For these purposes assume it’s completely safe, whilst safety concerns would obviously be a real life worry please dismiss them here.
For some reason the mission to Mars needs someone just like you, in fact you are the most suitable person on the planet. If you wish you can live in an extremely cramped vehicle with very limited entertainment for a 2 year round trip, spending about 10 days on Mars. You will be the first one off, becoming the first person ever, and possibly 1 of only 2 people to ever step on the surface of Mars. There will be no landings on Jupiter or Venus in your lifetime so you will remain the first person to go the furthest frontier for the rest of your life. Do you want to go to Mars?
I am like What_Exit. A bit past my prime. That being said, even past my prime, I would say yes in a heartbeat. Of course then I would be killed by my wife so I probably would not ever get there.
As a kid I was fascinated by Mars. When Mariner IV returned the first close-up pictures of the planet I was so excited I wrote to NASA asking for a set of the pictures since I wasn’t content with the crappy ones published in the media. They were nice enough to send this little kid a package of 8x10 glossies which I presume was probably their official press kit. Today, however, beyond the possibility of finding evidence of ancient life I don’t see why there’s much interest in Mars at all, let alone a reason to establish a colony there. There are much more interesting places in the galaxy and even in our own solar system. So a definite “no”. If I want to see a bunch of rocks I can do it on Earth.
If Mars were to be summarized in an adjective it would be “boring”. The Lonely Planet review would be three paragraphs about yellowish sand, red-brown skies, and how difficult it is to find a public toliet. Nothing of interest has happened on the surface for at least half a billion years except for the occasional meteorite impact and some slow moving recurrent slope lineae. It has just enough atmosphere to be annoying but not enough for anything but a very lightweight helicopter done or gigantic glider to fly in, the soil is an abrasive toxic grit, the moons are just moving spots in the sky, and it is about as bright at noon as civil twilight on Earth. Except for some geology that is really only interesting because of the clear indications that Mars once had a vast, potentially globe-spanning ocean that subsequently disappeared for unknown reasons, this is the spot in the Solar System with the least going on.
If we are assuming that we can go to any world in Solar System without concern for safety I would rather go to Enceladus:
Pretty much the same for me, based on what I knew of what science knew of Mars back in the early 1980s when that was relevant to me.
Based on what we now know of Mars, my attitude is a lot closer to @Stranger_On_A_Train’s.
Fame for being a first figurehead means little to me. The amount of there there is small, and truly its difference from certain inhospitable regions of Earth is small enough that except for the reduced gravity one could have the 10-day on-planet experience in several different countries right here. The drone back and forth sounds downright tedious.
Even to my best current impression of long-gone 25yo me, not current 65yo me, that doesn’t add up to an expedition I’d be hot to do.
No, and I don’t think I’d have said yes at any point in my life. I’m really uninterested in space travel and Mars and probably would go insane on the way over as well. I can’t imagine enjoying any aspect of life in space.
How strict is the OP? If I could have the company of 3-4 more people it might be doable. If the habitat/spacecraft could be larger, it might be doable.
My feelings exactly, only much better phrased than the brief paragraph I tapped out earlier on my tablet.
Yes, though I was thinking Europa, which is believed to have similar geology and potential for life in its subsurface ocean, if only because Europa is much bigger and from a distance appears to have a more interesting surface – indeed one of the most unique and interesting in the solar system.
Most interesting of all would be a journey by some magical means probably involving suspended animation to an exoplanet previously identified as being an excellent candidate for life based on factors like temperature and the presence of water vapour and free oxygen. My belief is that it’s practically a foregone conclusion that life will exist where conditions for it remain right for an appropriately long period, and that it’s only a matter of time before instruments like the JWST and its successors discover such planets. That’s where the real excitement is.
