Volunteers sought for Mars mission

[Sin]

Bas Lansdorp told CBC Radio in Canada on Monday that his intention to send a mission to Mars is seeking willing participants. He can, and will, he says, get them there but the job lasts a lifetime because he can't bring them back.
"The technology to get humans to Mars and keep them alive there exists," Lansdorp, an entrepreneur from the Netherlands, told Brent Bambury in a CBC Radio talk last week. "The technology to bring humans from Mars back to Earth simply does not exist yet."
Mars One: countdown to mission launch

Lansdorp said the mission, Mars One, will go in 2023 and the astronaut participants selected will receive 8 years of training. They will establish a colony on Mars and Lansdorp expects it to survive and become a thriving community. Four astronauts will initially take the 7 month journey and be followed by 2 more every 2 years until there are more than 20 on the planet; they will live in a habitat the first will build.
To date, Lansdorp said he has over 8,000 volunteers who have tossed their hat, or rather space helmet, into the astronaut ring but he has not set an exact date by which he will make the first selections. Skeptics have said the entire scheme is nothing more than a publicity stunt being foisted upon a gullible world; others feel Lansdorp is serious but will not be able to pull it off.

First humans on planet Mars
There are many aspects of the project said already to be taken care of; for example, the supplier of the space suits, ILC Dover, is onboard, as is Surrey Satellite Technology, reported to be supplying the satellite that will orbit Mars and transmit audio, video and other data between the colony and Earth. Besides sponsors who will supply equipment and technology, Mars One will be funded in a variety of ways, including donations and creating a global reality TV/media event around the project and in particular the first landing.

"How many people do you think would want to watch the first humans arrive on Mars?” This will be one of the biggest events in human history," Mr. Lansdorp asked in an interview with the New York Times earlier this month. “We are talking about creating a major media spectacle, much bigger than the moon landings or the Olympics, and with huge potential for revenues coming from TV rights and sponsorships.”
The 36-year-old Lansdorp, who has a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, told the CBC that the potential astronauts he'll select from the applicants will be those who work well in group situations, are dependable and who are "at their best when things are at their worst."


Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/346020#ixzz2QNaKCcAH

Its a one way trip to Mars, meaning you can't get back.
Just wondering if anyone's interested, I know I am :D

[Rich]

I think that'd actually be a very difficult thing to do. Could you image spending the rest of your life with a bunch of strangers (at the start at least), never seeing your family again, and living on a shuttle for years to come? It sounds like a great opportunity, but it's not for me. I'm not saying it's not a fantastic thing though. I'd love to see the first man/woman walk on Mars.

[Flight]

I think the real obstacle here is figuring out how they will produce their own supplies; food, water, oxygen. I was just discussing this with a friend sitting near me, for this to work they'd need to send up an enormous amount of resources initially so when the pioneers arrive they have everything they need to last them a while. This also saves room on their own vessel for essentials, like food and water. For the colony to last they'll have to find a way to live independently without a "supply shuttle" every 2 years.

We were discussing how this would be possible. If there was a way to condense hydrogen into water for themselves then they could use that for growing plants (as they only require soil, water and sunlight) within their habitat; this covers both water and food required for the astronauts. Furthermore plants produce oxygen but this takes some time and must be done on a large scale. Of course this would have to all be done in-doors as, if I'm correct on thinking this, Mars doesn't have an atmosphere to hold oxygen within the planet.

I can see this being done. I'd be down for this with a few exceptions. ;)


Edit:
Thanks for posting this Sin. This is my favorite kind of content to read. :thumbsup:

[Sin]

I think the real obstacle here is figuring out how they will produce their own supplies; food, water, oxygen. I was just discussing this with a friend sitting near me, for this to work they'd need to send up an enormous amount of resources initially so when the pioneers arrive they have everything they need to last them a while. This also saves room on their own vessel for essentials, like food and water. For the colony to last they'll have to find a way to live independently without a "supply shuttle" every 2 years.

We were discussing how this would be possible. If there was a way to condense hydrogen into water for themselves then they could use that for growing plants (as they only require soil, water and sunlight) within their habitat; this covers both water and food required for the astronauts. Furthermore plants produce oxygen but this takes some time and must be done on a large scale. Of course this would have to all be done in-doors as, if I'm correct on thinking this, Mars doesn't have an atmosphere to hold oxygen within the planet.

