), rockets, and a sky crane to get an SUV sized rover onto the surface of Mars.

Human astronauts will require even more equipment to survive on the surface of Mars. How are they going to get the crew and all their stuff onto the surface of Mars safely?

Why should i leave earth?

[drolli]

Putting a human on mars without the possibility to return or build something meaningful there is a pointless exercise. We know the effects of zero gravity and radiation on the body, and the amount of drugs they would have to take regularly to reduce the probability of a psychological breakdown would be huge. What happen is somebody actually only realizes on the way to Mars that he actually does *not* want to die but live another 50 years on earth. Selecting a mission crew from people who volunteer for death is the most reliable way to have a strongly increased percentage of people with a psychological problem. It would cost as much as 100 curiosity missions to put even 5 humans on mars, for an experiment less useful than putting poor Leika into space, with an increased probability of failure.

If you want to conquer mars, then build robots who build a station there first. Wait until we have some transport which allows us to assemble decent (radiation shielded) ships in orbit. If you have th erechnology ready, the send humans.

I might..

[SuperDre]

I might even consider signing up, but the biggest problem I have with this so called endevour is the fact they want to do it as a 'big brother' tv-show, having yourself videotaped 24-7.. That's the reason I wouldn't sign up.. I don't mind camera's being on (except in the bedroom/bathroom) so command-center can keep an eye out, but I object to it being broadcast to the dumbwhitted tv-watchers..
Also it being done by a company that has no track-record of even sending a satellite into space is another big problem.. even though they say some space-heavyweights are onboard.. And people telling, 'oh but it's not NASA, how can they even think about space-travel', NASA isn't the only space-institude, also ESA (european space agency) is a big one.
But asking money for signing up also seems a lot like a big scam to me..

Another problem with all those 100K people who already signed up, is the fact that they have no idea what they are getting themselves into, I'll bet a lot of them just want to be on TV (the reality-show part of the trip)..

modular construction like RU node module

[Anonymous Coward]

Have a look at the Russian post-ISS Uzlovoy Module: it's a cube with 6 docking holes, basically. You can't get much more modular than that in 3 dimensions.

Golgafrincham Arc B

[romons]

Telephone sanitizers welcome!