7% of Americans would volunteer for a one way trip to Mars.

HecticRapidz

HecticRapidz

Active Member
In the link posted below is of an article regarding the colonization of Mars, It includes two polls and I believe is quite interesting, especially for those of you interested in the field of trans planetary travel.
I personally would consider it but would be unlikely to accept this mission, I'm afraid although I do attempt to believe that I am independent and completely free of social influence and that I do not need a large amount of social relations ^_^ This however is a lie and I doubt I would last a month without daily social interaction with the human populous. :)

My Question to you is, Would you accept such a dangerous mission to a desolate landscape?
Please leave your thoughts and comment below. :)​


Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/mars-colonization_n_2672338.html?utm_hp_ref=science
 
It's strange this article came up when it did; only a few days ago I read through the material on Mars One. Interesting stuff.

Would I personally? Maybe. I probably wouldn't want to be on the first team to go there; I'd prefer to see concrete proof that the plan and systems would work first. However, it would be absolutely amazing to be one of the first humans to experience living on another planet. It would be very much "back to basics," only worrying about food, water, shelter etc. rather than money and social acceptance as is customary in first world countries today, but in a totally new environment.

The one thing I would want to see first though, is a long-term settlement on the Moon. Making the jump from 375,000km to 40,000,000km seems a bit much. While the gravity is much lower and there is no atmosphere, water ice has been found on the Moon in deeper layers and can be used for consumption and growing food. We could also finally explore the far side of the moon. Real-time communication would still be possible, and if something does go catastrophically wrong a new part can be sent in a matter of days.
 
JHawk said:
It's strange this article came up when it did; only a few days ago I read through the material on Mars One. Interesting stuff.

Would I personally? Maybe. I probably wouldn't want to be on the first team to go there; I'd prefer to see concrete proof that the plan and systems would work first. However, it would be absolutely amazing to be one of the first humans to experience living on another planet. It would be very much "back to basics," only worrying about food, water, shelter etc. rather than money and social acceptance as is customary in first world countries today, but in a totally new environment.

The one thing I would want to see first though, is a long-term settlement on the Moon. Making the jump from 375,000km to 40,000,000km seems a bit much. While the gravity is much lower and there is no atmosphere, water ice has been found on the Moon in deeper layers and can be used for consumption and growing food. We could also finally explore the far side of the moon. Real-time communication would still be possible, and if something does go catastrophically wrong a new part can be sent in a matter of days.
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Whether resource on the Moon could be found or not, we NEED a moon base as a springboard for other places in the solar system. It would be much easier and less expensive to launch from the Moon than from Earth.
 
Patchouli said:
Whether resource on the Moon could be found or not, we NEED a moon base as a springboard for other places in the solar system. It would be much easier and less expensive to launch from the Moon than from Earth.
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Das true, lower gravity and fo-shizle.
 
Patchouli said:
Whether resource on the Moon could be found or not, we NEED a moon base as a springboard for other places in the solar system. It would be much easier and less expensive to launch from the Moon than from Earth.
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This too, certainly. The way we've been launching propelled rockets from the surface since the 50's is a waste.
 
I'm not sure if I would want to take the risk. Lots of radiation, possible long term bone damage due to low gravity, psychological issues from cramped space, etc.
 
StTheo said:
I'm not sure if I would want to take the risk. Lots of radiation, possible long term bone damage due to low gravity, psychological issues from cramped space, etc.
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After looking up the radiation, it seems actually rather ridiculous. A year on Mars would subject you to 25,550 millirem of radiation.

Average background radiation on Earth is 300 millirem in a year.

In the nuclear industry, the NRC limits your occupational dose to 5,000 millirem a year. Basically, radiation on Mars is 5 times stronger than the maximum the NRC allows you to get in a nuclear plant. You get the average yearly background dose of Earth in about 4.2 weeks on Mars.

But, then again, you need a very large amount of radiation in a short period of time to cause any damage. Even if you got that 25,550 millirem in a short time, you would get a little radiation sickness, which you would heal from.

Not to sound silly by bringing games into it, but those that played Fallout 3 will be familiar with Rads. Rads in real life, are equal to one rem. So, in the game, that would be 25.5 Rads. Nothing happens to you at that point in Fallout 3, right?
(And unlike Fallout 3, you don't "get irradiated" in real life, you don't store radiation in your body, it goes through you and may or may not damage or kill cells, which your body heals from.)


TL;DR: Radiation on Mars is much higher than on Earth. But in the end, it's not going to really hurt you as much as you think it will.
 
Patchouli said:
After looking up the radiation, it seems actually rather ridiculous. A year on Mars would subject you to 25,550 millirem of radiation.

Average background radiation on Earth is 300 millirem in a year.

In the nuclear industry, the NRC limits your occupational dose to 5,000 millirem a year. Basically, radiation on Mars is 5 times stronger than the maximum the NRC allows you to get in a nuclear plant. You get the average yearly background dose of Earth in about 4.2 weeks on Mars.

But, then again, you need a very large amount of radiation in a short period of time to cause any damage. Even if you got that 25,550 millirem in a short time, you would get a little radiation sickness, which you would heal from.

Not to sound silly by bringing games into it, but those that played Fallout 3 will be familiar with Rads. Rads in real life, are equal to one rem. So, in the game, that would be 25.5 Rads. Nothing happens to you at that point in Fallout 3, right?
(And unlike Fallout 3, you don't "get irradiated" in real life, you don't store radiation in your body, it goes through you and may or may not damage or kill cells, which your body heals from.)


TL;DR: Radiation on Mars is much higher than on Earth. But in the end, it's not going to really hurt you as much as you think it will.
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There's still the radiation you get on the trip there (cosmic rays), the health effects of which we don't fully understand.
 
StTheo said:
There's still the radiation you get on the trip there (cosmic rays), the health effects of which we don't fully understand.
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It is true, the flight there would have a good amount of radiation. Considering the time to get there to be 6 months, you would get approximately 34,200 millirem while in flight. Though what I said before applies.

However, it's not guaranteed to be a constant, and cosmic rays could flare up to be stronger than normal, giving more radiation quickly which could be a problem. So the flight there might be rather dangerous. With both the flight, and even the actual settlement on Mars, I would assume some sort of radiation shielding would be used to protect the astronauts.
 
This discussion of health seems silly to me. Of course shields will be in place, at least until the biomechanical plant give mars an atmosphere/ozone layer. Bone density issues? Duh. If you aren't planning on a return to earth, what's the issue? Psych problems? Just send a bunch of people already crazy there. Put them in a coma for the trip.
 
TheGurw said:
This discussion of health seems silly to me. Of course shields will be in place, at least until the biomechanical plant give mars an atmosphere/ozone layer. Bone density issues? Duh. If you aren't planning on a return to earth, what's the issue? Psych problems? Just send a bunch of people already crazy there. Put them in a coma for the trip.
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My whole argument is that the effects of the radiation on Mars are negligible, so I don't know why you're jabbing at me with the shielding part.

And as for the bones, yeah, I really don't think it matters much if you're staying on Mars.

But for the crazy people, I don't think they exactly want to make Mars some kind of insane asylum, lol.
 
I don't really see the point of going too Mars in the first place, if only for the sake of going to Mars itself.
 
On that note, there's a fictional book I read recently on a similar topic. I think it was called "The Black Man." I could be mistaken, but it was quite a good read.
 
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