I saw an article about this a while back. Seems Mars One has fleshed out the concept a little more. I wonder what kind of people would volunteer for something like this. Thoughts?
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/07/24/is-mars-one-serious-about-suicide-mission-to-red-planet/?intcmp=features (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/07/24/is-mars-one-serious-about-suicide-mission-to-red-planet/?intcmp=features)
America was built by pioneers heading off to the great unknown. But this might be a bit different. Or maybe not.
If I was younger and single I'd sign up. Seriously.
The chance to be the first person to set foot on Mars is just too big a opportunity to pass up.
Like LB said the people who first travelled the seas to come to this continent were on a one way trip into the unknown....
Considering all the crew issues Columbus had during the trip, probably some of the crews of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria came to believe it would be a one way trip.
Will future generations look on the trip's leaders in the same way we looked at Chris?
When I was growing up, in a pre Politically Correct era, he was almost universally lauded.
looks like one hell of a boring place.
Quote from: Keunert on July 25, 2012, 06:23:53 AM
looks like one hell of a boring place.
Well, you got that right. It's one thing to sail off to the unknown to explore new worlds, but this is an entirely new level of "new world." No wood to make a log cabin, no air to breathe, no animals to hunt.
I'm not saying there isn't some adventure there, but the rocks don't exactly look like they're *that* interesting.
What I'm not getting is why this has to be a one-way trip. I think there's some serious lack of imagination going on here.
So we don't have a space elevator. So what? Shoot two rockets into space, one with the people, food and fuel to get there. The other rocket has the fuel and food to make the return voyage.
Once in space, hook them up, send them over and be done with it. Or put them both into orbit over Mars for a rendezvous later. Don't know about you guys, but I think there's too little thinking outside of the box on this project.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-JFu7-msfkxo%2FToxmJOIGyDI%2FAAAAAAAABsA%2F858w12Xi_EE%2Fs1600%2F25561-retro-pinup-space-girl.jpg&hash=de9649bed1548d126c018d587adc12858b6caf97)
after three years of monk business there's a huge world of gay Spass to discover.
Quote from: LongBlade on July 25, 2012, 07:00:26 AM
Well, you got that right. It's one thing to sail off to the unknown to explore new worlds, but this is an entirely new level of "new world." No wood to make a log cabin, no air to breathe, no animals to hunt.
I'm not saying there isn't some adventure there, but the rocks don't exactly look like they're *that* interesting.
What I'm not getting is why this has to be a one-way trip. I think there's some serious lack of imagination going on here.
So we don't have a space elevator. So what? Shoot two rockets into space, one with the people, food and fuel to get there. The other rocket has the fuel and food to make the return voyage.
Once in space, hook them up, send them over and be done with it. Or put them both into orbit over Mars for a rendezvous later. Don't know about you guys, but I think there's too little thinking outside of the box on this project.
This is my issue. The explorers coming to the new world could at least imagine that they might be able to fend for themselves if they had to. No such hope on Mars I don't think. I can understand the romance of being the first person to go to another world and with modern communications one could still communicate with people back on earth, but once you are there you are completely dependant on the people who sent you. Not really a position in which I would want to be.
Quote from: besilarius on July 25, 2012, 06:17:59 AM
When I was growing up, in a pre Politically Correct era, he was almost universally lauded.
+1 and two thumbs up on that comment.
Quote from: besilarius on July 25, 2012, 06:17:59 AM
Considering all the crew issues Columbus had during the trip, probably some of the crews of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria came to believe it would be a one way trip.
Will future generations look on the trip's leaders in the same way we looked at Chris?
When I was growing up, in a pre Politically Correct era, he was almost universally lauded.
Ignorance was bliss when it came to ol'Chris
Celebrities have been going to space and getting spaced out for years. Why is this a shock?
I'll go in the second wave, once they have a Starbucks 8)
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on July 25, 2012, 07:37:45 AM
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-JFu7-msfkxo%2FToxmJOIGyDI%2FAAAAAAAABsA%2F858w12Xi_EE%2Fs1600%2F25561-retro-pinup-space-girl.jpg&hash=de9649bed1548d126c018d587adc12858b6caf97)
^ is it just me, or does she not kinda look like Sarah Palin?
...and 100 final candidates for would-be colonists have been selected (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2476920,00.asp).
Geeze, if I wanted to live on a planet of rock and dust for the rest of my life, I'd rather move to New Mexico or Nevada.
Quote from: Centurion40 on February 18, 2015, 11:39:07 AM
Geeze, if I wanted to live on a planet of rock and dust for the rest of my life, I'd rather move to New Mexico or Nevada.
