Ever Wanted to Go to Mars? Mars One Candidate Talks Exploration

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Ever Wanted to Go to Mars? Mars One Candidate Talks Exploration

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Ever wanted to go to Mars? People have fantasized about what it may be like for decades.

"Everybody thought the idea was crazy," says filmmaker Mead McCormick, one of the 100 finalists chosen to go to the red planet through the Mars One mission. "I sincerely did not think it was a crazy idea, so I thought that probably meant I should apply."

Mars One is the Danish non-profit that hopes to fund a human mission to Mars through billions of dollars worth of media deals and sponsorships. The idea is that four humans will start a settlement and live the rest of their lives there, with more humans to follow later.

"I think a big part of the mission itself and the Mars One program […] is to inspire humanity, and I think exploration does that," says McCormick, who also says that a mission to Mars would be similar to the harsh winters and isolated existence of explorers of the new world. "It broadens our horizons, it makes us learn new perspectives and new ways of thinking about what we know."

If you've been following the news about Mars One, you know that the non-profit has garnered criticism lately over its applicant pool, technical capabilities, and funding. CEO Bas Lansdorp responded to criticism in a YouTube video, defending the program and announcing that the project would be delayed by two years. 

Approximately 3:30 minutes.

Produced by Paul Detrick. Shot by Alexis Garcia.

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Comments

[LynchPin1477]

I expect Mars One will ultimately fail, but hopefully this type of privately funded space exploration will eventually be viable.

[Hyperion]

I wouldn't mind putting a few miles between me and most of earth's inhabitants. Ok, forget miles, let's talk light years.

[LynchPin1477]

If I could convince my wife, I'd seriously consider it.

Another interesting and not totally pie-in-the-sky possibility that is on the scale you are looking for (light years) is Galactic colonization via multi-generation voyages. Human being could colonize the entire Galaxy in a remarkably short period of time, though individual colonies would still be isolated from one another.

[Spencer]

Unless we develop worm hole creation. (or molecular deconstruction/reconstruction.)

[Episiarch]

No, the real and supposedly theoretically feasible solution to the problem is the Alcubierre drive. It is so much "faster" than the speed of light that journey times are short enough that gravity and radiation issues (not counting shift issues caused by the drive itself) become not a problem, as well as having sufficient supplies. Plus there are no relativistic effects since you're theoretically not even moving, the fabric of space time is instead.

[Spencer]

it'd be easier to dematerialize you and reconstruct you atom by atom on another planet. No moving at all- simply a data transfer.

Also, I'd rather rip up spacetime than move it. We know how to, in theory, create a wormhole. We then send one end of the wormhole to mars and keep the other one here. If we do that at near the speed of light there won't really be any time loss either.

[some guy]

it'd be easier to dematerialize you and reconstruct you atom by atom on another planet. No moving at all- simply a data transfer.

The problem is that you still have to send the atoms/data bits and they can only go the speed of light or less. You'd still need something magical to make it across the galaxy in less than 100,000 years.

[Pro Libertate]

That would probably mean reconstructing you with different atoms. So you wouldn't be you as far as the conscious entity aware of its surroundings right now goes. Though your replacement would be the same to us.

[Spencer]

yes, this. new atoms, put together in exactly the same way. a 3d printed human.

[Pro Libertate]

How about we just make a copy, have it experience everything at the other end, then send the memories back to me? Then, of course, you dispose of the other me through total, complete annihilation.

[Spencer]

sure. I'm for that. maybe we could make a magic act out of it.

[Pro Libertate]

Penn & Penn and Teller & Teller! Brilliant! "Is this your card? [Teller rips Penn's heart out of his chest and shows the 3 of clubs tattooed on it]."

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

We should probably get rid of the copy and the original, just to be safe.

[Bongstar420]

Nope...quantum entanglement can be employed on quantum computers.

The data can be instantly transmitted granted you have the right recipe of substrate to assemble what the data encodes for.

Its preferable to warp space time..The wormhole or Alcubierre drive concepts are both nice..Wormwholes will require what teleportation requires to operate- quantum computers employing quantum entangled processes. That means no wormholes untill after you get to the wormhole destination by more direct routes. Its like Stargate. The Alcubierre drive concept is probably the best initial route followed by wormhole networks. I don't like teleportation, but it is not intrinsically "safer" than a wormhole because they both rely on accurate computation. Its just that the wormhole route doesn't require me to die to get transferred. A teleporter would just be cloning my body in a different location even if the data stream were my physical matter (which I would only think would be possible for short distance, impromptu teleportation like on Star Trek).

