Hum Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Welcome to the manned mission to Mars -- brought to you with limited interruptions by Bud Light. It's not so crazy, actually: One of the biggest obstacle to a potential space mission is finding the almost $150 billion dollars needed to develop the program. And tagging a future spaceship with the word ?Drinkability? may seem ridiculous, but it's exactly what Rhawn Joseph has proposed in the latest issue of the Journal of Cosmology. ?With clever marketing and advertising and the subsequent increase in public interest, between $30 billion to $90 billion can be raised through corporate sponsorships, and an additional $1 billion a year through individual sponsorships,? wrote Joseph, a scientist with the Brain Research Laboratory in California. Just as Tang became associated in the public's eye with space travel in the 70s and 80s, Joseph suggests selling the naming rights to Mars landing craft, the Mars Colony, the spaceship itself and more. Television broadcasting rights alone would bring in $30 billion, and that doesn't include the sale of real estate and mineral rights on Mars. ?Other than paying for one of the greatest achievements of all time and the technological revolution that would result, is it worth $145 billion in expenditures, over a 10-year period, to conquer an entire planet and to lay claim to the vast wealth which may lay beneath the surface?? he wonders rhetorically. Microsoft had no comment, and other companies such as Amtrak, Facebook, Google, Apple, Verizon Wireless, and Tesla Motors either declined to commit or did not immediately respond. more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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