The new pictures of Mars are amazing, but I wouldn’t want to visit. I probably couldn’t pass up a trip to the ISS. That seems worth the risk, but a trip to Mars has to be way more dangerous, and not likely to get less so in the near future. I can’t see how they’re going to pull it off. If you’re debilitated from a few months of zero gravity on the space station, what would you be like by the time you got to Mars? I guess they’ll have to find a way around that. Still, it sounds like a one way trip. I imagine people are lined up to do it, but I wouldn’t be one of them.
I remember reading about an experiment to see what a Mars colony would be like by isolating some people under a dome. It went badly, with the people splitting into rival factions, and they weren’t even on speaking terms by the end. I wonder if people of different religions could manage not to kill each other if thrown together in such tight quarters? Does anyone remember what that project was called?
I wouldn’t mind going to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars for a holiday. But never to any place which I couldn’t leave and go home. Makes me even more impressed with migrants to this country, from the beginning onwards .
I’ve thought of living in several countries over the years. Most realistically, about England, and buying a house in some quaint village well away from big cities. My pension is portable. The UK has an excellent train service, is a small country and part of Europe geographically. Now, I’m too set in my ways, and am pretty much over travelling for adventure.
I experienced some adventures in the army, but would have skipped them if I could. Put me right off camping. Last adventure I had was in 2000 when I was on holiday in England and staying with friends in Cambridge. Went back packing for a month around Southern Ireland and Scotland. Stayed at youth Hostels. Carried an A frame backpack. Consequently, I was 1/2 inch taller when I got back to Cambridge. A fantastic way to see a country.
I would go in a second. Ship me up, set me up, I will spend my dying days exploring. Love it!
Same here Cognostic. I’m 70 and still have an adventure left in me. I would sign up for a one-way trip.
In our time, this no longer seems like a fantasy, because just recently we received images from Mars in color.I think in the near future there will already fly expeditions for development.
Welcome to Atheist Republic, I hope you stay here is long and enjoyable.
Mars has been the topic of many explorations, the latest with Perseverance is definitely attracting a lot of attention. But how that the flashy landing is done, “time to get down to sciencing the shit out of it” (to quote one planetary scientist). And there is a heck of a lot of science to do. We have barely (and literally) scratched the surface.
It is a BIG planet. I would love to visit. I would go at the drop of a hat…just to say I died there. Wow. Think of that, subject of so many pub quizzes, Mastermind programs…fuck yeh…sign me up.
On paper it sounds good. The reality, not so much. I never thought of myself as claustrophobic until I got stuck in an elevator. I found it much more unpleasant than I would have thought. I was stuck less than half and hour and any longer and I think I’d have been a hot mess. I love long walks, fresh air, and sunshine. A walk in nature can really lift my mood, and I would miss such things a lot.
Which is weird because I love the outdoors, yet have zero claustrophobic symptoms. And I have crawled through tight passages deep underground.
But if NASA called me and offered me a one-way trip to Mars, with my death soon after arrival at Mars, my only question would be “will my death be painless?”.
That’s a good point David. I would also like a painless way out. A nice little, go to sleep and don’t wake up pill. On the plus side, there is talk of sending rations prior to the arrival of the first explorers. And, apparently there is a way to convert the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere into oxygen. Death does not have to be immediate. There may be time for some adventure before food, oxygen or support runs out.
Given no extra food, oxygen or support… I would not stay in contact with the earth. I would not hang around the lander. I would pick a direction and simply walk off. I would die on my way to someplace. I prefer dying alone.
One major experiment included in the Perseverance rover is “MOXIE” (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), intended to strip away one oxygen atom from carbon dioxide. The net result being carbon monoxide and one atom of oxygen that quickly will bond with another oxygen atom to become O2.
This is a major project, the weight of this experiment is 17.1 kilograms, out of a grand total mass of 1,025 kilos for the entire Perseverance rover.
I have always supported scientific research. With the internet, I can contribute, in my own small way. When I camp out in the woodd, I always make sure the woods are cleaner than when I entered. And the same goes with my life. When I am gone, I hope that I have contributed to the forward progress of humanity, if only in a small way.
NASA has always claimed they didn’t supply suicide pills. Jim Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13, said killing himself never crossed his mind, he was too busy trying to stay alive. Still, if the ship had bounced off the atmosphere and irretrievably into space he would have had more time to consider it. There was always the possibility of the moon lander failing and men being stuck on the moon until oxygen ran out. The plan was to cut all communication with them. I’m not sure the reasoning. I guess it was to spare the world the horror of it, but it seems a callous thing to do. If they really didn’t supply suicide pills for a quick, painless death, it seems short sighted to me.
Staying alive in space is the hard part. Space is trying to kill you, and all one needs to do is open a valve or some other easy measure.
Wouldn’t the be pretty quick anyway? What’s the temperature in space?
There’s also hypothermia, which is a bit slower, but is not that unpleasant a way to die unless I’ve been misinformed.
Alone? Nah. I don’t know. There’s nothing there, at least from how the movies depict it.
Maybe if I was married, I’d spend my honeymoon on Mars 
lol, if that isn’t a too fucked-up idea.
Still, the guarantee of a painless death at a time of your own choosing, with no responsibility for possibly taking others with you, seems preferable. Why not give them that option?
I believe you have been misinformed 
It seems a common assumption, I’d had it too, that hypothermia wasn’t a bad way to go. Then I read some books about mountaineering misadventures. “Into Thin Air” was a good one, as is “Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest”. This is a Ted talk by Ken Kamler,a doctor on Mount Everest in 1996:
I suppose it’s not really comparable to what you might experience in space, but I wouldn’t recommend hypothermia as always a good way to go.
@Kellii There is no easy solution. Would you want to share a confined space for a few days with a corpse? What is the makeup of the astronauts? Do you want the type who face danger square in the eye and never give up, or those who accept their situation and surrender? What would be the effect on the public (thus the budget) knowing astronauts had the option of committing suicide?
I do not expect any answers, but these are just a few difficult hypothetical questions.
There are many difficult questions managers must deal with, and IMO a lot of the answers are kept very secret.