[LynchPin1477]

It's theoretically feasible in the sense that you can describe the space time metrics that allow for it. But you need (insofar as we know) unphysical mass/energy density to actually create those metrics.

[Episiarch]

I believe they recently looked at the numbers again and revised the theoretical energy requirement down from "unbelievably huge, as in all the energy contained in Jupiter" to something vastly more feasible.

[some guy]

Regardless, in order to undo the warping you need a negative energy density equal to the positive energy density that caused the warping. And no one knows how to make a negative energy density... yet.

[paranoid android]

The ship remains stationary and moves all of space around it...wait, wasn't that literally how the Planet Express ship worked?

[Spencer]

quiet you.

[Episiarch]

Yes, well done, Cubert.

Professor Farnsworth: Nothing is impossible, not if you can imagine it. That's what being a scientist is all about.

Cubert: No, that's what being a magical elf is all about.

[some guy]

Yes, Futurama had a number of real physics concepts worked into its scripts.

[Auric Demonocles]

They actually ended up publishing a mathematical proof for one episode (the mind switching one).

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

In this case, does the ship become completely stationary?

There are some real implications in relativity about this (the faster you go, the slower you age). So the reverse effect could be true. To the observer on earth, it appears that you instantaneously moved to Mars, but to the traveler, the move took years?

[NotAnotherSkippy]

"To the observer on earth, it appears that you instantaneously moved to Mars, but to the traveler, the move took years?"

No, all of the time dilation occurs as you're crossing reference frames. As long as you're intertial the person back on Earth is aging slower to you and you are aging slower to them. The symmetry is broken once you accelerate.

[some guy]

Yeah, it only requires immense amounts of a type of matter not yet proven to exist. Easy. And I thought radiation was a huge problem because of all the interstellar crap (mostly hydrogen) that is stacking up in front of you as you smush the space between you and your destination. Don't get me wrong, though. I'd love to get one for Christmas.

[LynchPin1477]

You can write down spacetime metrics to do almost anything you want. My friend helped to come up with one that would recreate the abilities of the TARDIS from Dr. Who. But it's not (again, insofar as we know) physically realizable.

[Spencer]

I'm bigger on the inside too.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

If you stopped sticking things in there, it wouldn't be so stretched out.

[Spencer]

it's the only way I can feel complete.

[Episiarch]

Dude the logistic problems involved in any kind of voyage of any kind of distance are colossal. The most immediate problems are 1) long term radiation exposure and 2) lack of gravity. Both these things will kill all the travelers within a relatively short period, and the "solutions" to them are serious problems in their own rights.

Then there are the propulsion problems (what is the fuel? how much can you carry?), the landing problem (how do you get down to the surface, and once you do, you sure as hell aren't getting off again), and the food and oxygen problems.

Then, on top of it all, one catastrophic failure or accident and the entire thing is likely doomed.

[Pro Libertate]

This comment gives me an idea. Why look for volunteers? Why not just ship capital criminals and, I dunno, Episiarch, to Mars?

[Episiarch]

ProL, ProL, ProL...save your strength. These people had sworn to live and die at my command two hundred years before you were born. Do you mean he never told you the tale? To amuse your Captain, no? Never told you how the Enterprise picked up the Botany Bay, lost in space from the year 1996 with myself and the ship's company in cryogenic freeze?

[Spencer]

This- http://i.imgur.com/AsrPhzi.gif is so much better than this- http://media.tumblr.com/5a7812.....qz4rgp.gif

[Pro Libertate]

No kidding, I was thinking that you should be in charge. Obviously, not due to any genetic superiority--after all, you are Italian, not Sikh/Mexican--but because you're our resident anarchist.

[Auric Demonocles]

This Epi+criminals plot made me think more of the Rama series, actually.

[Pro Libertate]

Or some sort of Bizarro-World Dune, where the Bene Gesserit breed people for thousands of years to produce the worst possible specimen of humanity.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Maud'dick?

[Pro Libertate]

Close. Maude'dick.

