So who wants to relocate to Mars?????

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

We can only hope they will have internet access to FOFC......

Mars One plans suicide mission to Red Planet for 2023 | Fox News

[sterlingice]

That's pretty darn cool if it actually happens

SI

[Logan]

I nominate MBBF.

Kidding!

[DataKing]

I can think of several people I'd like to nominate. As can we all, no doubt.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Logan

I nominate MBBF.

Kidding!

There's far worse things I've been nominated for in the past.

[JediKooter]

Suicide mission? Huh? It's a one way mission, not a suicide mission.

My favorite quote:

"Still, the Mars One project faces some tough issues. Lansdorp says colonists would have to grow plants using a chemical process called hydroponics, which does not use soil."

This is not some new crazy sci-fi technique, pot growers have been doing this for years, very successfully, don't think it would really be all that hard to do if they set it up right.

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Suicide mission? Huh? It's a one way mission, not a suicide mission.

My favorite quote:

This is not some new crazy sci-fi technique, pot growers have been doing this for years, very successfully, don't think it would really be all that hard to do if they set it up right.

The critical issue that has yet to be addressed is how, using hydroponic techniques, they will manage to grow bacon.

Without bacon it will indeed become a suicide mission.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Fonzie

The critical issue that has yet to be addressed is how, using hydroponic techniques, they will manage to grow bacon.

Without bacon it will indeed become a suicide mission.

I would imagine they'd get their bacon this way:

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Fonzie

The critical issue that has yet to be addressed is how, using hydroponic techniques, they will manage to grow bacon.

Without bacon it will indeed become a suicide mission.

They would just get the bacon shipped to them from Earth.

Imagine going to the store to buy bacon-- $45,000 per slice

By then, the value of the dollar will have dropped to nil, so the new Mars currency should make the bacon affordable.

[Julio Riddols]

The Mars bar will be the most popular candy bar finally.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

The Mars bar will be the most popular candy bar finally.

Out there, they'll just call it a candy bar.

[sabotai]

I nominate myself. I'd love to go if this turned out to be successful.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Out there, they'll just call it a candy bar.

Or they may eat Earth Bars instead.

[Bobble]

I don't see how this can possibly go wrong.

[Sun Tzu]

Worldwide lottery? I doubt it will be a random lottery. They should choose people based on needs. I nominate the following people...

Gary Sinise
Tim Robbins
Don Cheadle
Jerry O'Connell
Connie Nielsen

[DataKing]

Don't forget Kathy Griffin.

[sterlingice]

http://www.snpp.com/episodes/BABF01

Homer: All that counts is that we're alive and rubbing elbows with the greats. {gasps} Ooh, there's Ross Perot, Dr. Laura, Spike Lee.
Bart: Wait a minute, they're not so great.
Homer: Okay but there's Dan Quayle, Courtney Love, {increasing panic}, Tonya Harding, Al Sharpton, Ah! Tom Arnold! What the hell's going on?
Bart: {looking out porthole} Wait! Only that ship's going to Mars. Ours is headed for the sun.
Arnold: Yeah, ain't that a kick in the teeth? I mean, my shows weren't great but I never tied people up and forced them to watch. And I could've, because I'm a big guy and I'm good with knots.
Homer: So we're all going to die?
Arnold: 'Fraid so, but, hey, the grub's pretty good, huh? {chuckles, and then pours a can of peaches in his mouth}
Homer: The sun? That's the hottest place on Earth.
Shore: Gonna work on my tannage, buddy.
Arnold: Pauly Shore? Wow! Hey, we should do a show together, man. That's a sure cure for the blues!

SI

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by DataKing

Don't forget Kathy Griffin.

I thought we were going in peace?

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I thought we were going in peace?

Peace on Earth.

[Logan]

[JediKooter]

Nothing like an alien drug dealer.

[Coffee Warlord]

21 posts in and nobody has said Get Your Ass To Mars yet? C'mon, guys.

