Thinking about it some (in light of the recent SpaceX launch and return, and the fact that they are providing NASA with 12 launches for $1.8 billion (IIRC)), it is probably do-able for a company to contemplate, but (IMHO) still economically unfeasible (unless they could get several tens of billions in advertising and maybe IPO money). However, the question is…would you do it? It seems pretty (ok, extremely) risky and highly unfeasible, but if you COULD be in the crew at no cost to yourself (except the real risk to life and limb), would you do it? Would you chance it for the opportunity to be among the first humans to go to Mars, to physically see what no other humans have ever seen…and to become pretty much instantly a world wide celebrity, with literally millions (maybe hundreds of millions) of people watching your every move and following your every word?
Knowing that it means my death? Yes. [insulin dependent type 2 diabetic with heart issues. I couldn’t bring enough meds to last more than perhaps 5 years. [any idea what the storage life of lantus and then whatever form of insulin I would have to graduate to once lantus is not as effective?]
I would not even consider this unless there was a manned round-trip first. I’d need to know how I was going to be protected from cosmic radiation, the sun and who knows what else.
I definitely would not be one of the first 4 that are there… no support system, no safety net if a module fails… no. Besides that, reality TV and social media annoy me.
I am the modern Antaeus; my feet shall not leave the earth… Hell, I don’t even fly well in the most modern airliners. I can sail fairly well; at very least, I don’t get seasick, so I might be safe from spacesickness…
Too old anyway… But…
Nah: there are a lot of people with the true fire in their bellies, people who’d crawl over a carpet of broken glass just to apply for Arenaut training.
There are even people who’d take the job, knowing it was a suicide mission! That’s the thing that fascinates me. Set out those terms, and you will still find lots of people who will say, “Okay; I’m in.”
I would consider it. But there is one problem. Because NASA’s been dicking around forever we STILL do not know what long term exposure to a fraction of a G will do to you. We do know zero G is bad for even moderate term. And it seems we’ve spent the past 30 years proving that point over and over. It may well turn out Mar’s gravity will turn you into a blob 5 or so years down the road.
If I were 10 years younger, or about 20 years older right now, I would be camping on their doorstep already. I would be seriously working towards being the first one out the door.
As it is? Let 'em get a few trips down, maybe have a colony going of a couple hundred people, a nice decade or so of life on Mars to make sure people don’t end up in little hover-chairs like in Wall-e because their legs atrophied, or that they don’t all die of horrible cancer from the radiation en route or once arrived. I’m not in any hurry to be a guinea pig.
After (if) all that pans out pretty well over time? Hell yes. I have no intention of dying on this rock. Get me as far off as possible in my lifetime. I’m clever, fairly personable, and pretty damn tenacious when I am doing something I’m invested in. More than a few acquaintances have told me that I was perfectly suited for thriving during an apocalypse or a colonization, and I have to say that a colonization project seems a little more on the hopeful side than an apocalypse.
That said, I really wish that I hadn’t watched that NuWho episode about the mars colony. :eek:
I’d go in a heartbeat . . . provided they took my partner as well.
But on the other hand: If the company accepted me, considering my age and medical issues, that would be proof that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.
I think of I were younger and without a partner and kids I’d go…I’d take the risk, even if I knew I’d never come back, one way or the other. To stand on another world? To be part of this peerless age of discovery we are in? To boldly go where no chunky and balding Hispanic has ever gone before?? I don’t even need the green skinned love muffin…sign me up!
Honestly the only downside I see is the whole reality show aspect. THAT hinks me out more that a little bit.
-XT
Just wanted to add that this launch by SpaceX give me some serious hope that we are on the verge of a new age of space exploration. I think were on the verge of a shift. At the prices NASA is paying for a set number of successful launches, it opens up markets of other governments and large companies and those who can attract capital to actually be able to start making some of it happen.
Everyone dies. But some people have the opportunity to become immortal…to join the pantheon of heroic figures in history. If they actually do this and make it happen (:dubious:), I won’t be going, sadly. I’ll beep watching though…avidly, and I hate reality type shows.
I would jump at the chance to go to Mars as part of a U.S. or international expedition that had been carefully planned and had a realistic chance of success, including my safe return to Earth.
But on a reality-TV jaunt planned by these jokers? No way.
I would love to colonize any planet, but not as part of a reality TV/advertising stunt. I don’t know anything about Mars One, but it sounds like they’re doing this for advertising dollars, shits, and giggles. If NASA isn’t planning to establish a colony on Mars before these chucklefucks get there, there’s a goddamn great reason for that. This isn’t our species’ first foray into interplanetary colonization, it’s a suicide mission that will be televised for the sake of ratings.
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I would love to colonize any planet, but not as part of a reality TV/advertising stunt. I don’t know anything about Mars One, but it sounds like they’re doing this for advertising dollars, shits, and giggles. If NASA isn’t planning to establish a colony on Mars before these chucklefucks get there, there’s a goddamn great reason for that. This isn’t our species’ first foray into interplanetary colonization, it’s a suicide mission that will be televised for the sake of ratings.
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NASA isn’t planning to establish a colony (or even go to Mars as far as I know…not seriously), not because it’s impossible but simply because it’s not in the budget and there isn’t enough perceived public desire for a manned mission to Mars or a colony. Hell, we didn’t even have a replacement for the shuttle after it was EOL…we relied on the Russians until a private company could build a capability to sell launch services to NASA.
I doubt this will be a suicide mission. At a guess, it will be no more risky than the original Apollo missions to land men on the moon. Granted, those were high risk propositions, but I doubt this (assuming it even happens) will be any more risky except in duration.
