Would you volunteer for a mission to Mars?

I went on a mission to Mars when I was at university. It was fraught with danger, especially the roads round the Slough Trading Estate, but when the mission was completed we were rewarded with a big bag of chocolates each.

To get away from World Cup hysteria, sign me up.

Yes, anything to get away from reality tv shows ;)

Seriously, I think colonisation of another planet is something we really need to strive toward. More resources, more chance of humanity surviving a global catastrophy and the technological advances made to get us there could solve a lot of the current problems we have. I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I don't think I would like to do the 18 months in a container thing, but if I was actually going to Mars I would volunteer like a shot! Its so sad that a mission to Mars will probably never happen in our lifetime. Barack Obama has proved himself to be a man completely lacking in vision when he essentially abandoned America's manned space program. Looks like we will have to look towards totalitarian China to fly the flag for human endeavor. Not a good situation!

As a person who thoroughly believes that in order to survive, the human race will need to colonise the moon and Mars, I think this is a great step towards that.

Could I do it? Probably not. It's well established that the human race needs time and space to itself. Some more than others. I'm one of the "some" and 18 months sealed in a container with 5 other people? Not sure I could handle that.

To entertain myself, depending on space, I'd have to take a few books (maybe finally get around to reading Moby Dick) and of course, I'd have to take pictures of my wife and children and just hope the email system stayed working enough that I wouldn't miss too much of their growing up.

Would you volunteer for a mission to Mars?

Im getting made redundant in January so why not?

Could you live in a sealed container with no windows for 18 months?

Sounds like my first flat, so yes.

What would you do to entertain yourself?

Sleep for 18 hours a day, read for the rest, much like being a student again.

What would you take with you?

Sleeping pils & books. Maybe some kind of mind-bending narcotic, just to give an authentic 2001 feel to the proceedings.

would i volunteer for a trip to mars?.


without any hesitation yes

"Could you live in a sealed container with no windows for 18 months?"

I often wonder what it is that drives people to ask banal questions. Have they been "locked away" in an office somewhere, kidded they are intelligent, in training for the day when "their" society explodes out of orbit?

Contrary to our western view some cultures have Mars marked as a soft planet, closely echoing the empty desert of human nature without its indescribably beautiful and deeply creative vein embodied is so much art, music and literature, to be found on Earth. Mars, the red desert, painting the picture of what desolation does for humanity. And yet we still go on killing personality in our quest for the mediocre. We just cannot accept difference as anything other than a threat.

Ask any number of people the question asked in this HYS and a lot will say "been there, done it, got the T shirt, thanks but no thanks". Turning eighteen months of drudgery into an "exciting" training mission is about all that we are becoming good for.

I actually contimplated spplying for this, but didn't have anywhere near the qualifications, but my thinking was, that if you could get in on the simulated training and stay sane for the 18 months then you would have a better chance of being selected for an actual Mars trip, and that would be incrediable.

For entertainment, one of those book reader things and a compendium of games should do the trick and I wonder if there would be room for a guitar - I have been meaning to learn for ages although my practice would possible drive the others to kill me so maybe not.

Also can I point out that they are not really volunteering, they are paid reasonably well and with nothing to spend it on, you would come out pretty well off. I think it would be hard and I wouldn't want to be away from Friends or family for that long, but it would be a very interesting experience so yes, I would go like a shot.

I can think of a few people I would like to volunteer for a mission to Mars!

Yes please! sign me up.

No Americans taking part:)

"Could you live in a sealed container with no windows for 18 months?"

Sounds like my office actually. The interior's also decorated with wood panelling. But seriously, no, I doubt I could - I doubt most people could manage that without ending up like Jack Nicholson in the Shining, getting cabin fever, going crazy and attempting to kill everybody.

We should definitely be attempting Martian missions. I agree it's a shame that Obama's cut the American space programme. There's always the Russians, Chinese, Indians and the European Space Agency though.

