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To Those that Volunteer For A one Way Trip To Mars......Why?

rhinefire

rhinefire

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I am sure some of the people that openly volunteered to go to Mars without a return trip have a understandable reason (I think) but it is difficult to get inside the mind of someone that volunteers for suicide on a space vehicle that would take a year to get there then presumably land and then that's it! I try to think about the human emotions that would transpire just before lift off saying good bye and during the journey what thoughts would go through them. What if one or a few changed their minds on the way? Once the craft landed what would the conversations be? Yes, it would be great to land but not to die for in my way of thinking.

NOTE: As far as I know no such trip is planned or ill be permitted but when the idea came up thousands volunteered to go!
 
rhinefire said:
I am sure some of the people that openly volunteered to go to Mars without a return trip have a understandable reason (I think) but it is difficult to get inside the mind of someone that volunteers for suicide on a space vehicle that would take a year to get there then presumably land and then that's it! I try to think about the human emotions that would transpire just before lift off saying good bye and during the journey what thoughts would go through them. What if one or a few changed their minds on the way? Once the craft landed what would the conversations be? Yes, it would be great to land but not to die for in my way of thinking.

NOTE: As far as I know no such trip is planned or ill be permitted but when the idea came up thousands volunteered to go!
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If i were younger i would be interested, but i'm abnormally self contained. If i had books, movies, video games i would be fine alone for a LONG time.

But i beleive the idea is to start a sustainable colony on Mars. Not suicide but a one way trip.

If they were successful, it would prove to mankind that the universe really IS ours. That we CAN live outside the Earths biosphere.

We NEED the frontier of space, for a variety of reasons.
 
To Those that Volunteer For A one Way Trip To Mars......Why?
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no kidding. a seven month ****ing plane ride, no internet, and no in flight booze. followed by a lifetime in a damned bubble eating freeze dried cow **** and drinking Tang with a few other people who could be assholes?

NO ****ING WAY.
 
This same spirit of adventure and discovery is what led to opening up this country as well as the planet. Glad to see it hasn't completely died out.
 
We all attach different meaning to life itself. What we're seeing here is a trade-off - a long life on mundane Earth versus a shorter life on Mars with the knowledge that what the person is experiencing has never been experienced by anyone else in history. It's the importance that you attach to the last that decides which camp you fall into.
 
Moon said:
This same spirit of adventure and discovery is what led to opening up this country as well as the planet. Glad to see it hasn't completely died out.
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Not really. Most early explorers wanted prestige for their discoveries, especially during the colonial period. They wanted to survive so they could gloat.

There were always great risks and they knew the possibility of death was real, but it was never guaranteed... vis a vis a one way trip to Mars which is tantamount to suicide.

For anyone who would volunteer for such a trip, a fool and their life are soon parted.
 
Northern Light said:
Not really. Most early explorers wanted prestige for their discoveries, especially during the colonial period. They wanted to survive so they could gloat.
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I expect that the explorers, navigators, ships' captains, aristocratic hangers-on, and so forth, almost certainly felt that way.

For the average sailor I doubt a voyage to what they legitimately thought was the edge of the world was as much about fame and prestige as it was about earning a paycheck, or avoiding the lash.

Heck, many of the rank-and-file sailors were pressed into service involuntarily but still they did their jobs and facilitated the great discoveries that made other men rich(er) and famous(er).

I'd look at volunteers for a one-way Mars mission more as the rank-and-file sailors than the grand figureheads of the Age of Exploration.
 
rhinefire said:
I am sure some of the people that openly volunteered to go to Mars without a return trip have a understandable reason (I think) but it is difficult to get inside the mind of someone that volunteers for suicide on a space vehicle that would take a year to get there then presumably land and then that's it! I try to think about the human emotions that would transpire just before lift off saying good bye and during the journey what thoughts would go through them. What if one or a few changed their minds on the way? Once the craft landed what would the conversations be? Yes, it would be great to land but not to die for in my way of thinking.

NOTE: As far as I know no such trip is planned or ill be permitted but when the idea came up thousands volunteered to go!
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It's a one way trip, not a suicide pact. The proposed colony is supposed to continue and grow, not stagnate or be a one-shot demonstration of stupidity like you're making it out to be.

I can think of a LOT of places on Earth that would be much less inviting and people are "living" in those places without much hope of ever leaving.
 
soot said:
I expect that the explorers, navigators, ships' captains, aristocratic hangers-on, and so forth, almost certainly felt that way.

For the average sailor I doubt a voyage to what they legitimately thought was the edge of the world was as much about fame and prestige as it was about earning a paycheck, or avoiding the lash.

Heck, many of the rank-and-file sailors were pressed into service involuntarily but still they did their jobs and facilitated the great discoveries that made other men rich(er) and famous(er).

I'd look at volunteers for a one-way Mars mission more as the rank-and-file sailors than the grand figureheads of the Age of Exploration.
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I don't think the two are really comparable because one has relative risk while the other has absolute certainty of death.

Besides, it's doubtful that NASA will send people to Mars on a one-way trip. If a round trip can't be accomplished then there's no point in exploring Mars. I expect the first mission to be high risk but not suicidal.
 
Northern Light said:
I don't think the two are really comparable because one has relative risk while the other has absolute certainty of death.

Besides, it's doubtful that NASA will send people to Mars on a one-way trip. If a round trip can't be accomplished then there's no point in exploring Mars. I expect the first mission to be high risk but not suicidal.
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Just an FYI - it's not NASA, it's a private organisation.

Mars One

Colonizing Mars: Q&A with Mars One Chief Bas Lansdorp | Space.com
Life on Mars: How a One-Way Martian Colony Project Could Work | Space.com
 
I think it would be interesting, and depending on the actual parameters of such a launch, I may even volunteer myself (with my girlfriend's permission, of course!).

But consider - a mission to start a small colony, maybe of 15-20 people to start. We have the tech to build much of what would be needed, it would just take time and resources to do so.
 
MoSurveyor said:
It's a one way trip, not a suicide pact. The proposed colony is supposed to continue and grow, not stagnate or be a one-shot demonstration of stupidity like you're making it out to be.

I can think of a LOT of places on Earth that would be much less inviting and people are "living" in those places without much hope of ever leaving.
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You are not on the same track. The initial proposal was indeed a suicide pact. The plan to colonize Mars is way off in the future starting with unmanned trips to lay algae to start and promote growth. Next big step to to create pollution in this atmosphere in order contain the oxygen eventuating from plant growth. The initial proposal had no real impact on the plans documented to colonize the planet. As far as you saying there are much less inviting place here on earth is void of the fact they all have oxygen to breathe.
 
rhinefire said:
You are not on the same track. The initial proposal was indeed a suicide pact. The plan to colonize Mars is way off in the future starting with unmanned trips to lay algae to start and promote growth. Next big step to to create pollution in this atmosphere in order contain the oxygen eventuating from plant growth. The initial proposal had no real impact on the plans documented to colonize the planet. As far as you saying there are much less inviting place here on earth is void of the fact they all have oxygen to breathe.
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There's nothing that says a colony has to be open air. :roll:
 
A person does not have to go to Mars to live in a small box removed from all of society for the rest of his/her life - which is what living on Mars would be. Anyone who would want to do that is an extremely anti-social person.
 
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