Applicants wanted for a one-way ticket to Mars


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Applicants wanted for a one-way ticket to Mars

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Want to go to Mars? Dutch organisation Mars One says it will open applications imminently. It would be a one-way trip, and the company hopes to build a community of settlers on the planet.

Uncharted waters, mountains or far away lands have always drawn explorers. History books show that desire for adventure, even in the face of extreme danger, did not deter the likes of Columbus or Magellan.

So it is perhaps not surprising that Mars One has already received thousands of prospective applicants. But there is no return - unlike the mission which hopes to fly to Mars and back in 2018.

Future explorers take note. Applicants must be resilient, adaptable, resourceful and must work well within a team. The whole project will be televised, from the reality TV style selection process, to landing and beyond.

On a visit to the BBC's London office, Mars One's co-founder Bas Lansdorp explains why this would be a one-way flight.

During the seven-to-eight month journey, astronauts will lose bone and muscle mass. After spending time on Mars' much weaker gravitational field, it would be almost impossible to readjust back to Earth's much stronger gravity, says Landsorp.

Successful applicants will be trained physically and psychologically. The team will use existing technology for all aspects of the project. Energy will be generated from solar panels, water will be recycled and extracted from soil and the astronauts will grow their own food - they will also have an emergency ration and regular top-ups as new explorers join every two years.

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Robots.

Seriously, can we get over this idea that we're going to explore the universe with humans? Besides the life span issues, our obvious problems with radiation, and then losing bone and muscle mass during a trip just to Mars, there's no one on Earth psychologically capable of this who isn't also bat-**** crazy (see any of the long distance sea voyages and how they ended up, and those actually had places to land and a home to return to).

Send robots up, terraform, then start talking about one way trips with humans.

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Uncharted waters, mountains or far away lands have always drawn explorers.

And like happened with many explorers, unfortunate things are bound to happen. That shouldn't stop them, I'm just saying be prepared for it.

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No one is really taking Mars One seriously. It depends on a 5 meter Dragon that doesn't, and isn't expected to, exist even for Dragon 2.0 (soon.) That and their next rocket family is to be 7+ meters in diameter. Maybe 8-10.

Right now most people are waiting for SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and MCT, and for Dennis Toto 's Inspiration Mars flyby to get fleshed out. MCT gets announced later this year, and some NASA center managers are pushing NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) for Tito's project.

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... there's no one on Earth psychologically capable of this who isn't also bat-**** crazy (see any of the long distance sea voyages and how they ended up, and those actually had places to land and a home to return to).

Like all those people who went to live in America, that seemed to work out for a lot of them...

I'm not saying that this project will succeed, but writing off Mars colonisation in off, without large amounts of terraforming first, is like the people that said that heavier than air planes would not work, in my opinion.

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Like all those people who went to live in America, that seemed to work out for a lot of them...

I'm not saying that this project will succeed, but writing off Mars colonisation in off, without large amounts of terraforming first, is like the people that said that heavier than air planes would not work, in my opinion.

Which people, the people who walked there, or the people who sailed there? Yes, slightly ambitious for the ones who sailed there, but even when they left there was a pretty good idea that there would be a) food b) water c) oxygen d) the same level of gravity e) atmospheric shielding when they got there.

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Well the people who walked there are not all doing that great any more, though some own big casinos, but I was talking about the Europeans, since their journey is more comparable.

The people going to Mars will bring water, water recycling and mining methods, food, resources to grow more food, and shielding, the gravity part, might have some unforeseen consequences but people have lived in micro gravity for extended periods of time, and walked on the moon, so we know it does not present an immediate danger. Also, no one said it was going to be easy, but very hard and impossible is still very far from the same thing.

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Salsn, don't argue with the "we will never travel at faster than 20mph/who needs more than 64k" crowd. Pointless. Humanity will clearly settle many other worlds in the next 100 years whether some believe it or not. I wouldn't write these guys off, either, as their plan can change to use other vehicles etc.

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This is exciting. Send one ship with crew and supplies but send a second only with supplies. Have them set up shop. I do wonder about the air though. Where would they get the o2? This would make for some exciting TV. Even if they die it would be every second a learning experience.

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being serious now the people who go would need to be very clever and mentally stable because they would be getting things ready for more people coming and settling ,this project is long term and it would help find out the long term effects of being on a different planet ,the data could be transmitted back to Earth. maybe one day far into the future technology man may invent terraforming till then its just a thing seen on Star Trek and so on

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