Mars One

Here's an issue that brings up a range of interesting opinions among my friends.

Mars One is a company promising to fly people to Mars in the 2020s on two conditions - there is no return ticket, and they get to film you for a reality TV show. As of now, they haven't even sent a probe into space, let alone a whole colony to Mars.

Some have called it wildly impractical. Others think it's probably a scam. Others say it's unethical to exploit people and colonising like that for TV even if it works. But lots of people are hopeful about it. Hundreds of thousands have signed up to be potential astronauts. Mars will no doubt be the first planet we colonise, and if successful, these will be the first people to go there.

Is it a worthwhile project? Do you think it's realistic? Would you be willing to go to Mars yourself under those conditions? Would you watch the reality TV show of the first people to go to Mars if it happens?

I can't wait when we colonize the sun! Going to work on my tan there!

Anyway, I think the project is a necessity. As Carl Sagan said we need to be a two planet species. I think it is a realistic, but rough project. It's going to be very very hard on those astronauts. I wouldn't be willing to go to Mars if it was a one way ticket, however if I got to go back to Earth, I'd love to go. I've always wanted to go to another planet. I even joke that I want to die on Mars. I would watch the show, unless it got too stupid. Like how most reality TV shows go. Making it into a reality TV show kinda makes the project seem like a big sham though.

Interesting note. Someone from where I use to live was chosen to go to the next stage of training for it. They interviewed her on the local news.

JV-Stalin: Neat!

What concerns me is their projected budget. $6 billion is crazy low. Your average shuttle launch into earth's orbit costs half a billion dollars, and these guys don't even have a launch pad yet. If they had double the money perhaps there's a chance they can make it.

I think it's weird. I wouldn't want to go!