[Spencer]

so negative!

Radiation exposure isn't really an issue- is it? It seems like this could be combated easily.

Lack of gravity? We can generate artificial gravity through rotation. every single science fiction movie tells us this is true. Also, a Russian was in Mir for 14 months. That was in the early 90s and he's still alive and kicking at age 72.

Propulsion in space should be relatively easy once we break earth's orbit. It's a straight shot to mars and we don't have to cross the asteroid belt. In between breaking earths gravitational pull and getting into the pull of mars, there won't really need to be all that much propulsion- relatively speaking.

Food and oxygen are interesting, but I don't think insurmountable.

Failure or accident? This is actually what is going to happen. They will die in a fiery explosion or get stranded and die on the trip due to some mistakes/complications.

[Episiarch]

Radiation exposure isn't really an issue- is it? It seems like this could be combated easily.

It's a massive issue. A solar flare outgassing washing over the vessel would be deadly. And any shielding is mass, and mass is more difficult to get off the Earth and to get up to higher speeds.

Lack of gravity? We can generate artificial gravity through rotation. every single science fiction movie tells us this is true. Also, a Russian was in Mir for 14 months.

Artificial gravity is not the same as real gravity. Also, rotation requires moving parts. If it breaks...you're fucked. Also, any trip to Mars would likely take four years or more. That's a lot more than 14 months with immediate Earth-based medical care and physical therapy afterward.

Propulsion in space should be relatively easy once we break earth's orbit.

O Rly? How long do you want the trip to take? What's your propulsion method? How much fuel will you need? Less time means more speed means more fuel for both acceleration and the deceleration at the end.

Space is an insanely hostile environment to human beings. It makes the Antarctic look like a garden.

[LynchPin1477]

Artificial gravity is not the same as real gravity

Equivalence principle. All you need is acceleration.

[Episiarch]

Yes, but accelerating at one G (which is obviously what you would want) and then decelerating at one G upon getting close would take years (if going to a relatively close star) and would still have a gravity-less gap of years and years in the middle.

Alistair Reynolds, a scifi author who is also an astrophysicist, deals with this concept in a very realistic way with the Ultras in his Revelation Space series.

[Pro Libertate]

Um, doesn't relativity address this? Acceleration and gravity are the same thing, at least as far as observable effects go, right?

If we had fusion power, another possibility would be constant acceleration (negative and positive) at or near 1g.

[LynchPin1477]

If we had fusion power, another possibility would be constant acceleration

You still need a propellant, and it just isn't efficient to carry a whole lot of fuel with you.

Rotation (centripetal acceleration) is the way to go. But the rotating part needs to be large so that the differential acceleration between your head and feet is small, otherwise you'll be losing your balance and getting vertigo.

[Loki]

the rotating part needs to be large so that the differential acceleration between your head and feet is small, otherwise you'll be losing your balance and getting vertigo.

FWIW, NASA studies have shown you need ~ 1 RPM or less to avoid vertigo. I did the math once years ago and to generate 1g at 1 RPM you'd need a moment arm of ~100 feet radius from the center of rotation, which in space would be the center of mass. So 1g is probably a non-starter, but you could make do with 1/3g to 1/2g and not be too fucked up.

[Vapourwear]

Constant acceleration. So....endless fuel?

[some guy]

One way to deal with the solar flare/radiation issue is to use a bunch of your supplies to create a small protected space, just big enough for your travelers to barely fit in. They cram themselves in this space during high solar activity and come out to continue the mission afterwards.

Also, rotation doesn't require moving parts if you rotate the whole ship. Everything is moving relative to everything else. In space that's the exact same as nothing moving at all, except for the stress due to centrifugal force.

[Rasilio]

Actually there are freefall orbits to Mars that only take about 9 months but you only get launch windows for those every 2 years

[Loki]

any trip to Mars would likely take four years or more

A one way trip? Try 6 months. Once you're at Mars you're protected by Mars' atmosphere from radiation and also have ~ 1/3 Earth gravity, which may not be perfect, but should be enough. If you're not going back to Earth you're not going to give a shit about the reduced gravity anyway.

Even if you are going back to Earth, it's ~6months there, 2 years on the surface (at which point you have some protection from radiation and some gravity) and then 6 months back. Should be survivable.

rotation requires moving parts. If it breaks...you're fucked.

