If you ever wanted to have an adventure that was out of this world (or in this case, out of this planet), now is your chance because the Mars One Project is now accepting applications to go to Mars. The catch? It would be a one-way ticket to the red planet since the project is aiming to create a settlement there.
According to their website, the Mars One project also plans to televise every aspect of the decade-long endeavor starting with the astronaut selection, the preparation to leave and their lives on Mars. They plan to launch a group from Earth in 2023.
In their Mars One introduction film on the application page of their website, the video says, “In our pursuit to find life elsewhere in the universe, the search for life on Mars begins on Earth.”
This whole idea sounds a bit far-fetched to me and I just don’t see the appeal. Yes, it would be an adventure and it would be great to see what the distant planet has to offer, but for someone to know they will not come back to Earth seems a little outrageous to me.
A one-way ticket to another planet means you will not see your family, you will not have the civilization you are used to and survival is not a sure thing.
According to an article by BBC News, Mars has no liquid water because “the atmospheric pressure is ‘practically a vacuum’ and radiation levels are higher.”
The people who are sent to Mars would have to rely on people from Earth to send supplies, but what happens if they run out and supplies don’t make it in time? With a one-way ticket, there is no way of getting back to Earth. What happens if you decide you don’t like it on this remote planet?
This raises another question. What is the point of creating a civilization on a planet that was not made for human civilization? The Mars One website says “a human mission to Mars will inspire generations to believe that all things are possible, that anything can be achieved.”
Now, usually I am a glass half-full kind of person, but in this case, what happens if this mission to Mars to create a civilization completely fails?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about exploration and finding new information about our solar system and the planets, but why do we need to create a community on Mars? Even if the project did change their mind about bringing these astronauts back to Earth once people went to the planet, BBC News reported that it would be difficult for the astronauts to come back.
The article says the astronauts would lose bone and muscle mass on their journey to the red planet and spend a lot of time on Mars’ weaker gravitational field. If they were to come back to Earth it would be almost impossible to readjust to Earth’s strong gravitational field.
For me, I think living on the red planet would be lonely even if four more people came every two years. I wouldn’t want to live on another planet for the rest of my life, but the choice is ultimately yours, so if you think you have what it takes, applications are still being accepted.