[DaddyTorgo]

How much are they going to charge me for the privilege is my question. You know there's fucking $$ in it for them.

[molson]

I'm guessing the project get delayed and abandoned after they raise a decent amount of money.

If it goes off though, I'll do it, but then I'm going to slack off and sleep in once I get up there. What are they gonna do, fire me?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by molson

I'm guessing the project get delayed and abandoned after they raise a decent amount of money.

If it goes off though, I'll do it, but then I'm going to slack off and sleep in once I get up there. What are they gonna do, fire me?

Yes. Back into space.

Because if you don't work and you're consuming resources, I don't think that will play well with the others and they'll be glad to relieve you of your rations.

SI

[Desnudo]

To help fund the project, Lansdorp says there could be a reality show based on the selection process and test colony. Paul Römer, the co-founder and executive producer of the show "Big Brother," is an adviser for Mars One..."

Reality show contestants - perfect personalities for long term space travel

[QuikSand]

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Suicide mission? Huh? It's a one way mission, not a suicide mission.

Unless they've got adequate radiation shielding for the vehicle, spending several years in space en route to Mars would be a fairly effective form of delayed suicide, yes.

[Kodos]

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I nominate Philip J. Fry to be the original Martian.

[Rizon]

Should be an interesting test case for Cabin Fever. Those people are going to go absolute bonkers out there isolated.

[molson]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Yes. Back into space.

Because if you don't work and you're consuming resources, I don't think that will play well with the others and they'll be glad to relieve you of your rations.

SI

When you put it that way it kind of sounds like space slavery. "Get to work or we'll shoot you into outer space!" The corporate sponsors probably aren't going to like that.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Unless they've got adequate radiation shielding for the vehicle, spending several years in space en route to Mars would be a fairly effective form of delayed suicide, yes.

I'm sure they would launch the vehicle when Earth and Mars would be approaching their closest points to each other. I think the travel time would be about 9 months. Definitely not years. Heck, I think one of the orbiters only took about 4 months to get there, but, I think it used a different kind of propulsion system that allowed it to get there faster.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by molson

When you put it that way it kind of sounds like space slavery. "Get to work or we'll shoot you into outer space!" The corporate sponsors probably aren't going to like that.

I was meaning your fellow astronauts, not the company

SI

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

To help fund the project, Lansdorp says there could be a reality show based on the selection process and test colony. Paul Römer, the co-founder and executive producer of the show "Big Brother," is an adviser for Mars One..."

Reality show contestants - perfect personalities for long term space travel

Even better when read in conjunction with this paragraph a little further down the article:

Norbert Kraft, a former NASA researcher who studied group psychology for long-term human missions, says the Mars One crew will have to be carefully selected by psychiatrists and prepped to deal with psychological factors like how to collaborate in stressful situations and anticipate problems.

[jbergey22]

I am just wondering how they plan on getting this bubble they are going to live in set up in advance.

Living in a bubble and any trip into the atmosphere requires a space suit sounds like a difficult life. They do have some pretty cool transportation vehicles lined up for them however.

Oh and 4-6 months in a space shuttle sounds like hell.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I'm sure they would launch the vehicle when Earth and Mars would be approaching their closest points to each other. I think the travel time would be about 9 months. Definitely not years. Heck, I think one of the orbiters only took about 4 months to get there, but, I think it used a different kind of propulsion system that allowed it to get there faster.

I was watching a show on this. They claimed 4-6 months shortest orbit almost 2 years longest orbit.

[bronconick]

Everything I've read about hypothetically living on Mars implies that they'd need a portion of their living space (including sleeping quarters) underground because of the lack of atmosphere+no magnetic field increasing your day to day cancer risk. You'd be stuck like that until you shove enough CFC's into the atmosphere to thicken it up some.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

I was watching a show on this. They claimed 4-6 months shortest orbit almost 2 years longest orbit.