The problem with this sort of experiment is that it cannot replicate the isolation of the real mission - if something goes wrong, no one can come and rescue you. Nor can it replicate the dangers.

For instance, there is a huge danger from solar flares (even though you are going away from the sun, orbit wise). There will have to be a radiation isolation chamber where they will hide from such instances - that increases the psychological pressure.

All this will prove is that a group of people can stay in a limited space without killing each other - we know the right people can do that anyway. However, this will give no real indication as to how they will cope on a real mission.

"How big is the ship? Whos on the crew? and whats the pay like? is the computor named "Hal" ? will the music be on a loop? and will I come back younger?

I would volunteer Peter Mandelson. We would be able to spare the UK populus of his words of "wisdom" in the press as he currently has more time on his hands.

I would volunteer, yes. It's vital for mankind because if we don't get off this planet we will become extinct through some form if global catastrophe. That is a certainty. I'm not sure that now is the best time though; we need a bit more political stability on this planet first.
When will it happen? Not for a long time because of the cost, and because of that it will probably be China or India in the lead.

If it is going to take 18 months for a trip to Mars then human psychological frailty and mortality will be two of the biggest obstacles. Travelling across vast distances in space must be the most boring experience imaginable. I think that scientists and engineers need to invent a much faster means of space travel before embarking on a trip to Mars and outer space.

This could be a very good basis for a reality TV show; take half a dozen Z list "celebrities" and lock them away for 18 months to see how they cope.

Actually forget the TV show, just lock the "celebrities" away and ignore them.

I wouldn't take part in this experiment simply because the overarching premise is so fatally flawed.

This whole idea of colonising another planet is something a 9-year old would come up with as a solution to our problems on this planet, so to hear adults actually seriously talking about it is depressing. Human overpopulation - and we're talking over 300% here - is our biggest problem, so why is sending a tiny fraction of our population to another planet where the plan is for them to grow the population there considered a good idea? You only need to look at the havoc European rabbits caused in Australia - so bad, the devastating myxoma virus had to be introduced to cull them - to see what happens when a highly, ahem, "prolific" species is allowed into a habitat where it'll easily overshoot its capacity.

I wouldn't want to do it, but I suppose it isn't that much different from the contestents that appear on big brother. They must in for 18 months at least, or does it just seem like it goes on for that length of time.

No.

The 18 months 'training' would be quite superfluous. The cosmonauts going on this jolly will be sitting on top of a Russian rocket containing 1000 tons (?) of explosive fuel and a spacecraft with an outside toilet.

I expect there will be many comments to come from short sighted people who say that we should first feed the starving, house the homeless and feed the sick before we blow our money on travelling to other planets. So let me pre-empt these comments.

Once we have fed, healed, and housed all the people of the earth our population will expand rapidly. There are too many of us already and our Earth cannot support many more. Developing space travel technology takes a long time and if we wait until we have solved all of Earth's problems it will be too late.

With this in mind it is fair to say that the colonisation of Mars is the most important goal mankind can aspire to today. Without the resources of another world we cannot continue to grow. We will stagnate, we will destroy our world with our needs and in the end we will destroy the only intelligent life we know of.

So yes, I would volunteer to go to mars in a heartbeat. Preferably I would go to stay.

Also, it would be awesome! I would be travelling in a space ship! How cool!?!

The adventurer in everyone dreams to go to Mars or some other planet just to see wshat it is like and to look for signs of life. But thats where it stops!The danger is real and the sheer distance to get there and then try to get back is awesome.My guess is that whoever gets to go will be staying there for the rest of their lives estabishling an outpost for future missions. It means they will taking rather a lot of stuff with them!!Being shut up for 18 months sound pretty bleak but if you have home comforts I dont think it would be too bad.Who ventures out much in the winter?-which in this country seems to last 9 months of year these days.

Only if there are duty free on route and I get tax free status for earnings.

The toughest part about the 18 month trip is the isolation from earth. The world could change quite noticably in the 18 months you are gone.


