Mars One is a program that is trying to develop funding for a one-way trip to Mars by raising money from a reality television show. Though I realize that the people (primarily from The Netherlands) who came up with this are serious about it, but to me, there is an undercurrent of ‘scam’.
Read more at the Mars One website.
It will begin with habitats on Earth where would-be Mars One astronauts train by living in an Earthbound simulator…until the spacecraft is built.
Yes it’s a one-way trip. Once you leave, there is no mechanism that will return you to Earth. Therefore anyone who leaves, will need to buy the t-shirt first, before departing. If you are a serious scientist instead of a dreamer, you will realize that the Martian soil is toxic to bacterial life and to mankind. I’m not suggesting that it can’t be terraformed given time and effort, but I think that it’s unlikely that the hapless participants in the Mars One reality TV show would do anything but to to Mars and die – providing that they were able to ever lift off from Earth and survive the journey.
More than 200,000 men and women from around the world responded to the first call for astronauts and the selection process wound that number down to 100 finalists who are going to compete for final launch slots on the reality show. You can read their bios for yourself… If I was going to select people for the reality show, and the flight to Mars I’d include the entire Kardashian family which brings with it racial diversity (including in-laws), the Mob Wives (as companions for the mostly male crew) and people who currently work in the West Wing of the White House and do so well managing the nation – time to let them branch out to a new career on Mars.
Meanwhile, back home on Earth, you never know how things will end up.
But BEFORE YOU GO, sound off below on who you would send to Mars as part of the (likely ill fated if it ever lifts off) one-way trip to Mars.
Yes, Pretty Jenny, we know that your ex-husband would make an excellent Mars One astronaut…
I can’t believe but what LSP would nominate the Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
However, these are all guesses on my part.
This has already been done. A guy spent a great deal of time and effort scrounging up funds to embark on a journey beyond the known human frontier. Everyone thought he was nuts. They said he would surely die, as the monstrous unknowns would devour him and anyone who followed him.
But he persevered, got the funding and set off into the unknown. The guy's name was Christopher Columbus.
I am not saying that these numbnuts bound one way for Mars are going to achieve the same results as ol' Chris, because Columbus had plans to successfully return to civilization. But people who push the frontiers outward are only doing what humans have been doing since their ancestors crawled out of the friendly ooze onto dry land. I'll bet their more timid trilobyte ooze dwelling neighbors called those critters nuts, too.
If Columbus realized that an entire continent stood between him and the Indies, I don't know if he would have set off. With Mars, we are there virtually through robotics and we know that the soil is toxic, the environment is toxic and while I believe that mankind is destined to land there and explore, we learn more from a scientific mission at the moment.
I equate this to more of a "First Crusade" led by Peter the Hermit to free the Holy Land from the Muslims. He didn't bring more than a handful of soldiers. Most of the people who joined him were the hippies of their day and they were all wiped out.
A one way trip to Marts would be an interesting way to get rid of some non-friends.
Or welfare cheats — we could launch them to Mars.
Yes, Justsin would make a very good candidate and I'd also like to nominate the people of Detroit. They already live in a toxic environment and would make good pioneers. And after they've gone, the Motor City could be terraformed.
Two birds with one stone, sort of thing.
Send Obama. That way he could rule his own planet. And think of the drives he could make on a Martian gold course.
Excellent choice. Pick people who are accustomed to toxicity. Justin can go along as the colony's vicar.
I hadn't thought about it, but Obama could rule and make golfing history (as an added inducement).
And don't forget Moochelle and the rug rats…
Yes, they will feel more at home on the Red Planet. They need to go too.
Holder will be available soon…plus, if there is any fake inequality there, he could be right on it…
Yes, having America's "top cop" up there makes perfect sense. He (and Barack) can radio back directives for the rest of us.
There MUST be a way to entice all the energetic Jihads running around Syria and the Levant to head upstairs to the Martian Caliphate, it's all sand up there anyhow, right? 720 Martian Virgins?
Mars would be the perfect place to establish a caliphate.
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