One concept I've seen bandied about for years is using the upper stage of the launch vehicle as a counter weight and tethering the crew vehicle to it through a long tether and spinning the whole thing up using thrusters. The centrifugal force should keep the tether taught, so as long as it doesn't break from a freak micro-meteoroid hit (not very likely) you should be OK.

A Mars trip would not be easy, but not nearly as dangerous as some people think. Definitely not impossible.

[Pro Libertate]

I wonder whether it would be feasible to generate a magnetic field to deflect ionized radiation? You know, like the Earth has? Can that be done on a small scale? That would seem to address the mass issue.

We could also get the mass from locations with weaker gravity fields, though that's still too expensive at the moment.

[mad.casual]

You know, like the Earth has?

You mean the spinning 6x10^24 kg iron core?

[Pro Libertate]

Is that the only way to generate a magnetic field strong enough to protect a spacecraft?

[some guy]

Is that the only way to generate a magnetic field strong enough to protect a spacecraft?

No, we have small super-cooled super-conducting magnets that generate over 10T right now. They are very efficient and more than powerful enough to stop most charged particles. The problem is that its hard to engineer other systems so that they will work in a strong magnetic field. Also, these magnets can be... fickle and when they break they tend to break catastrophically.

[mad.casual]

Even then, that core only provides a modicum of protection. The planet would still be a barren irradiated wasteland without the oceans and atmosphere.

[LynchPin1477]

Well, the surface field is only about 1 Gauss, which isn't that strong.

[mad.casual]

I guess it depends on whether you're thinking about;

'Can a field get us to Mars?' vs. 'Can a field protect us from some relatively arbitrary solar storm?'

[some guy]

Well, the surface field is only about 1 Gauss, which isn't that strong.

But it extends over a huge volume. Particles have to travel through that field for thousands of miles. To get the same deflection from a spaceship-sized magnet it would have to be orders of magnitude stronger.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

"But it extends over a huge volume. Particles have to travel through that field for thousands of miles. To get the same deflection from a spaceship-sized magnet it would have to be orders of magnitude stronger."

Earth is a bigger target too. And recall F=qv x B.Creating a field 1000 times stronger isn't that difficult.

[Loki]

I wonder whether it would be feasible to generate a magnetic field to deflect ionized radiation?

M2P2. Solve 2 birds with one stone: a mini magnetosphere to protect against radiation and a propulsion system all in one. Although that technology's several years off.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

"I wonder whether it would be feasible to generate a magnetic field to deflect ionized radiation?"

Charged particles from solar flares. Yes. It wouldn't be that difficult at all.

[Agammamon]

Radiation is a huge problem - mostly because of travel times

Gravity is not as easy as you think. There are serious engineering challenges to getting a rotating habitat where both the plumbing works and won't torque the ship apart if something goes wrong. In addition, getting a habitat rotating at the right rate to be useable and comfortable for a near year long voyage poses another set of challenges.

Propulsion is easy - as long as you're not in a hurry. That's OK for drones, but live people need consumables and every extra day the voyage takes is another 100 kg of life support supplies, plus hull to hold them, plus reaction mass to push the supplies and hull.

[Pro Libertate]

Of course, within the solar system, there's another possible solution. Speed things up. A lot.

[LynchPin1477]

I never said it was easy. The radiation problem is manageable with shielding, it just makes your vessel hard to move because of the added mass. The gravity problem can be addressed with rotating components, they just have to be big ( 1 km in radius, IIRC).

One possible propulsion mechanism is acceleration using a laser and optical sail. The thrust is low but once you build up to the requisite speed, you just cruise. That would be difficult to implement, but not necessarily impossible. Honestly, the bigger issue is deceleration...how do you slow down once you get close to your destination if you aren't carrying fuel with you?

The idea is that once you arrive at your destination, you establish a permanent colony on a habitable world and eventually reach a level where you can send out another ship. To colonize the whole Galaxy, you need to send out multiple ships. From there it is exponential growth.

None of this is doable with current technology, obviously, but the issues don't seem completely intractable.

[Episiarch]

In theory all those things could be done. However, the cost would be so prohibitive that it's pretty much unthinkable. And it still would be insanely risky, as once it took off, it would be utterly on its own.