If I still had a broadband connection, I'd consider it.

I'd love to go travelling in space and if it takes 18 months to get to Mars, I think I could manage it.

9. At 10:03am on 03 Jun 2010, And_here_we_go_again wrote:
..if you could get in on the simulated training and stay sane for the 18 months then you would have a better chance of being selected for an actual Mars trip...

Or you'd have a better chance of going nuts the second time you were forced to spend 18 months 'locked up'. Mental damage is cumulative.

Trying to be serious about this, I would be willing to volunteer on the condition that my wife also came on the mission. 18 months is a long time to be stuck with others, and tempers will fray from time to time. The best way to combat this, at least in part, is to either have an entire group whose morals differ from ours, or to have couples who have already had to get over rough patches. Psychology suggests that each should bring something unique to the voyage, such as a different language, to while away the time during which there is nothing else to do. My wife was Ukrainian and speaks both Ukrainian and Russian. She was a teacher and is presently studying to become a nurse. In fact she ticks a lot more boxes than I do. Tell you what, I'll volunteer my wife to go on the mission on her own. Any nice women want to share my life for 18 months?

What a waste of money. I heard on Breakfast time today that to land on Mars & return would cost $300 billion.There are better uses for the money on earth the elimination of Cancer would be a good start.
But no doubt the USA will plough money in for the next 30 years without regard.
I repeat what a waste of money.

Why are people on here saying we need to do this if the human race is to survive?

Why? What makes humans so special in the great scheme of things.

Judging by the mess humans have made of this planet and each other over the last few thousand years I would say nature should take its course and just like the dinosaur’s humans should become extinct when their time is up.

The thought of humans migrating to other planets to carry on as they have on earth is not worth thinking about.

Maybe Mother Nature can make a better job of it next time.

A simulated mission is all we can hope for now that Obama has cancelled the US manned space programme. Well done, Barack – taking the human race back to the dark ages. Way to go!

I've never felt the need to be surrounded by company and more often than not I find myself longing for those small moments of isolation where I can reflect and switch my mind of to inane conversation and small talk. The idea therefore of spending 18 months in a container sounds like bliss to me.

Personal dislike of people aside, we should be doing this anyway. I'm very disappointed that scientific progress only seems to be made in for political purposes such as climate change or stem cell research. Politicians argue there are no benefits to a Mars mission and they are probably right but perhaps just once we can do something to prove it can be done and not because the results may turn a profit.

The words "one small step for man....." are etched into history and those who were alive in 1969 remember where they were the day it happened. In a world of terror attacks, nuclear threats and global warming we need a "where were you" moment that inspires rather than counts the dead. The moon landing, the fall of the Berlin wall and the fall of apartheid provided those moments during the 70s, 80s and 90s but the world needs someone they can get behind and applaud as a role model for the 21st Century.

Certainly not! Space travel and its benefits are vastly over-rated and I am sure the money invested in it could be put to better use.

Look at the mess we have made of this planet - my heart sinks to think that we could possibly do the same somewhere else in the solar system.

Mankind has messed up here on earth and not in a million years should it consider colonising another world.

Think of something else to waste money on rather than locking away six people for eighteen months. 'Earthlings' do not deserve another chance at getting it right.

But on further consideration I might just sign up for the opportunity to be free of life's stresses and strains - I can't think of anything better than to have a nice long holiday at someone else's expense.

'Six men have agreed to be locked away for 18 months in a sealed container'.

This being Putin's Russia can we be absolutely sure that these men are volunteers and not, for example, journalists, or historians who won't submit to the new rehabilitation and angelification of Joseph Stalin which is a current Russian government policy?

28. At 11:22am on 03 Jun 2010, Mike from Brum wrote:
9. At 10:03am on 03 Jun 2010, And_here_we_go_again wrote:
..if you could get in on the simulated training and stay sane for the 18 months then you would have a better chance of being selected for an actual Mars trip...

