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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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 Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 7:01 am Post subject: Innovative, new way to kill yourself. |
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http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/nasa-mars-mission-a-one-way-trip/story-e6frf7lf-1225945124330
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IT'S the biggest dead-end job ever.
NASA is looking for volunteers to fly to Mars - the snag is that you won't come back.
It is actively investigating the possibility of humans colonising worlds such as the Red Planet.
The settlers would be sent supplies from Earth but would go on the understanding that it would be too costly to bring them home.
NASA revealed that it had already received more than $1 million to commence work on the project at its Ames Research Centre in California.
Centre director Pete Worden, who claimed humans could be living on Mars by 2030 despite the inhospitable conditions, said: "The human space program is now aimed at settling other worlds.
"Twenty years ago you had to whisper that in dark bars or get fired."
Mr Worden told a conference in San Francisco that he had discussed with Google co-founder Larry Page the potential for one-way trips to Mars.
Scientists say much of the cost of such a mission is associated with bringing the astronauts home - the price of sending 20 Mars settlers with a one-way ticket would be equal to bringing four astronauts back.
Experts say a nuclear-fuelled rocket could make the journey in four months.
Of all the planets in the solar system, Mars is the most likely to have substantial quantities of water, making it the best bet for sustaining life.
But it is a forbidding place to set up home. Temperatures plummet way below freezing in some parts.
The thin atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, so oxygen supplies are a must.
Mr Worden suggested that new technologies, such as synthetic biology and alterations to the human genome, could be explored ahead of the mission.
Writing in the Journal of Cosmology, scientists Dirk Schulze-Makuch and Paul Davies envisaged sending four volunteer astronauts on the first mission to colonise Mars.
A one-way human mission to Mars would not be a fixed-duration project as in the Apollo program, but the first step in establishing a permanent human presence on the planet, they said. |
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Xylox
Joined: 09 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:14 am Post subject: |
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| In flight movie: Total Recall. |
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Sergio Stefanuto
Joined: 14 May 2009
Location: UK
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| Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 10:26 am Post subject: |
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| I love the place, especially here |
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Leslie Cheswyck
Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile
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| Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to die there. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Sergio Stefanuto wrote: |
| I love the place, especially here |
For some reason I have a strong desire to touch that. |
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BoholDiver
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 2:34 am Post subject: |
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I know part of the reason for this is the dwindling amount of resources on this planet. Another reason is overcrowding. Also pollution.
It sounds like this will take significant energy and resources to pull this off. |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 7:36 am Post subject: |
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| BoholDiver wrote: |
I know part of the reason for this is the dwindling amount of resources on this planet. Another reason is overcrowding. Also pollution.
It sounds like this will take significant energy and resources to pull this off. |
We would need to reduce the population significantly to slow overpopulation. I don't think NASA is planning on sending millions of people to Mars.
On the other hand, our species has "all of its eggs in one basket" on Earth. There are quite a few dangers that could wipe us all out, some of which we would have no warning of. Once we become an interplanetary species, our long-term survival will become much more certain. |
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AsiaESLbound
Joined: 07 Jan 2010
Location: Truck Stop Missouri
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| Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't think NASA has a space program anymore. They have like 3 antiquated shuttle missions going up before they are to retire the old shuttle program with nothing to replace it except a plan to use Russian rockets for going up. For someone to say NASA is preparing to do a Mars mission, they are in a dark bar blowing smoke after having a couple. NASA has a history of impressive achievements, but past performance rarely indicates future performance. They achieved their zenith of innovation and discovery at the same time the American economy did, but now it's all on a path of continual decline. They are not sending a Mars mission anytime soon. I didn't even see a plan to replace the Spirit and Opportunity rover mission as to continue Mars exploration. I could see another country's program or even a private group of billionaires sending it up in say, 10 to 20 years from now. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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Why not? Be part of history. As long as recorded history goes down you'll be in the books.
Someone has to do it.
Then again, it depends on who is funding this operation.... |
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Louis VI
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
Location: In my Kingdom
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| Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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| imagine your i-pod crashed on you there. it'd suck royally. |
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gypsymaria
Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Location: Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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If I had no friends or family back home, I'd be one of the first people to sign up for this.  |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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| AsiaESLbound wrote: |
| I don't think NASA has a space program anymore... ...They are not sending a Mars mission anytime soon. I didn't even see a plan to replace the Spirit and Opportunity rover mission as to continue Mars exploration. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Budget
Their budget now is half of what it was in the 60s (in current dollars). But I don't think anyone in the 60s thought they could manage rovers exploring Mars for SIX years. The next rover is called Curiosity, it's designed to be even more durable than Spirit and Opportunity, conduct more advanced experiments and it has a freakin laser beam on its head:
http://marsrovername.jpl.nasa.gov/
Add in all the other unmanned missions around the solar system (Stardust: bringing back material from a comet, Deep Impact: analyzing asteroid composition by putting a hole in one, plus a plethora of geo-imaging and Mars-imaging missions) and I'm pretty impressed with how far they can stretch that budget of 1/2 what it was in the 60s.
And a one-way trip to Mars would be fine if the internet latency weren't 1,200,000ms. I guess the biggest thing would be who you go with... A random assortment of "qualified individuals" would probably be at each other's throats eventually. |
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Paddycakes
Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 4:46 am Post subject: |
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I could just see the people who volunteer to die on Mars...
Losers who couldn't get a job or make it back on their home planet... Socials misfits and pseudo-intellectuals and people running from something...
It'll be like "English Teachers in Space"... |
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Konglishman
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 5:21 am Post subject: |
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| Paddycakes wrote: |
I could just see the people who volunteer to die on Mars...
Losers who couldn't get a job or make it back on their home planet... Socials misfits and pseudo-intellectuals and people running from something...
It'll be like "English Teachers in Space"... |
Someone, who is willing to risk their life to make a new chapter in human history, is not a loser in my book. But hey, keep telling yourself that such individuals are losers if that is what makes you feel better. |
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