[Pro Libertate]

Always with the negative waves, Moriarty, always with the negative waves.

[Loki]

Most of the problems aren't all that intractable for a Mars journey. We know now that there's plenty of water ice available below the surface. We know how to purify water, that's easy. We also know from Viking and more recently the rover and Phoenix landers that the soil on Mars is conducive to supporting plant life, all you need is the aforementioned water and seeds. As for Oxygen, again, electrolocize some water or bring along Hydrogen to combine with CO2 from the atmosphere to produce CH4 and O2 (or do both).

As for the journey there, astronauts have survived microgravity for months without dieing (the calcium loss and muscle atrophy are a bitch, but not insurmountable), and it's entirely feasible to develop radiation shielding. You wouldn't even have to shield the whole vehicle. The heavier, slower moving charged particles from solar flares are the biggest problem, and those are preceeded by faster moving electrons, which can be detected. The crew would then have a few minutes to get into the sheilded portion of the vehicle before the heavy particles hit. I could go on, but the point is going to Mars isn't that infeasible on current or near term technology.

[tarran]

No magnetic field, dude.

I don't want to live anywhere without a planetary magnetic field or a half meter of lead between me and that nasty star a mere 1AU away.

[Loki]

1) On Mars that star is more like 2.5 AU away.
2) You can use Martian regolith (dirt) to bury the habitat deep enough to be protected.
3) Would you rather stay here and put up with all the derptards fucking everything up some more?

[Paul.]

3) Would you rather stay here and put up with all the derptards fucking everything up some more?

Instead, you end up in a mars population of... 12, and 7 of them are derptards, then you're right back to where you started.

[mad.casual]

I don't want to live anywhere without a planetary magnetic field or a half meter of lead between me and that nasty star a mere 1AU away.

Your local 1 AU star isn't *generally* that destructive and I'd rather have several thousand inches of Air, a couple inches of water, maybe a couple inches of soil or concrete, or possibly a inch of steel too before I would choose every inch of lead.

It's heavy, toxic, inert, and too soft to be used for anything except radiation shielding.

[bacon-magic]

Isolation might be a good thing for some cultures...fundamentalist islam comes to mind. (sorry whoever started the fundamental=radical for not remembering your name to credit you)

[Limpee Wiltstock]

Why?

[Bongstar420]

You would be locked into a much smaller area with new people. I'm sure that is guaranteed to be problem free

[sarcasmic]

I doubt it, mainly the amount of energy required to exit Earth's gravity is so great. Unless some new source of energy is discovered, I figure space exploration will remain economically unviable (and only government spends money on things that are economic losers).

[Pro Libertate]

Not necessarily. Right off the top, a lot of the expense is government bullshit. You could probably get down to a third of the total cost without breaking a sweat if government were out of the picture (even SpaceX has to comply with some bullshit requirements from its major client).

Also, fuel depots and other in-space options could dramatically lower the amount of mass that has to be lifted, and, therefore, the costs of launch.

Reusability is another obvious way to cut costs, which most of the New Space companies are trying to work out, with some success.

[sarcasmic]

It currently costs in the neighborhood of a thousand dollars a pound to get into space. Even if that was cut by a third, it's still a ridiculous sum of money when we're talking about interstellar space craft that could potentially weigh in at five digits. And that's tons, not pounds. Getting the thing up there would cost as much or more than building it. Even if it was assembled in orbit, the mass has to be lifted somehow.

So unless a new and cheaper way of getting stuff out of Earth's gravity is devised, I really can't see private companies getting into it seriously (and no, I don't consider a quick jaunt out of the atmosphere to be serious space exploration).

[Pro Libertate]

I have a cunning plan. The space escalator. Like the space elevator, but less complicated. Or perhaps space stairs would be better?

[Limpee Wiltstock]

One step at a time.

[Rasilio]

You would not launch an interstellar spacecraft from the earths surface.

You would go out and grab a mid sized nickel iron asteroid, tow it back to L4 or L5 of the Earth-Moon system (or possibly of the Earth-Sun system) and then use those raw materials to construct it in space. The only parts you would ship up would be consumables and delicate electronics

[Spencer]

OR you could rip a hole in space time, send one end to mars and step through the other end. Seriously more feasible.