Or you'd have a better chance of going nuts the second time you were forced to spend 18 months 'locked up'. Mental damage is cumulative.

------------------

It's a risk I would be willing to take

I think I would be driven mad by the lack of mental stimulation and the knowledge that you were so close to freedom. They should have duped the applicants into thinking they actually were in space!!

This is simply a stunt. Given computer and robotic technology no human needs to go to Mars.

With a world that can neither feed or provide clean water for all its people to waste money on such a venture if a grand folly.

Better to spend the money curing cancer or HIV than this.

No, I suffer from claustrophobia. I don't like being behind locked doors or wearing a car seatbelt.

See a whole new world? Heck yeah! You wouldnt have to take much along for entertainment because you'd have a lot of daily tasks to do to keep you busy. But I'd perhaps have a few language cds so I could learn a new one on the way, and a kindle so I could do a bit of reading.

Why can't they just make faster spacecraft?

I would gladly sign up if they could guarantee that the onboard entertainment would NOT include world cup coverage.

Hell yeah! To boldly go where no man has gone before! I can't imagine having to tell my grandchildren that I had the opportunity to go to Mars but refused the offer.

Most certainly, yes! :-)

It would certainly make my CV stand out from all the rest! ;-)

Depends who accompanies really. Five gorgeous women and I'm there! They are bound to get bored and curious sooner or later.
Seriously, the hardest thing (steady!) would be the continual observation. I don't think I could last a week with somebody watching everything I did ...
Oh, and stop attacking the US for wasting money on this you lefty idiots. Read the original article - it's the RUSSIANS doing this. As all ready pointed out Mr Obama has canned the US space programme.

Volunteer for Mars?

Would I volunteer for Mars?
18 months out in space
With 5 companions
To share the place.

I’m not convinced
The experiment
Will provide
The data they meant.

Is it one way or return,
Will it be shut when I arrive
Will I get on with my companions
Will I still be alive?

What’s to be gained by going to Mars
Do little green men drive around in cars?

A planet we can see from here,
Its obviously got no atmosphere.

Is this science fiction or science fact,
will we discover something amazing,
some new technology to take us forward
or an extra terrestrial liaison?

Perhaps there minerals that we need,
Or we could take holidays by the red sea,
But only the rich will be able to go
Its too expensive for you or me.

Stuck in a tube for over a year,
With 5 sweaty men and no bath in sight
Living on microwave meals watching telly
It sounds just like a skiver’s delight

But I’m sure it’s all done for science
And people will learn of the ordeals they faced
Unless spending cuts force it to close,
All that time lost they’ll never replace.

So is Mars just pie in the sky?
You’ll never know if you don’t try.

I would volunteer, so take note NASA or the ESA.

I like my own space and could listen to music, play video games, generally chillout, watch films, blog on the internet, chat to family and friends, marvel at the beauty of the universe etc..

I would have thought they had enough data on life in space from the space station so this seems a pointless project to me. The fact it will take 18 months to do a trip to Mars just shows you how tiny we really are in the scheme of things. Until rocket design and propulsion advance a thousand fold space travel for man can not be really taken very seriously. Unless scientists develop suspended animation... but who would want to travel like that knowing their families back on earth had aged and died while they were traveling. We should face the fact that our planet is our main priority and travelling to others a pipe dream.

The mission should be mandatory for Kim and Robert of North Korea and Zimbabwe - the two nutties to refurbish and reinstate their grey cells.

Six men (not one of whom is American) have volunteered to be locked in a series of sealed containers in Moscow for 18 months in order to simulate a crewed mission to the Red Planet.
How important is an endeavour to the Red Planet?
The endeavor speaks loudly to me (and I suppose the entire world) that a big purpose of the study could very well be to demonstrate cooperation among Russia, China and the EU - when the United States is absent.
This study is alsp a showcase for the Moscow-based Institute for Medical and Biological Problems.
It certainly displays the futuristic-looking, space-simulating, experimantal mode that the US has been forced to put on hold. And this fact will raise a space-age stink in the United States.
Just a short while ago, President Barack Obama told NASA workers in Cape Canaveral that he was committed to manned space flight and foresaw sending astronauts to orbit Mars by the mid-2030s.
Hmmmm….
Could you live in a sealed container with no windows for 18 months?
I don't think so.
What would you do to entertain yourself?
Meditate, contemplate and ultimately disintegrate.
What would you take with you?
A computer so that I could stay informed about what was happening in the world and make comments to BBC.

