

Scientists propose one-way trips to Mars - absconditus
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_one_way_to_mars

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Sukotto
You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved
anything for the swim back. \-- Vincent (Gattaca)

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sandaru1
Bill Stone proposed a much more interesting challenge on his TED talk. Send a
team to moon without return fuel and they'll extract the fuel from resources
of the moon and return. I highly recommend you watch the TED talk if you
haven't seen it already - it's really interesting.

[http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_stone_explores_the_earth_and_s...](http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_stone_explores_the_earth_and_space.html)

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swah
Is he volunteering to go on this mission?

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iwr
Humans can live off the land just about anywhere on Earth, but with a Mars
mission now, they would be wholly dependent for decades at the very least. For
colonization to work, it must be self-sufficient nearly from day one.
Otherwise, it would be just a few footprints, 50 years too early and countless
billions over budget.

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danweber
> Humans can live off the land just about anywhere on Earth

99% of humans only can live off the land because of technology. Most of the US
would die tonight without man-made heating, clothing, and shelter. Mars would
require different technology, to be sure.

> For colonization to work, it must be self-sufficient nearly from day one

Why? The American colonies did a lot of trade with other countries. They have
never been "self-sufficient."

A Mars colony would need to place priority on low-density objects, like
generating their own food and water. We obviously haven't done it yet, but we
don't think it's impossible. They would still use trade to get in very wealth-
dense things, like nuclear fuel and computer equipment for a while, but that
doesn't mean that they would necessarily be charity cases.

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brc
I'm pretty sure the first couple of attempts at North America colonisation
either failed completely or the colonisers were absorbed into native american
populations.

The first colony in Australia nearly perished through hunger but was saved by
the arrival of a second fleet of ships, but who themselves had suffered the
loss of a supply ship in bad weather. It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th fleet of
ships that the colony even started to move away from borderline starving.

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danweber
True that. Colonizing would be risky, but out of a billion or so people you
ought to be able to find a few hundred that are competent and willing to take
on the risk.

A common strategy for Mars missions is to send the supplies there _first_. You
can land habitats, vehicles, food stores, water-producing machines, power
plants (and the return vehicle, if we're not talking about one-way missions),
and check on them via radio before your crew ever takes off.

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liuhenry
If I'm not mistaken, NASA and DARPA have already initiated plans to turn this
into reality under the "100-Year Starship" program:
[http://www.kurzweilai.net/nasa-ames-worden-reveals-darpa-
fun...](http://www.kurzweilai.net/nasa-ames-worden-reveals-darpa-funded-
hundred-year-starship-program)

EDIT: As to this: _"This is premature," Ed Mitchell of Apollo 14 wrote in an
e-mail. "We aren't ready for this yet."_ , I think it's really necessary. A
large part of the plan is a push for private investment and developing the
private spaceflight industry. If what's happened in the past with both
automobiles and aviation is any indication, there won't be any sort of massive
innovation or progress unless spaceflight is commercialized. The amount of
stagnation in the development of human spaceflight is absurd considering the
way aviation took off in the last half of the 20th century.

Burt Rutan makes a very compelling argument to this end:
([http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/burt_rutan_sees_the_future...](http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/burt_rutan_sees_the_future_of_space.html))

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VladRussian
i completely agree about the shameful stagnation.

There are 2 things - the threshold is too high and there isn't a killer app
yet. The Rutan/Branson's venture has crossed the threshold, and they may
potentially hit the killer app target if they increase the distance flying -
ie. "2 hours from California to Sidney" instead of "from California to an
island in the Pacific". $130K instead of $13K in 1st class - it bites, yet the
early adopters and economy of scale may as usually help here. I have my
fingers crossed :)

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fharper1961
It's great that these scientists have came out and said publicly that
colonizing other planets requires adventuresome people who are willing to take
some risks.

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damoncali
Yes. There is a cosmic rift between the engineers in the space industry and
the politicians that run the programs. The latter have this misguided notion
that the public can't handle the danger (and therefore won't co tinue to fund
dangerous missions). In reality, they can't handle the boredom of the status
quo.

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c1sc0
This _misguided notion that the public can't handle the danger_ also applies
to other things like terrorism. With the right mindset I think people could
learn to live with the occasional plane being blown out of the sky. Life was
far more dangerous 100 years ago & as our creature comforts have increased we
have have forgotten how to live with danger day-to-day.

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jarin
I would probably go on a one-way trip to Mars, assuming there was decent
Internet access (not likely, given the 20-40 minute round trip for radio). I
guess I'd have to have a buddy at NASA who could send hardened hard drives
with the resupply missions.

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noonespecial
The really cool thing about a one way to mars is that the one-way-naught would
be far less isolated than the explorers of old. Today you could carry with you
nearly all of the books of earth plus endless TV and movies.