[Loki]

we're talking about interstellar space craft that could potentially weigh in at five digits

Who said anything about interstellar spacecraft? We're just talking about Mars, which is in the same solar system as us.

[sarcasmic]

I was responding to the comment about getting light years away from Earth.

[Limpee Wiltstock]

Getting light years off isn't much harder than getting to Mars. The biggest part is getting off the earth.

[edkocyk]

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http://www.work-mill.com

[Hyperion]

So, will all of the guys on Mars have a mullet?

[Spencer]

yes. might as well start it off right.

[Episiarch]

Fry: Very impressive. Back in the Twentieth Century we had no idea there was a university on Mars.

Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Well, in those days Mars was a dreary, uninhabitable wasteland, much like Utah. But unlike Utah, Mars was eventually made livable when the university was founded in 2636.

[Jerry on the sea]

I doubt Mars beer will be more drinkable than PBR.

[MJGreen]

Fry: Wow. The jungles on Mars look like the jungles on Earth.

Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Jungles? On Earth? Hahahahaha.

[Spencer]

I wonder how many of these people will drop out after they find a mate...

[Puddin' Stick]

Or sign up after they find a mate?

[This Machine]

Would you like to ski... but you're snowed under with work?

Do you dream of a vacation at the bottom of the ocean... but you can't float the bill?

Have you always wanted to climb the mountains of Mars... but now you're over the hill?

Then come to Rekall lncorporated... where you can buy the memory of your ideal vacation... cheaper, safer and better than the real thing!

So don't let life pass you by. Call Rekall for the memory of a lifetime!

[Spencer]

Sorry, Quaid. Your whole life is just a dream.

[Spencer]

Sorry, Quaid. Your whole life is just a dream.

[Jerry on the sea]

And no, that wasn't a 30ish Sharon Stone you slept with last night.

[GILMORE]

Well, I fully endorse our future lesbian spacemenpeople. Mars Needs Women

I'm just glad we're finally moving past yelling at astrophysicists for their sexist shirts

[Rhywun]

Mars Needs Women

Guitars, too.

[HolgerDanske]

Dutch. Not Danish. The Danes could never conceive of something like this.

[Bongstar420]

I guess I lucked out on that one..Is half Dutch/mixed European adequate?

[Bambino Martino]

Come on, does anyone seriously think this Mars One thing was ever meant to actually send people to Mars? Have to give it to its creator, he gives a whole new meaning to the phrase snake oil salesman.

[Coyote Blue]

The problem with space is that it isn't profitable. Mars One - though obviously a fraud - is a start at making money off of Space.

Right now, we only have three models for colonization:
1) Antarctica: Handful of scientists sucking up trillions of quatloos of tax money.
2) Forty-Niners: Something ridiculously valuable that draws tens of thousands and no one gives a fuck if they die since everyone is getting rich.
3) Puritans/Mormans: Persecution and intolerance drives them out and religious solidarity holds them together when they die like flies.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

The Raiders seem to be a lot better as colonizers than the 49ers, I mean they moved to LA and then back to Oakland...

What was your point?

[Spencer]

But, 49ers are cooler with buttseks- which is obviously going to happen on any sausage party space ship.

[Almanian!]

So where are the African 'Murcan travelers??!!! #BLACKLIVESMATTER #ONMARS_TOO!!

[Spencer]

or the trip could basically be like the founding of oregon. whites only.

[The Hyperbole]

Hey, could you nerds, give a little warning before you nerd-out for 50 plus comments. Here i am looking for inappropriate sexist comments about the girl in the video and I'll i get is "space-time nerdinium, and nerd holes, and nerd,nerd,nerd......"

[mad.casual]

After thousands of posts and days of 'Indiana RFRA' and 'Ron Paul for Prez.' you unleash on the nerds for a measly 50 posts?

I feel othered.

[Wicked Skin]

Don't look at me, I'm just here for the hookers and the blow.

[Almanian!]

Hey, get in line, interloper!

[Brett L]

They don't have three boobs yet. That's what the radiation is for.

[GILMORE]

"Here i am looking for inappropriate sexist comments about the girl in the video"

Did my "Martian Lesbians" comment not suffice?

[The Hyperbole]

Ah, I missed it, but really after all the math in the previous post (whats 1/2 of 1000, does anyone even know?) and now all this sciencey stuff I can't be expected to be catch every little joke, my brain hurts.