The people anti - space travel cannot be more short sighted. I imagine there were people like that 600 years ago who disagreed with Columbus and those who discovered the America's, but nobody can deny now how much we have benefitted from its discovery (apart from the Native Americans I suppose!).

The Earth is a dot in the universe just as England is a dot on this planet, and to disregard what's out there (and the bounty of potential resources if nothing else - a cure for cancer perhaps), in my opinion is just naive.

Would I confine myself for 18 months as an experiment - hmm probably not. Would I confine myself for 18 months to reach Mars and be one of the first people to land there - probably yes!

What a wonderful opportunity to escape this mad, bad, greedy world.

They need to recruit a few old seafarers, they were especially used to close confinement for prolonged periods, especially old tanker men, some of them were on ships that were away from home for over two years, discomfort, poor quality and boring diet, for all the port calls there were many where shore leave was either not permitted or excessively difficult. Communication by post infrequent and unreliable, by radio prohibitively expensive even when within areas of good reception, and entertainment consisted of musical get togethers, games of cards and a good supply of books.

Of course men (and women) can take long periods of close confinement the trouble is that modern people have grown too used to living in an environment where they receive constant stimulation so that it is now seen as a need; you only have to view the phenomenal use of the mobile phone, it is a wonder that nobody has suggested having a mobile phone surgically implanted, 30 years ago a telephone weighed about ten pounds and was securly attached to a heavy braided cable. Rational people should have the internal resources to be able survive such a trip without all the complications of the modern social scene.

Would "I" volunteer for a mission to Mars? Not a chance, ol' fruit. I'm comfortable with living right down here on Earth. Thank you very much.

I like post #19's idea however I might add let's toss a hefty number of politicians in the mix with the celebrities and hope the sealed container goes out of orbit to never be seen again. That's what I would have to call a successful space mission.

Always smile and chuckle at other HYS posters' ironic humour on certain inane HYS questions. Thanks guys.

From memory, hasn't this type of 'experiment', 'publicly', already been done at least 20yrs ago in UK?

Interplanetary exploration and exploitation are immensely important to humanity’s future. As we come to accept that our planet cannot sustain us, popular debate has focused on the equally difficult choices between reducing populations and controlling birth rates a la Malthusian economics, or reducing our rates of consumption. Neither fits well at all with human nature. However, the option of finding resources (as well as relocating populations) off-world is a very real and potentially near-term third choice provided funding and development is devoted to the prospect. What I fail to understand, however, is the focus on Mars as the near term destination, with resultant lack of interest in renewed lunar missions. Given that the last manned lunar landing mission was almost 40 years ago, and the moon is a much closer and presumably more manageable destination, would it not be more prudent to set it in our sights, instead? By all accounts, the amount of He3 on a football field sized plot of the lunar surface is sufficient to accommodate current annual energy consumption on this planet 2,000 times over, and its proximity would allow more immediate access to these and other resources. The technological advances which would be developed with trips to this nearer neighbor would benefit any later and more distant trips. Plus, since so much time has elapsed between manned missions, wouldn’t a few practice runs to a nearer body be in order?

Locked away for 18 months? No, I'm not a criminal.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

At 11:31am on 03 Jun 2010, Mark Stewart wrote: "A simulated mission is all we can hope for now that Obama has cancelled the US manned space programme..."
With respect, Mark, the manned Martian initiative is an Obama announced one. The cancelled space program(me) to which you refer is lunar only.

