So who wants to fly to Mars... one way?

[bevischief]

So who wants to fly to Mars... one way? Mission for volunteers receives over 1,000 applications from budding astronauts before it was even announced

Dutch firm plans reality TV show to choose its team
Plans to land four astronauts on the red planet in 2023, with four more arriving every two years

By Mark Prigg

PUBLISHED: 12:53 EST, 9 January 2013 | UPDATED: 08:56 EST, 10 January 2013


To boldly go where no man has gone before is quite a challenge.

But to boldly go knowing that you will never return to Earth may be asking a bit too much.

This has not deterred a Dutch-led research institute, however, which has launched a search for volunteers to take part in a one-way mission to Mars... where they would set up a human settlement.
Successful candidates will have to undergo eight years of training before blast-off in 2023.

The Mars One Institute pulled no punches yesterday: ‘They should realise that if this project is successful, they won’t be coming back.’

Former NASA researcher Norbert Kraft, Mars One’s medical director, said: ‘Gone are the days when bravery and the number of hours flying a supersonic jet were the top criteria for selection.

'Now, we are more concerned with how well each astronaut works and lives with the others – and for a lifetime of challenges ahead.’

Mars One aims to raise money to help fund the project through a long-running, global, reality TV show, which will select the first 24 candidates and follow their training.

Viewers would vote for who should be on the first team of four to leave Earth in ten years time. By 2033 the colony would reach 20 settlers.

Journey time to Mars, which is approximately 40million miles away depending on its position in orbit, would be around 200 days.

Settlers would encounter a barren, cratered landscape, an unbreathable atmosphere made up of 95 per cent carbon dioxide and temperatures ranging from 35C to minus 135C.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...lications.html

[chefsos]

Those wacky Dutch are bound and determined to establish New Amsterdam...and maybe keep it this time.

[dallaschiefsfan]

I appreciate the concept...but respectfully disagree that it's anything like settling out west or other previous frontiers. Settling in space would be more like trying to build a world-class city at the North Pole or the bottom of the ocean. We haven't done it because it makes ZERO sense.

Space is so absolutely hostile to human beings, I'm a bit surprised that Mars is still something of a goal...especially since it's not really a habitable planet. It seems we would be better served to focus energies on the means of space travel (beyond simple propulsion and known fuels) and think more about finding planets that can actually be friendly to human beings (existing earth-like atmosphere, water, resources, vegetation, etc.). If no such thing exists...and if we can't work around our current understanding of Physics, we're not going anywhere...and any movement beyond a quick "hi and bye" to Mars (like at the moon) is an exercise in futility for the most part.

[Munson]

I'll go, and claim the land in the name of ChiefsPlanetstan.

[theelusiveeightrop]

Are there Rib Cribs on Mars?

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by WV

Send Congress...we win if it works or doesn't!

[PGM]

Midgets live beneath the soil

[Fish]

There's a lot of factors that would make this a pretty shitty experience, to be honest. Space travel, with our current technology, is no pleasant experience. And colonizing Mars would be just as bad, if not worse. Our bodies are much more finely tuned to our physical environment than people realize. Our bodies depend on the exact amount of gravity, pressure, light, etc. that is found on Earth. And when that's not available for extended lengths of time, the body does some very ****ed up things.

They did an experiment a while back, that tried to simulate an experience like a Mars colonization:

The perils of sleeping in space

Sleeping in space is a tricky business. For starters, there isn't any gravity keeping you tucked into a warm, cozy bed. Plus, you're nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of equally uncomfortable astronauts.

And researchers have discovered new challenges to snoozing in space, after concluding a study of six men who agreed to spend 520 days locked inside a windowless, pressurized environment in Moscow meant to simulate life on a spaceship heading to Mars and back.

For the study, the astronauts did not float around in a zero-gravity environment. Using a device called an actigraph, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston monitored the crew members' movements and the amount of light they were exposed to at any given time. The subjects also took computerized reaction-time and vigilance tests twice a week, and were regularly asked questions about their workloads, how tired they were, and the quality of their sleep. The results weren't pretty.

On average, sleep time for each of the subjects increased by more than 8 percent, which works out to 35 minutes more sleep a day — not necessarily a bad thing. But the crew members were much more lethargic when they were awake, and by the end of the study had reduced their period of active waking behavior by a full 70 minutes. Four of the members reportedly suffered from psychological issues.

"The reason this matters is because, in the microgravity found in space, which we didn't simulate, if you're not active, you can suffer loss of bone and muscle, and decondition your cardiovascular muscle very severely, making it difficult to complete missions," study author David Dinges told SPACE.com. "This shows we've got to find ways to keep crew physiologically active."

Without any sunlight telling him when to sleep, one crew member started sleeping at odd times on a 25-hour day schedule, which threw off his circadian rhythms. "This could potentially be dangerous during mission-critical tests," says researcher Dr. Mathia Basner.

What makes the whole study particularly scary is that the brutal living conditions can provoke startling behavior changes. On the extreme end, explorers trekking through the Antarctic wilderness, where the day's cycles are similarly sunless, have reportedly suffered horrifying descents into madness. Other side effects can also be damaging, says The Los Angeles Times:

Though there are a few legendary stories of madness and violence — a cook who turned on others with a hammer, a scientist who axed a colleague over a chess dispute — [researchers say] most problems are lower-grade feelings of depression, anger, and irritability, along with difficulty of sleep and concentration that may exhibit itself in what is often referred to as the zoned-out "Antarctic stare."

The next step for researchers is to figure out how to keep astronauts physically active while maintaining healthy sleep cycles. One idea is to have the spaceship emit blue wavelengths of light that would trick the body into thinking it's still on Earth.

[Shogun]

Send me with lifetime supply of Skoal and I'm in

[bevischief]

Current astronauts have a higher chance of getting brain disorders like Alzheimer's.

[threebag02]

Originally Posted by PGM

Midgets live beneath the soil

Dirty Little ****ing Midgets

[MeatRock]

Would be ****ed up to live in a spacesuit. But.....i would go if miss Alabama would let me lick her butt hole.

[cyborgtable]

Originally Posted by bevischief

Current astronauts have a higher chance of getting brain disorders like Alzheimer's.

All that cosmic radiation, and it would be much much worse going to Mars than a short trip to the moon or staying at the ISS where Earth's magnetic field helps shield most of it. Until we can develop a material that can resist radiation, yet be both light and strong enough to get into space were pretty much sunk. IDK what they will use but NASA is throwing out the idea of polyethylene http://science.nasa.gov/science-news...ticspaceships/

[unlurking]

38% gravity.

Can you imagine a world where all DD's are perky and high without a bothersome bra? Can you imagine a world where saggy old lady breastages just mean she looks like she's 30. Can you imagine a world where EVERY woman is a spinner?

I have had a vision of the holy land, and it is a wanton and lusty shade of red!

[Trevo_410]

275 f, no oxygen, no food, no water.. **** that.

they won't make it a year.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by unlurking

38% gravity.

Can you imagine a world where all DD's are perky and high without a bothersome bra? Can you imagine a world where saggy old lady breastages just mean she looks like she's 30. Can you imagine a world where EVERY woman is a spinner?

I have had a vision of the holy land, and it is a wanton and lusty shade of red!

With lower gravity, the body would need a less stout structure. This means that future generations of women would eventually all be slender and tall. The fat ones would be built like Paris Hilton.