
Applicants wanted for a one way ticket to Mars - lx
http://bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22146456
======
edwinkite
Send people when there's a coherent plan for them to do something useful.

Not before.

(1) Oliver Morton: "The fact that there are plenty of people who might
volunteer ... does not mean that it would be right to indulge them.

If they live, they do so because of unparalleled spending. A world where a
select few gets hundreds of millions, at the very least, invested annually
merely to keep them alive while equally deserving people die in large numbers
for want of far less is not a very attractive place.

Human Mars exploration is indeed a fine goal, and it is quite possible that
fairly early on there will be some who elect to stay. But the only real
argument for doing it sooner rather than later is the selfish one of wanting
to see/participate in it personally.

There is something poetic about the notion of death on Mars, or of choosing to
die there - Clarke's Transit of Earth caught that nicely. But Liebestod is not
a good basis for public policy."

[http://mainlymartian.blogs.com/semijournal/2009/09/oneway-
to...](http://mainlymartian.blogs.com/semijournal/2009/09/oneway-to-mars-no-
way-to-mars.html)

(2) Funding large risky space missions through advertising is not credible.
Cash needs peak ~3 years before Mars arrival. The team building the British
Mars lander tried hard to raise money from advertising - with help from M&C
Saatchi - but "failed to raise any external funding guarantees." Hunting for
sponsors "seriously hindered the orderly build-up of the project engineering
team," contributing to the 2003 loss of the spacecraft over Isidis Planitia.

Crash investigation: [http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/ukspaceagency/docs/space-
scienc...](http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/ukspaceagency/docs/space-
science/beagle-2-commission-of-inquiry-report.pdf)

------
eeek
When I was in high school I was invited to a youth science symposium. After a
fancy dinner after a day-long event I asked the speaker, a woman from NASA, if
a non-returning mission to Mars was on NASA's list of possibilities ( as the
difficulty of the return trip is the primary prohibitive part of a manned
mission to Mars ). She took this opportunity to try to humiliate me for even
thinking such a crazy plan was worth considering, stating that "we would never
send anyone to Mars if we could not return them home" as if it was some kind
of militaristic "leave no man behind" moral code. I was very disappointed that
she didn't even take the time to consider it and argue against it from a
reasoned position. I am happy to see that others are not so closed minded
these days and that space and planetary exploration will most likely continue
with more open-minded people finding ways to reach out push on the edge of our
envelope.

~~~
anigbrowl
Imagine if she'd said yes. About a week later the tabloids would be screaming
'NASA to launch astronauts on death mission.' She wasn't trying to humiliate
you, she was engaged in her job of doing public outreach.

~~~
Myrmornis
So as a scientist, speaking to young scientists, perhaps she should have said
something like "First please note that while the following answer may be the
truth, the nature of my job sometimes compels me to give non-truthful
answers." Perhaps such a disclaimer should be given by any "scientist" whose
PR operations sometimes preclude accuracy?

~~~
kaybe
It is more the distinction between the official line and their personal
opinion. In more private contexts (and with some beer) you can have some
interesting conversations. (Did you know that the people on the ISS have not
tried to invent any cool 0g games? "but juggling is really easy" ahh, the
possibilities..)

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jacques_chester
I will try not to be surprised when most of the money raised is spent on the
salaries of the promoters.

This comment fulfills your RDA of cynical first comments on HN.

~~~
olympus
You're probably right, but I'm applying anyway. It's not like a better
possibility for me to get to Mars is opening up anytime soon. I'll balance the
small amount of wasted money with the (extremely remote) possibility that I'd
get to be a heroic space explorer.

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koltkorivera
If they sold gift certificates, they would make an immense fortune.

Don't _you_ have people you'd like to send to Mars?

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andrewb
My initial impression is "Wow, so cool, I wonder if I could do it.

Then quickly I am brought back to Earth by thinking that I will never see my
family, friends or pets again.

I wonder how many of these "thousands" of applicants have truly though this
through and could actually do it.

~~~
rowanseymour
Think of all the millions of people who left places like Ireland to emigrate
to the US back in the day. Most of them never saw their families they left
behind again. At least nowadays we have internet... though with the 10 - 20
minute radio delay to Mars, Skyping isn't going to work so well

~~~
andrewb
I don't think the Ireland example is the best. My understanding is they left
because their home country was poor and the grass looked greener in America
(land of opportunity and all).

The grass does not look that green in Mars

~~~
rowanseymour
That is true but I was only comparing in terms of not seeing one's family
again. It's hard to imagine saying good bye to your friends and family and
knowing you won't likely ever see them again.

Most Irish left for America during the potato famine so didn't really have
much choice in the matter - it was emigrate or starve.

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auctiontheory
I think I would want to know who else was signing up to be on the ship with
me.

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tokenadult
Previous submission, with much discussion, of CBC.ca report on same project:

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5390420>

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petercooper
I was thinking about this the other day. Wouldn't the people most likely to
say yes to a chance like this be the least ideal people to send to start a
colony? Historically, people have embarked on migrations in the hope the life
at the other end would be a lot better, but that's almost certainly not true
for living on Mars, even with every mod con you could imagine.

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hcarvalhoalves
More click-bait. This seems to describe a reality show, without further
implications.

~~~
andyking
There was a reality show along these lines a few years ago - how I remember
this, goodness only knows:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadets_(TV_series)>

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SagelyGuru
People ought to be nominated for this. I nominate the Nobel Peace Prize winner
Barrack Obama.