[MJGreen]

Better than one of their Star Trek arguments.

[Hamster of Doom]

Hey now...

[Jerryskids]

All this talk about colonizing Mars is ridiculous. We all know that Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids. In fact, it's cold as hell. And there's no one there to raise them if you did.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, perhaps if we sent some people to Mars, then there would be someone there to raise the kids.

[Chumby]

Rocketman

[Warren's Strapon]

inappropriate sexist comments about the girl in the video

I'm a nerd, but...yeah, that's where my filthy mind went.

[bacon-magic]

I'm pretty sure if she grows her hair out on the trip to Mars she'd be doable.

[Auric Demonocles]

Not even if you're the last first woman on Earth Mars!

[Loki]

Well, I sure as hell don't want to live on this planet anymore.

[Pro Libertate]

Exactly. Earth isn't working out so well, time for another planet. At least as a back-up option.

[Brett L]

The problem with Earth... Is that its full of Earthlings. To paraphrase McGoohan.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, well, perhaps we need some GMO people to inhabit new worlds.

[Agile Cyborg]

Earthling vessels are fine. It is the less-than-profound mass of jello they truck around in their skulls that is the issue here, B.

[Spencer]

bears are, technically, earthlings too. I don't have a problem with them. Whales too, but FUCK dolphins.

[Brett L]

You stand a better chance of being fucked by dolphins. They are big, strong, and rapey.

[tarran]

Are they as rapey as Tardicaca sharks?

[Hyperion]

Nearly as rapey as someone on UVA campus.

[Pro Libertate]

Why not breed a race of intelligent bears and ship them one way to terraform Mars? Obviously, we'll have to conquer their Planet of the Bears later on, but, hey, they're only bears.

[Hyperion]

Opposable thumbs.

No matter how intelligent the bears are, they are giant clutzes. They can't even text, man!

I think it's best to send mullet girl and take our chances. She can probably text. I can see it now:

Hey dudez, like, can you guys like beam up the Flock of Seagulls station up here?

[ManocentricMaleocracy]

The fuck. If a bear can wear a fez and ride a tricycle that's good enough for me.

[Loki]

Fuck you Darphins! And fuck you Wayres!!!11!!!!! /Japanese fisherman

[Hyperion]

Oh no, it's the Japanese!

[Agile Cyborg]

Mars One will hopefully host the first orgy on the Red Planet. Somewhere among that hundred of Normalz there has to be at least a dozen lecherous sluts like myself. I'll sign up for the the Mars One cam site if this can be verified. I'd call it The Hundred-Million Mile Far Club.xxx.

[Pro Libertate]

Ah, I see that you are familiar with the Lunar Sex Prize.

[Spencer]

"ever fuck a mutant?"

[Idle Hands]

Think of the funding potential.

[Spencer]

nah, the market already has a glut of people willing to do anything for money here on earth- why would someone invest the money and time into a more expensive entry into a flooded market?

[Brett L]

People are people. There may not be an orgy but there will be plenty of bed-hopping. The Heinlein Principle demands it.

[Spencer]

isn't bed hopping really just an orgy taken really slowly?

[ManocentricMaleocracy]

*Fry narrows gaze*

[Bongstar420]

Yes...but it is so much easier to act like you are not doing the orgy

[lap83]

You're gonna get some hop-ons?

[Hyperion]

You know, here's the genius of it. Everyone has to know that bureaucrats are too big of pussies to attempt anything like this. So you're going to be millions of miles from earth and the possibility of any statist bureaucrats fucking with you is going to be pretty much absolute zero. They can say anything they want, but they are pretty much powerless to do anything about it.

They won't start coming after you until you've got enough wealth for them to tax and steal, and even then they have to send a very expensive voyage of lap dog goons after you and by then you are prepared to shoot the fuckers right out of orbit.

So I'm betting you have decades of freedom ahead of you before you even have to start creating a defense. Libertopia!

[tarran]

Space exploration will be pretty nasty from a freedom perspective.

On Earth, if you know what you are doing, and head out into the wilderness, you can survive indefinitely.

Off Earth, you can't live without a massive infrastructure of life support equipment and supplies. Hello "you-want-air-you-do-as-we-say" tyranny!