It's obviously worse than that. On Earth the desert, hostile as it is, still has an environment capable of supporting life. Maybe you die of dehydration in three days, but that's three days to try and sort things out. On Mars there is nothing. You leave the colony without a space suit and you're a goner. I'm all for exploring other planets, but I don't think I'm ready to have a one-way ticket to a lifeless, barren world where I'm wholly dependent on everything in my shelter working 100% all the time.
Quote from: steve58 on February 17, 2015, 05:26:53 PMis it just me, or does she not kinda look like Sarah Palin?
nah, that's Tina Fey
I've always been a firm believer that a moon colony and/or Mars colony is just too easy if all you do is "brute force" it.
You shoot up about 10-12 rockets, each with a "tube" module that's designed to parachute to the surface, and you aim them all to land w/in a mile or so of each other. Each tube is a 'mini-station' that contains 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a common room, and 2 'flex' rooms, as well as 2-3 airlocks. The 'flex' rooms you configure as medical rooms, workshops, labs, food storage / hydroponic gardens, etc.
In every one of them, you fill every available nook and cranny with any/all things you can think of to take: solar panels, extra clothes/linens, moisture condensers, toolboxes, books, batteries, a guitar (and LOTS of extra strings) - remember you can't 'go back' for it.
In every other one, you stash a 4-wheeler in there somewhere, with tow cables and some sort of scraper blades / forklifts.
You launch a full wave of these things and get them on the ground before you ever send a single person up there. That way you can confirm how many of them landed, and how close they are, and how intact they are, before you start sending people up after them.
Assuming a 50% survival rate for the modules to land intact and habitable, you've now got 5-6 modules to pull together into a small compound that can house about 15-20 people (assuming some double up on rooms), 10 or big rooms for working, a few external storage bldgs you can throw together quickly, and a shit-ton of supplies.
You just use the 4-wheelers to pull the nearest 2 tubes together as the initial 'base' until you can pull the rest of them to each other and start hooking them together.
When you launch your people, you also launch an extra 4-8 more tubes, and send up a new one every so often with supplies. Every new tube that gets sent up becomes another link in the compound on the ground up there that you can continue to add to the overall station.
Use a moon base as a test of the concept before launching to Mars. It's not hard - it's just pure brute force. Send up waaaaaay more than you need to ensure you get a minimum amount to stay put for a while. Anything extra that survives just helps you extend your stay. But get the groundwork laid before any people head up there.
The aliens will never let any of this happen! ;)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Ff%2Ff0%2FTin_foil_hat_2.png&hash=17081426faf8e3cee95200231d258649fd966d85)
Quote from: bayonetbrant on February 18, 2015, 03:42:27 PM
I've always been a firm believer that a moon colony and/or Mars colony is just too easy if all you do is "brute force" it.
You shoot up about 10-12 rockets, each with a "tube" module that's designed to parachute to the surface, and you aim them all to land w/in a mile or so of each other. Each tube is a 'mini-station' that contains 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a common room, and 2 'flex' rooms, as well as 2-3 airlocks. The 'flex' rooms you configure as medical rooms, workshops, labs, food storage / hydroponic gardens, etc.
In every one of them, you fill every available nook and cranny with any/all things you can think of to take: solar panels, extra clothes/linens, moisture condensers, toolboxes, books, batteries, a guitar (and LOTS of extra strings) - remember you can't 'go back' for it.
In every other one, you stash a 4-wheeler in there somewhere, with tow cables and some sort of scraper blades / forklifts.
You launch a full wave of these things and get them on the ground before you ever send a single person up there. That way you can confirm how many of them landed, and how close they are, and how intact they are, before you start sending people up after them.
Assuming a 50% survival rate for the modules to land intact and habitable, you've now got 5-6 modules to pull together into a small compound that can house about 15-20 people (assuming some double up on rooms), 10 or big rooms for working, a few external storage bldgs you can throw together quickly, and a shit-ton of supplies.
You just use the 4-wheelers to pull the nearest 2 tubes together as the initial 'base' until you can pull the rest of them to each other and start hooking them together.
When you launch your people, you also launch an extra 4-8 more tubes, and send up a new one every so often with supplies. Every new tube that gets sent up becomes another link in the compound on the ground up there that you can continue to add to the overall station.
Use a moon base as a test of the concept before launching to Mars. It's not hard - it's just pure brute force. Send up waaaaaay more than you need to ensure you get a minimum amount to stay put for a while. Anything extra that survives just helps you extend your stay. But get the groundwork laid before any people head up there.
That's a great idea, Brant! I would LOVE to see humanity start expanding to the stars. It's going to have to be baby steps first and what better place to practice than the moon.