Yes, I'd go in a heartbeat. It's just a shame that humanity are setting its sights so slow ....to infinity and beyond!

Mars is beyond our reach at present. Any person going there will be with the knowledge of this is a one way trip. All vital resources will have to be carried along, water, food and oxygen, 18 months supply. OK water and oxgen can be recycled but will need to have replenishment occasionally, food will be a big issue. The sewerage system needs to be efficient to extract as much good matter to recycle. Even so cramming a buch of people into one room, feeding, watering and maintaining life support for them will require another 6 rooms, or if that is now put into space ships 1 to carry the men, 6 to carry supplies, there and back.

Long airline flights on earth can get pretty boring, thank you.
And no, I dont' crave the opportunity to be walled in with other guys for months on end.
But hey, whatever turns your crank ....

more land. more problems.

who would stake claim? will there be a big wall built around stakes of land belonging to the rich and those who are supported by the powerful? will there be piracy and looting of goods arriving into sites beyond the wall were poor people without basic living material live?

we need to spend the money on this world. we need to spend time, money and effort resolving wars, dispites, environmental issues, poverty, education etc on this world.

I think Mars should be a suicide mission by design. Unlike the moon Mars has a gravitational attraction more like earth and taking off from there for the return trip every bit as complicated as a Rocket or ICBM launch here on earth.
Give the astronauts the food, water, entertainment, and scientific equiptment they need for as long as they can exist there and provide them the "tools" for a painless exit.

Yeah, fine, as long as Angelina Jolie was my co-pilot :-)

As a techno-geek and science fan I guess it would be expected that I would support endeavours such as a manned trip to Mars. However, I do not.

Yes, unmanned satellites and robotic space probes perform useful services, or help us improve our scientific understanding of the universe. All well and good. But as for humans beings going out into space, I believe the extreme expense and risk to life cannot be justified.

Our current rocket technology will (barely) allow us to travel our solar system, never mind beyond. Even with nuclear powered rockets we will still be limited to our solar system. Other than Earth, everywhere else in our solar system is extremely hostile to human life. It is not a realistic option for human beings to live anywhere else than Earth for any long period of time.

If any intelligent beings ever escape from Earth to colonise our solar system, they will be intelligent synthetic life forms, or robots, especially engineered for the purpose. We flesh and blood human beings were not made for this leap. Until we can create 'faster than light' propulsion systems that allow us to search for Earth-like worlds beyond our solar system, it is (an expensive) delusion to hang on to such dreams.

Certainly, anything that diverts money from wasted enterprises like feeding the third world or finding a cure for aids or cancer.

If we get to mars, we shall only wreck it, just like everywhere else man goes. Leave it alone

I'm middle-aged, overweight, married with kids*, so I doubt if they'd have me - but I would certainly consider it (provided net access was included)



*happy to sign on as a colonist family...

Live on Mars, yes, we would go without hesitation, but only if we sort things out here first, like famine, war, disease for the ones left behind.

We will have to sort out the priorities, look back at our history and make sure that we don't take our mistakes with us.

I would absolutely love to be able to travel in space! What a feeling to leave your planet behind!! The technology behind these explorations is mind bogglingly fantastic and i am so proud, and envious, of the people who have entered space, the final frontier! It would be so exciting, and a little scary, to look upon the stars and planets without the Earths protective filters. I really cannot explain just how much i yearn to look upon another environment so different from ours and so untouched by us; maybe to see life, however primitive, happily moving along it's developmental curve, totally oblivious of us!! Oh happy dreams!!!

18 months in solitary confinement?
I don't think so.
I'd go mad.
Rather reminds me of "The Goodies" episode when they are in a lighthouse...

Reading the comments, I think some people have completely the wrong idea. If you prefer your own space then this trip isn't for you. You will be in close confines with another 5 people for an outward journey, orbiting and the homeward leg, taking around 18 months in total. You will have no surcease from human interaction and little privacy.