Interplanetary radio would at least allow you to keep up with news on earth.
With the tenacity of the amateur radio crowd, it probably wouldn't be long
before the first dah's and dit's started showing up.

Back on earth, you'd be one of the most well known celebrities ever to exist.

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fuzzythinker
Truman Show?

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billswift
The original paper in Journal of Cosmology,
<http://journalofcosmology.com/Mars108.html>, is more interesting.

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kleiba
A little off-topic (please don't hate me): could anyone recommend a good sci-
fi novel about people first exploring Mars (or some other planet for that
matter)? I figure there must be some good ones around, as the subject
obviously offers much room (no pun intended) for cool plot ideas, but I don't
know a lot about the genre. Classics welcome, but no spoilers please. Thank
you!

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loire280
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Series is a very detailed trilogy about the
colonization of Mars:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy>

The first book, Red Mars, follows the colonization from an initial expedition
of 100 scientists to the building of a space elevator and the development of
an independent culture.

It's a good mix of hard science, politics, and the interpersonal relationships
of the original 100 colonists.

The only technological assumption I thought was a bit of a stretch is
independent robotic machinery. They can use these to perform public-works
scale construction or filter minerals out of the dust with little human input.

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__david__
FWIW, I hated Red Mars as a novel. It had some interesting science in it but
as a story it was way below par. The characters were not fleshed out well, the
bad guys had no motivation, the chapters seemed strung together haphazardly
with plot threads constantly left dangling. The "exciting finale" felt
completely forced with a silly chase sequence that didn't seem to matter in
the overal scheme of things.

Bad, bad book.

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loire280
I agree, as a novel it's frustrating at best. I usually give science fiction a
pass on plot and characters if the ideas are good. The science is generally
sound, the ideas (especially the terraforming techniques) are very
interesting, and the descriptions of the Martian topography help anchor the
planet in reality in a way that maps or even the rover images can't.

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dstorrs
THANK YOU.

I found this book horrifically tedious, and everyone I talk to apparently
thinks it's the Greatest Story Evvvaaaarrr1!!!11!! It's nice to know that I'm
not completely alone on this.

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jrockway
jrockway proposes one-way trips to Mars for politicians.

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charlesdm
I love the idea of this. Considering we already have the majority of the
technology for this, wouldn't it be possible to realize this through some sort
of crowdfunding? Let's say you sell 100-1000 tickets at a price of 5-10million
per ticket, both to individuals and governments for research purposes. For
that, they can get their flight plus some basic accommodation and supplies
once they get there.

I'm just thinking out loud here. Let's say we focus on the minimal
requirements to sustain a colony on Mars. We could use robotics to
build/establish a first base. After this, we could send some people there with
additional supplies to continue building the colony. Once the initial
constructions are made, and we would be self sufficient in basic stuff such as
food etc the ticket price could be lowered and more people could get the
chance to move there.

Then, after 20-30 years the possibility of returning to earth might also be
there.

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mrpixel
To quote Einstein: "I don't know if the Universe is infinite but human
stupidity certainly is."

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clistctrl
A one way mission doesn't necessary have to be either. I don't see why a
person can't fly there never expecting to come home, then 20 years in the
future after an unexpected discovery get an opportunity to have a return
flight.

Another perspective, if something terrible happened to earth he/she could be
the last person alive :\

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smhinsey
There is a scenario which comes up somewhat frequently in sci-fi I read that I
find really fascinating, but I've never seen anything use it as a primary
story device. Essentially it's the notion that the first several waves of
ships sent out to colonize would be overtaken by subsequent generations with
improved technology, creating a situation where you might emerge from a
relatavistic voyage across dozens of light years only to find a colony already
created and thriving.

I think the one-way mission might be a similar situation. Presuming that the
whole thing doesn't dissolve into farce, it seems likely that at some point a
return voyage would be reasonable, potential health issues aside.

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jcurbo
At least one story I know of that uses this plot device, at least in its
backstory, is David Weber's Honor Harrington books.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Kingdom_of_Manticore#Histo...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Kingdom_of_Manticore#History)

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smhinsey
I see it come up pretty often in passing, sort of like the scenario this looks
like, although I haven't read anything from this series. Do you recommend it?
I'm always looking for new sci-fi.

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dstorrs
If you dig space opera then yes: Honor Harrington is your woman.

The first few books are excellent. Once she gets promoted past the point where
she can really be a ship captain, the stories turn political and start to drag
a bit. Weber evidentally realized that this was not working, because he's
started writing about new characters who are lower-level and therefore more
interesting, so the newest books are once again a blast.

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smhinsey
Thanks, it sounds like something I'd go for. As it turns out, I actually
already have a few books by David Weber on my kindle but they are from a
different (or no) series.

