Mars Colonization Mission Now Taking Applications

[Misterian]

Wait, we're not gonna colonize the Moon? we're just gonna skip it to get for Mars?

Bit of a shame, I'd think colonizing the moon might be easier, it's a shorter distance and with the right science in mind, I'm pretty sure we could make it inhabitable.

On the other hand, there IS still alot less gravity on Mars than on Earth, right?

At least you could jump around to get across long distances, and if you can somehow make that planet inhabitable at least to turtles and you could almost pretend you're in the Mushroom Kingdom's Desert World!

 

[knight steel]

Is anyone else getting an Event horizon feel from this,no only me?
Ok then [crawls into bunker and hugs teddy]

 

[baconsarnie]

Damn i might actually be too tall for this, shame. I wouldn't mind going but i don't know how i'd cope with the one-way nature of it.

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

I want this to be legit and succeed so much. I'd sacrifice my first and second born for it to work.

 

[kajinking]

I'm just wondering if there's a singleplayer game one could play for 8 years straight now.

 

[Camaranth]

Hey why not? Get 8 years crazy ass training then throw a bitchin' living wake before you depart. Besides who knows what will happen between now and then, maybe we'll have the tech for a return ticket in 10 years. Assuming that the Humartians don't all develop cancer, radiation poisoning and reduced bone mass due to the lack of a magnetic field and living in lower gravity for a prolonged period of time.

Wait, we're not gonna colonize the Moon? we're just gonna skip it to get for Mars?

Mars has a thin atmosphere and a little water is present in the soil. One of the proposed methods for living there is to filter the water out of the soil and grow food using hydroponic cells (? I think that's what they called it). Also reuse everything .

The MarsOne website discusses all these challenges in quite a convincing manner if a little vague on the details.

 

[Dalisclock]

Good luck to them on this. I do military recruiting and it's hard enough to find people who are:

-Physically Fit.
-Smart
-Are not on medication
-don't have significant legal/civil issues or aren't undergoing legal action.
-willing to commit to a 4/5 year contract on earth, with the ability to go home on a regular basis.

And I suspect these guys are going to want college degrees or at least high aptitude test scores.

 

[Dalisclock]

Well, you get shoved into 8 years of training with a team before you get shoved into the tincan and launched to mars, so thats enough time that in the outside world you could get a doctorate or a masters and then move onto actual work and gain years of experience....

In their training you get 8 years of specialized training for what you will be doing.

Which is a lot to get someone to commit to, especially if they have a family or end up starting a family during the training, then start getting second thoughts about wanting to go to mars for a few years.

A lot of people, especially young adults, start to freak out at the idea of committing to anything contractually for a couple years.

 

[Reaper195]

Aside from being overweight and having glasses...I don't see a reason why I couldn't go. Aside from also possessing no real skills in how to planet. Or space. Just video game and lift heavy stuff. And drive forklifts. I can forklift! I should be allowed to go!

 

[Smooth Operator]

Yeah, I'm sure 19 year old armchair philosophers are exactly who you want to man a colonization mission. Not people like scientists, or mechanics, or, I don't know, actual trained astronauts.

As far as I can tell the whole thing will be automated, so what they really need the squishy humies for is to sit in the tin cans looking excited for for TV which will in turn pay the bills.
Also people seem to skip over the fact this is a one way ticket, you go there to die, and considering what a pie in the sky this whole project is I doubt people will be dying of old age.

Sadly if it succeeds that means the next era in human development was ushered by reality TV...

 

[Remus]

I fail nearly all of their tests. I'm medicated, have no creativity largely due to a lifetime of mind-altering medication, don't trust anyone, and have piss poor eyesight. guess my non-existent astronaut dream is out the window.

 

[Darks63]

snip

Yup, and I can guarantee you that with few people in a confined space on another planet with nothing to do WILL all be humping like crazy to pass the time.

Wouldn't it be funny if it was a full blown sausage fest up there though?

Can't we force sign up the Kardashians for this mission please so we can get rid of them one way or the other.

 

[Adam Locking]

38 USD to apply? I dunno man. Seems a little 'scam-ish' for the "Interplanetary Media Group" a company which would traditionally rely on investors to need me to pay a fee to have my application thrown through the sifter...

They need $3.6 billion dollars to get the project off the ground, I guess that will help greatly. With over half a million applicants, that works out as $29 million (almost 1% of total cost) already raised by that alone. They're going to have to raise that sort of money by hook or by crook.

I figure Virgin space travel will invest (the data gathered from this trip will be vital) plus a load of other crazy entrepreneurs. Maybe they should do a kickstarter, that should net them another $10 mil if they pitch it right!

 

[Namehere]

My best friend - 6'11 unfortunately, not to mention involved with a woman and a dog, yes he's doomed - thinks this is great. He's big up on the concept of, and I quote: "Boots on the ground!"

I'm sure everyone thinks this is a wonderful idea. I don't. It isn't even the reality television bit, that's just revolting and humans are always revolting. No, it's worse then that. The long term systemic problems a colonization operation akin to this one could create in relations between Mars colony and Earth, are just as big as we've seen in SF. I have no interest in meeting the grand kids because they were killed by Martian extremists. If we can colonize this place responsibly, in the absence of such potential pressures, I encourage it. A situation like this is bound to see people put through hell and their off spring and those who follow resenting everyone else for it. You can see it, don't be absurd: "Fuckin' Earthers, we make all the progress, they make all the cash... Fuckin' Earthers..." I just worry that this is much more irresponsible then we thought it was. Comical huh? It's like standing around with the Penguin in Batman Returns: "Isn't that a little-" BANG! "No. It's a lot!"

I'd love to see a sustainable plan for colonizing mars of course, with all due consideration to the future. This just seems hasty and while perhaps the future will prove it necessary, the present doesn't. And that concerns me. Risking lives for limited reward is questionable, and as this won't be a sustainable colony, I consider the reward extremely limited.

 

[EstrogenicMuscle]

My personal goal in life is to live as long as possible.

I doubt that once life extending transhuman technology is possible they'll have an easy time sending it to Mars.

Sorry, but I'll take a trip away from Earth when I feel technology has reached a point I can actually come back. There is simply not a payoff for the negatives. But hey, I guess one positive of this is not having to worry about being thrown in jail for lolicon.

Yeah no, even if you're an extremely strange person there's not much benefit. You'd need to be an extremely loner who doesn't mind dying out there and missing most technologies.

 

[Seydaman]

An interesting project, no way in hell I would ever apply, I would hate to be stuck on Mars my whole life, booooring.

 

[EstrogenicMuscle]

An interesting project, no way in hell I would ever apply, I would hate to be stuck on Mars my whole life, booooring.

You're going to have to forgive me, but I heard your post in Pinkie Pie's voice.

Most disturbingly, when I saw the thread, I heard this quote in my head:
"Save your prayers, God is not here. But us now. There is only the darkness here, and your death."

 

[frobalt]

Sadly if it succeeds that means the next era in human development was ushered by reality TV...

You say that like it's a bad thing. I get why the idea of it being reality TV is a bad thing, but I'd be willing to put money on this not being anything like other reality shows.

IE: They're not going to try and provoke drama between the people that are on it.

It'll just be a way for people to see what it's like to actually live on Mars.