The notion that one will be able to flee tax collectors by running out to the asteroid belt is to me the product of very shallow thinking.

[Hyperion]

Not when 3D printers and nano assembler stations come of age. And that's coming fast, and it will probably be perfected in space.

You'll be able to be completely self sustaining.

Until we develop very fast travel methods, anyone who can get as far away as Mars, will be able to avoid pretty much any law.

[Hyperion]

And if you think the USA is going broke trying to run around the globe and be world police, think about what it will be like when they try to become galactic police. Not happening. You can establish a colony on another planet, there is no fucking government except for you.

[mad.casual]

Not when 3D printers and nano assembler stations come of age. And that's coming fast, and it will probably be perfected in space.

You'll be able to be completely self sustaining.

Dang. I wish I had refreshed to see that we were talking about after we had arrived at Shangri La.

[Hyperion]

Shangi La, that's come Chinese bullshit. I'm talking Libertopia man! Mullet Girl in space!

[Loki]

"No matter how long the arm of the Alliance might get... we'll just get ourselves a little further."

[Bongstar420]

Unless private enterprise is coerced to be all inclusive based on performance metrics, I can't see how the common person really has a chance..that is unless we are going to be "employees"

The world you think of will not be available to all who are able to perform. Resources on Earth surface are 100% accounted for and that is the bottleneck for 3D printers and Nano assemblers. Despite the resource bottleneck which is as of currant a permanent social construct, most people will not be allowed to operate the advanced devices and would have to literally build the industries as separate social entities with independent information. Never mind it was the commoner which enabled all of it (did the actual work of building society).

[mad.casual]

The notion that one will be able to flee tax collectors by running out to the asteroid belt is to me the product of very shallow thinking.

On Earth, governments have to work very hard to kill you at the flip of a switch. Off Earth, you start by relying on someone who knows which switches not to flip.

[Hyperion]

I can envision it:

Earth to Mars One: We see that you guys owe some back taxes, we'll need payment by April 2016 in full.

Mars One: Fuck you!

Earth to Mars One: Well, if you don't pay we're sending up a mission to collect that by 2025... ok, 2030... but we mean it!

Mars One: Fuck you! (laughter in background)..,

[Bongstar420]

I see our On Earth prospects as requiring the same thing over the long run. You just are not thinking on million year time scales..Don't you understand there are many catastrophic events which have made the surface uninhabitable for beings like us?

Currently, only billionaires, +decamillionaires, and the government have got the basic necessities for their own asses...and they are still not long term stable with regards to what needs to be done.

We need infrastructure for 10 billion humans to be very comfortable in with, oh lets say, Yellowstone erupting. We need Off Earth infrastructure to reinforce the On Earth infrastructure and we need established stations with substantial populations in space.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Bigger pipe dream: Mars One, Hyperloop, or Solar FREAKIN' Roadways?

[Hyperion]

Libertarians president.

[Agile Cyborg]

A humongous black cock that fucks the Slayer of Huns right in his chunky pooper?

[Agile Cyborg]

If you trip in space I wonder if you travel back to earth on poltergeist rainbows? Normally, it'd be the other way round.

[kattyandy292]

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[REMant]

As long as THEY pay for it.

[Chumby]

Men Are from Mars Best book ever!

[lerohi]

Google pay 97$ per hour my last pay check was $8500 working 1o hours a week online. My younger brother friend has been averaging 12k for months now and he works about 22 hours a week. I cant believe how easy it was once I tried it out.
This is wha- I do...... ?????? http://www.netjob80.com

[kimmoberry]

I just got paid $6784 working off my laptop this month. And if you think that?s cool, my divorced friend has twin toddlers and made over $9k her first month. It feels so good making so much money when other people have to work for so much less. This is what I do...

http://www.jobs73.com

[Hyperion]

Mullet Girl in space!

[Sevo]

I understand the net access there is even worse than Cuba, so I'll pass.

[Hyperion]

Yeah but the people there are free and there are chicks with 3 boobs. What is not to like about that?

[Zakalwe]

All these comments and no one mentioned that Mars One is apparently a scam?

http://tinyurl.com/m58ya44

[Ken Shultz]

Technically speaking, if you're only going to send four people into space to start a new civilization, three of them should be female and only one of them should be male.

3^x more better than 2^x.

I'm just sayin'.