I'm sure the psychologists have thought of this, that what you need to be is gregarious or very close-knit as a team. Families would be most likely to survive untainted (which is why "Lost in Space" hits this nail better) as they are used to having arguments and smoothing over them. Ideally you want family members who are able to fulfil various roles. In my family unit this would most likely be:

Pilot/Captain - my wife.
Navigator - me.
Engineer - my oldest son.
Health/hygeine/medical - my daughter.
Mediator/communications - my step-son.
Quantum astrophysics/observation - my youngest son.

OK, so my youngest might still need some tuition, but you must get the picture - only a family unit has the tolerance to withstand the various pressures that might be encountered.

So, if NASA, ESA or the Russian or Chinese want to have a successful trial then they should invite my family - we've managed quite a few years together already, so 18 more months will be a cake-walk.

In addition to my last comment, 54. At 1:01pm on 03 Jun 2010. My Bishop wouldn't sanction time off, either. Mind you, I wouldn't mind a quick trip and back into space. All donations greatly received, of course.

Yes, I'll go, I'm looking for a new job, and this one looks pretty cool. Where do I send my CV?

Mars? Is that all? Could they not send me a lot further? To get me away as far as they can from this earthly, "hellhole"!

We are already part of a Spaceship called Earth. There is no point our trying to settle on other planets/Spaceships if we cannot provide the same conditios as exist on Earth i.e. gravitional equivalence, fresh air, etc.

I often hoped that, before I become too old to care, that I'd be able to book passage on a 'grand tour' of the Jovian moons, with brief stops at bases on Mars and the Moon there and back. I suppose reading lots of Science Fiction from Arthur C Clarke and Kim Stanley Robinson would always leave reality somewhat wanting; nevertheless I had a whole load of optimism.

Now what does humanity have? An all consuming predeliction for stupid gadgets to organise the ever increasing pseudo-complications in life. Combine this with stampede after stampede for useless financial 'products' coupled to the carbon-trading scam and we'll end up with a race of beings who couldn't think themselves out of a real paper bag, let alone survive a trip to Mars and back.

I think we're seeing the last of the generations capable of anything worthwhile. Simply being able to reproduce at will whilst on your mobile phone, logged in to your PDA and trading your derivatives... isn't sufficient.

I wouldn't, but I could think of many I'd like to send there - with a one-way ticket of course!

Could start with Gordon Brown and his now defunct but equally unelected cronies!

"42. At 12:19pm on 03 Jun 2010, HabitualHero wrote:
Why can't they just make faster spacecraft?"
------------

The problem isn't making one go faster, it's being able to carry enough fuel to be able to stop at the other end....

We should have run a kamikaze mission to Mars a long time ago.

It's only the Americans and their Bronze Age fairy tales stopping us.

I may have done, if Gordon Brown had stayed in power, but now I am quite happy on planet earth.

81. At 2:59pm on 03 Jun 2010, AJS wrote:
We should have run a kamikaze mission to Mars a long time ago.

It's only the Americans and their Bronze Age fairy tales stopping us.

----

I'm guessinhg that English is not your first language and that your tranlator is faulty...

Because your comment makes no sense.

No - there is little to be gained by visiting such a hostile environment - now if a planet was found that could support human life much the same as Earth then I would be up for it. A huge waste of money and precious resources has gone into space exploration for little reward (I know about cling-film etc!!) That effort could have gone into feeding the world .

Yeah, just get me Angelina Jolie and forget the other 4 people, that will be just fine, thank you.

"Could you live in a sealed container with no windows for 18 months?"



Millions of people forced to live under authoritarian Communist/Fascist, Islamist regimes spend decades living in much more severe confinment.

Sounds like a suggestion for a radio show. Celebrities and assorted bores could be invited to discuss which books and things they would like to have during the 18 months and every five minutes they could choose a song. Yawn!! Fortunately such a programme would never be accepted by the BBC.

No, but I am sure many members of the Labour Party may be interested - they've got nothing else to do.

