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I'm all for sending men to Mars. But not on a one way probable suicide trip. To proceed to Mars without the means of returning to earth is foolish. The article said, 'a recent MIT study found that, should the first explorers succeed in landing, using current technology they would likely survive just 68 days.'
While I believe that had we not lost our focus and motivation we would have been on Mars now, at this point we are not ready. Having said that, 'NASA marked a critical step on the journey to Mars with its Orion spacecraft during a roaring liftoff into the dawn sky over eastern Florida on Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, aboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket.' - Successful Launch of Orion Heralds First Step on Journey to Mars | NASA
But it's going to take time. We aren't ready yet. Still, there's no doubt that there are plenty of people who are willing to make what they know will be a one way trip if given the opportunity. And that's their choice.
I think humans going to Mars is something that will eventually happen. Going there on a one-way trip isn't what I would consider as responsible, even though there are certainly plenty of people who would be willing to jump at the chance. The Mars One project is looking at sending its first unmanned mission in 2018 and the first manned mission in 2024. That's just 9 years from now.
Personally, I think it would be much better to send much more advanced robotic missions to do the grunt work before sending humans. Food is going to be critically important. A robotic mission could test how well plants would grow and produce food. If that succeeds, it would provide another green light for a human mission, especially a one-way mission.
Access to water is going to be another essential part for such an endeavor. Again, we should let robotics find out what it will involve to produce an adequate supply of water for human consumption.
Producing sufficient breathable air is going to be an absolute necessity.
Protective shielding from radiation is also important, but I think that's something that can be resolved. While the habitats to be sent will help out, in the long run, it might be better to seek shelter underground or in caves.
Mars One is certainly trying to resolve such issues, but I think their deadline is too narrow. There will be hazardous risks for any kind of mission to the red planet, even for a round-trip mission. I think the idea of sending people to Mars with no chance to return to Earth is foolish. We need robotics to blaze the trail, and we should provide round-trip missions. With more successful missions, the door would open for more people to travel to Mars to work and live on Mars. But just sending people to Mars on a one-way trip 9 years from now might be more economical than a round-trip, but I think it's just pushing things a bit too far to achieve what would amount to little more than bragging rights.
Why limit such a mission to just one-way trips? Why not consider round-trip missions? If someone on Mars doesn't want to take the next flight back to Earth, fine. But I think having that option would be reasonable, especially if someone has second thoughts. We need to develop better spacecraft propulsion systems that can make the journey in a shorter amount of time and do so economically. We're not quite there with that yet. But until we can, I'd say leave it to the bots and limited round-trip manned missions.
This first one, assuming the rocket will ever launch, most definitely is a one way trip - for many, at least. Cancer, crippling injury, failure of the air system, failure of the hydroponics? A million other things.
They will not have the means to return to earth, as I recall my reading.
But praise God for the adventurers among us. I hope they keep good records so our descendants can preserver their stories.
Reminds me of a modern-day Catch-22 - if you want to go on a suicide mission, you must be crazy, which means you don't pass the mental health exam required to go on the mission.
When I first saw the headline on the internet, "100 people picked for one-way trip to Mars," my cynical thought was did they volunteer or were they nominated?
Reminds me of a modern-day Catch-22 - if you want to go on a suicide mission, you must be crazy, which means you don't pass the mental health exam required to go on the mission.
Kind of what I was thinking. We do not send suicide missions in war and at least the Japanese believed it was to save the nation.This is crazy; IMO.
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