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Applicants wanted for a one way ticket to Mars

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Applicants wanted for a one way ticket to Mars

#3

Post by andrewb »

My initial impression is "Wow, so cool, I wonder if I could do it.

Then quickly I am brought back to Earth by thinking that I will never see my family, friends or pets again.

I wonder how many of these "thousands" of applicants have truly though this through and could actually do it.

Re: Applicants wanted for a one way ticket to Mars

#4

Post by eeek »

When I was in high school I was invited to a youth science symposium. After a fancy dinner after a day-long event I asked the speaker, a woman from NASA, if a non-returning mission to Mars was on NASA's list of possibilities ( as the difficulty of the return trip is the primary prohibitive part of a manned mission to Mars ). She took this opportunity to try to humiliate me for even thinking such a crazy plan was worth considering, stating that "we would never send anyone to Mars if we could not return them home" as if it was some kind of militaristic "leave no man behind" moral code. I was very disappointed that she didn't even take the time to consider it and argue against it from a reasoned position. I am happy to see that others are not so closed minded these days and that space and planetary exploration will most likely continue with more open-minded people finding ways to reach out push on the edge of our envelope.

Re: Applicants wanted for a one way ticket to Mars

#6

Post by olympus »

jacques_chester wrote: post #2

I will try not to be surprised when most of the money raised is spent on the salaries of the promoters. This comment fulfills your RDA of cynical first comments on HN.

You're probably right, but I'm applying anyway. It's not like a better possibility for me to get to Mars is opening up anytime soon. I'll balance the small amount of wasted money with the (extremely remote) possibility that I'd get to be a heroic space explorer.

Re: Applicants wanted for a one way ticket to Mars

#7

Post by anigbrowl »

eeek wrote: post #4

When I was in high school I was invited to a youth science symposium. After a fancy dinner after a day-long event I asked the speaker, a woman from NASA, if a non-returning mission to Mars was on NASA's list of possibilities ( as the difficulty of the return trip is the primary prohibitive part of a manned mission to Mars ). She took this opportunity to try to humiliate me for even thinking such a crazy plan was wort…

Imagine if she'd said yes. About a week later the tabloids would be screaming 'NASA to launch astronauts on death mission.' She wasn't trying to humiliate you, she was engaged in her job of doing public outreach.

Re: Applicants wanted for a one way ticket to Mars

#9

Post by Myrmornis »

anigbrowl wrote: post #7
eeek wrote: post #4

When I was in high school I was invited to a youth science symposium. After a fancy dinner after a day-long event I asked the speaker, a woman from NASA, if a non-returning mission to Mars was on NASA's list of possibilities ( as the difficulty of the return trip is the primary prohibitive part of a manned mission to Mars ). She took this opportunity to try to humiliate me for even thinking such a crazy plan was wort…

Imagine if she'd said yes. About a week later the tabloids would be screaming 'NASA to launch astronauts on death mission.' She wasn't trying to humiliate you, she was engaged in her job of doing public outreach.

So as a scientist, speaking to young scientists, perhaps she should have said something like "First please note that while the following answer may be the truth, the nature of my job sometimes compels me to give non-truthful answers." Perhaps such a disclaimer should be given by any "scientist" whose PR operations sometimes preclude accuracy?
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