Suicide Mission to Mars?!

Is this real or a joke?  No matter, I will be keeping track of Mars One’s mission to send humans on a one way mission to Mars within 10 years in September 2022   .  Mars One is a company cofounded by 35 year old Dutch Bas Landsdorp.  Their introductory video on YouTube shows the participation of 1999 Nobel Prize winner theoretical physicist, Dr. Gerard T. Hooft, so these guys aren’t f*cking around.  And they have signed letters of intent from major aerospace companies around the world to supply Mars One with material and equipment for this mission.  The funding will be entirely from the private sector, and Mars One will turn this into a Big Brother type reality show unlike anything we’ve seen.

40 people will be selected through a global lottery to train in a mock colony in a desert somewhere soon.  The final team will be whittled down to 10 individuals.  The reality show will begin with the selection and training process, and be a major source of funding for this endeavor.

And just what obstacles does Mars One have to overcome to make this trip a reality?  By the way, I just realized this mission does not have to culminate in a success for Mars One to be successful.  The trip to Mars will take seven months.  Even half of that would provide adequate footage for a lucrative reality show.  Imagine the sponsors who would line up for a chance to hawk their products during each episode watched by billions?  So if heaven forbid, the Mars One space team blows up mid flight, Mars One’s business idea does not.

Anyway, Todd Halvorson published a September 2^nd, 2012 article in USA Today, titled “Landing People on Mars:  5 obstacles”, and those obstacles are:

Muscle and bone loss from being immersed in zero gravity, cancer from radiation exposure, and a whole host of other bio breakdowns, e.g. impaired vision.  But that’s if it takes the 2-3 years Mr. Halvorson assumes using today’s technology.  Mr. Halvorson is thoughtful enough to suggest remedies to all of these potential problems, except sex.  The National Academy of Sciences has reviewed NASA’s Bioastronautics Roadmap, and discovered “human sexuality was given no consideration”.  Fear not with Mars One’s version of the mission.  Reality shows thrive on that one aspect of human biological tendency, and Mars One producers will make this a priority to facilitate, with multiple cameras in a smoosh room for this purpose, a al Jersey Shore.  In fact, I’m willing to bet without a smoosh room this trip will be a no go.

We hope much success to Dutch entrepreneur Mr. Landsdorp and his Mars One company.  Heck, I’d seriously consider employment at Mars One given the right opportunity.