That sounds right. I was going off memory and couldn't quite remember the numbers.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Even better when read in conjunction with this paragraph a little further down the article:

Actually that does sound like the real world road rules challenge

[Daimyo]

Putting your life into the hands of a company that wants to send you to Mars as a publicity stunt without much of a financial incentive to care about you once you get there doesn't seem like winning.

[EagleFan]

Interesting. Odd reality show tie in though. For mainstream the type of people that you would need for this mission would not make good reality show TV and the people that you would need to make reality show TV would not even survive the trip to Mars, let alone setting up a colony.

With that said, I would watch but I would be more interested in watching a feed from after they arrive; that would be VERY interesting. Though my fear is that we would watch them all die within a month.

[Rizon]

Red Planet (2000) - IMDb

[Fidatelo]

This sounds so awesome, and I'm super pumped. But then the cynic in me starts thinking "6 BILLION?!" and realizing that in all likelihood they make 5 years of reality shows picking and prepping the cast and then announce they don't have enough funds to actually launch.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

If they did... Imagine how it would be actually being one of the crew. You would spend 9 months in a small ship, then you get to Mars. You live the rest of your life with just those you came with. Never see anything you know here again. Family can only send messages. I can only imagine the homesickness that would come from being marooned on another planet.

On the other end, if you knew someone who went it would be almost like they were dead. Yes, there would be a certain coolness knowing one of the first people on Mars, but you'll never see them again. Email would make communication possible, but never is never.

I can only imagine the people that would go would be single, have parents that were dead & no offspring, I really can't see telling your kid "I'm going to Mars, be good for mommy & have a great life!" or hearing that a parent died and knowing that you missed the last years of their life because you went to live on Mars.

[MizzouRah]

Ratings would be through the roof.

[Grover]

I would go, for the simple fact of being known in history as one of the first men to step foot on a planet not named Earth.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I'm sure they would launch the vehicle when Earth and Mars would be approaching their closest points to each other. I think the travel time would be about 9 months. Definitely not years. Heck, I think one of the orbiters only took about 4 months to get there, but, I think it used a different kind of propulsion system that allowed it to get there faster.

That 9 month travel time assumes Mars and Earth's orbits are at their closest to one another, something that only happens about once every two years or so. Doable, but the timing would be tricky on a manned mission.

You can use the Interplanetary Travel Network to get to Mars with minimal fuel expenditures, but then you ARE talking about 3 years or so to arrive.

You can probably use nuclear rockets or something along those lines, but unless you have adequate shielding, even with the increased travel speeds you're still talking about increased cancer risk.

Additionally, I'd have to think that if they're setting it up as a one-way mission, you're talking about a larger mass budget necessary. The food is a big deal, but if you're growing it in hydroponics labs that's probably not the part that has the biggest impact on the mass budget; although, you might have to have sufficient seed stocks for at least, what, three years? Nine months of travel, 16 months of waiting for Mars to get back to launch window approach (I'd imagine you'd launch the flight about nine months prior to close approach so that the venture is arriving as Mars reaches that point, instead of launching when it's at its closest and then chasing it), and then nine months of waiting for resupply, unless you've become food-independent with your seed stocks by then.

Any tools you're taking along, you need either sufficient stores of replacements, or else the capability to replicate those tools in the event something breaks. You're not going to have any kind of serious mining concern set up with any immediacy on Mars, unless you send out some kind of robotic mining venture prior to the manned mission, so it's more likely that you need to plan for replacements and sufficient raw materials to make your start.

That's just off the top of my head. A manned mission could get to Mars in nine months, but I tend to think that's the timeframe for a mission that has a return leg. If you're planning for a permanent stay, my guess is the added mass budget increases your fuel costs to the point that you're using the ITN instead of close approach.

[EagleFan]

Watch, they'll get there fine; start to make good progress on setting up a colony and then one of them goes serial killer on the group.

[Bad-example]

It's probably worth noting that any potential manned trip to Mars would likely be preceded by a few unmanned missions that would send the bulk of what the new Martians would need to survive.