I would go. What a way to live out your life. You could be on the only journey ever made in the entire history of the Human Race. Sending back information, transmissions, experiments.

I imagine a balanced crew could find out a lot, and hell maybe, just maybe sew the seeds for terra orming of some sort.

An actual trip to Mars I would volunteer in a heart beat.

We could of tried to get there by now and have had several plausible ideas as to how, its a shame all people of earth should feel that we haven't tried.

No matter how you look at it we(our species not you or I as individuals) will need to leave our solar system at some point or be killed by our own sun(or a great many other things).
The sooner we do this the greater our chances of survival and the sooner we get the benefits of the needed technology. Earth is finite(extremely so) and we are already nearing its upper limits for a great many things(space, productive capacity and most important fresh water). so why are so happy with all our eggs in this one basket? There are plenty more 'baskets' out there and Mars is just the closest.

If there was a trip to Proxima Centauri I would volunteer so a quick trip to our nearest planet why not.

I would if I knew I would be in a warehouse in Russia! In the real world, however, I don't like flying, so space travel is probably out of the question!

No. There is nothing there that will solve the immediate problem.....which is.....where to go after humans totally destroy the Earth, which is looming very soon in the future.

You've got to laugh, 'Six Men'.

If they included woman, they could get double the information on ther 'experiment'.

...believe.

Er...yes, in a heartbeat. It'd be hard to imagine why someone wouldn't want to volunteer for the opportunity to travel to another planet. Not sure I'd like the 'training mission' but I'd get through it if I knew that I'd get to go to Mars afterwards. Even just imagining the opportunity to go to another planet makes me grin like an idiot - the day we send a manned mission to Mars will be an incredibly exciting one for mankind.
That said, can I just take issue with the Obama critics? Yes, he may have cancelled the manned space program, but try to see it from another point of view. Mars isn't going anywhere. The space program is enormously expensive. You would have to be wilfully blind to be unaware of the grave financial issues facing the US, even the entire western world. Is it not perhaps a little more responsible, if unpopular with certain sections of society, to spend the money on resolving these issues at the moment? I am sure Barack Obama is aware of how unpopular this decision was - it reflects well upon him that he recognised the more pressing need for the money to be spent on his people rather than on manned space missions, despite the unpopularity it has brought his way. Yes, China may, as a result, get there before us, or even India possibly. But while those governments fund their space programs, how many of their people starve below the poverty line, living in squalor? I'd love to see us go to Mars, but not at the expense of global financial stability or the needs of the poorest sections of our civilisation.
However, if a mission comes around during my lifetime, sign me up!

If the opportunity was there, I'd be at the front of the line.

Sickenly, however, the first person on Mars should have happened at least a quarter of a century ago.

A Manned Mars Landing was proposed for 1985, but unfortunately fell on deaf ears. The Administration at the time, wanted to develop the Shuttle Programme.

If we'd have stayed on course after the Apollo Programme, we would have been pushing out towards the Jovian System by now.

I'm in my late twenties, and seriously doubt I will be around to see it.

"Would you volunteer for a mission to Mars?"

No, but I would readily, gladly and willingly volunteer my boss though. And no need to make the journey in such a hurry. I'm worried about my boss's safety, so take it slow. No need to do the journey in merely 18 months.

"Could you live in a sealed container with no windows for 18 months?"

Sure. It's called a modern workplace. Another reason why the bosses, who came up with these places, ought to be happy to 'volunteer' for the trip.

At least they will not have to put up with the European Song Contest

Gather the following individuals:

Osama Bin Laden
Muammar Qaddaffi
Than Shwe
Robert Mugabe
Alexander Lukashenko
Ayatollah Khamenei
Mahmoud Ahmedinejad
George W Bush
Tony Blair
Kim Jong Il
Omar al-Bashir
Islam Karimov
Pope Benedict XVI
The Saudi Royal Family

and blast them towards the sun.

Thats what I would call value for money.

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