I can see this being done. I'd be down for this with a few exceptions. ;)


Edit:
Thanks for posting this Sin. This is my favorite kind of content to read. :thumbsup:

Discussion about Astronomy, praise the lord!

Okay, first of all, the issue about food.
Food doesn't necessarily have to be sent in mass amounts of quantities, they can be brought via ration packs where when mixed with water, it becomes edible and nutritious. Also, they can bring TONS of these packets, as they'll weigh relatively nothing. Remember, there are 4+ waves of spaceships, with each wave bringing new people + food! They can eventually setup a facility inside the spaceship (I assume they're going to live in there :P) to produce these packets locally.

Next, water.
This isn't a big issue at all! Because of this! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_polar_ice_caps) The polar ice cap is ICE! Ice is just a solid, frozen state of water, and when heated becomes liquid. They'll need to heat it anyway to purify the water, so this just makes it easier.

Oxygen is probably one of the more worrisome things. They'll be restricted to their spaceship with limited amounts of air for excursions outside, but they should (?) theoretically have an infinite amount within the spaceship with an air pump and solar power.

OT: My pleasure, astronomy interests me like nothing else :D

[Flight]

I didn't know about those two polar ice sheets. But skimming through that page they mention the norther pole has carbon dioxide in it while the southern pole is actually dry ice. I honestly don't know much about dry ice; is it able to be melted down & filtered enough to be drinkable?

[Nebula]

I didn't know about those two polar ice sheets. But skimming through that page they mention the norther pole has carbon dioxide in it while the southern pole is actually dry ice. I honestly don't know much about dry ice; is it able to be melted down & filtered enough to be drinkable?

dry ice is frozen co2.

They could just let that sit inside the space ship and vaporize, creating co2. This co2 can be put in a chamber with plants to make oxygen.

[GuthixBoss1]

Woooo sounds interesting!!

[litoris]

I think that'd actually be a very difficult thing to do. Could you image spending the rest of your life with a bunch of strangers (at the start at least), never seeing your family again...

Sounds like America all over again. :)

This whole thing is quite possible, people who hate their lives could go to mars and start a new one. They would most likely have to surrender all the wealth they have + work at Mars till they die to justify the cost of the trip. This is going to be a lot like the colonization of the new world! (except, there are no natives to massacre)

[euphemism]

Of course this would have to all be done in-doors as, if I'm correct on thinking this, Mars doesn't have an atmosphere to hold oxygen within the planet.


Actually, Mars has a very thin atmosphere. There are methods in which it could be enriched with CO2, and while that may not be beneficial to humans, it could allow for greenhouse effects and eventual seeding of the planet with flora.

[Neznam]

Sign me up ASAP.
Wait will they have a good internet connection? I need my daily runescape fix, will I be able to bot???

Jk but on a serious note, I would consider this. IF of course there were enough supplies being sent with us to last us X amount of years with enough time to be resend any additional supplies if we were to run out of them by X year or something along those lines.

It would be actually pretty cool to be considered among the first people ever to land on mars, even IF the mission was a failure and we all died.

[grats]

scam company, they posted that crap months ago

some guy on reddit made a huge post about it too



I think that'd actually be a very difficult thing to do. Could you image spending the rest of your life with a bunch of strangers (at the start at least), never seeing your family again, and living on a shuttle for years to come? It sounds like a great opportunity, but it's not for me. I'm not saying it's not a fantastic thing though. I'd love to see the first man/woman walk on Mars.

you would have trained with them for years already, so no they wouldn't be strangers and you'd likely already get along

and yes, wouldn't be a big deal to not see family &/or friends again

[litoris]

scam company, they posted that crap months ago

some guy on reddit made a huge post about it too

Now I remember! That guy actually made an AMA, and did not answer any of the real questions about the technology.

[grats]

Now I remember! That guy actually made an AMA, and did not answer any of the real questions about the technology.

Yea, other than that I remember this mars one company from 5+ years ago.. I wanted to go then, I'd still go now, but probably can't =/