Going to Mars for a fee

“I will be 62 when I go in 2023.  I don’t have children and I’m not married.  I’m looking forward to stay on Mars,” he states.

Jonah will land as part of an initial team before being joined by a secondary group a couple years later. Trained in the repairing of the mission’s specific settlement structures as well as the cultivation of crops in confined spaces, he will act as the team’s doctor, biologist, repairer, and pilot.

[pullquote]“NASA doesn’t believe in a one-way-mission,” and goes on to say, “They call it a suicide mission, which it isn’t.” [/pullquote] Jonah is confident.  Is this the risk and drive needed to colonize Mars? Only time will tell. Fortunately for us back on Earth, Mars One’s activities will be captured by Living Unit cameras giving us a stand-in perspective to their mission, so stay tuned.

Mars One isn’t the only project with similar ambitions. A little more ‘out there’ is multimillionaire Dennis Tito, head of the Inspiration Mars Foundation. For his flyby of Mars, he is currently seeking a married and middle-aged crew.  His plan is to leave 5 years from now, as this is when the planets will align giving the opportunity for a 501 day trip – this only occurs every 15 years. In short, if you want a glorified sight-seeing trip to the red planet at the expense of your life, sign up with Mr. Tito. Sarcasm aside, it is these far-reaching dreamers that inspire us common-folk in setting sail towards the stars. Though the science behind the Inspiration Mars Foundation may seem very cosmological, it is nevertheless a step, whether forward, sideways, or backwards, that is up to your judgement.

Not all private firms specifically focus on manned missions to Mars.  Instead, others work in designing rocket components that are not only efficient, but affordable. SpaceX, form founder Elon Musk, was the first privately funded group to launch a spacecraft into orbit and recover it. This has enabled them to earn a contract with NASA as well as many other private sector companies. With such an example, it seems that cooperation between public and private entities is the key.

NASA has always been the poster-child for space exploration, yet due to political pressures and bureaucratic constraints, their process is quite simply, inefficient. Promises are difficult to keep and frustration from an interested public builds up, decreasing funds and hopes. It is a very vicious cycle that breeds negativity around our space champion and in the end gets nothing accomplished.

Colonizing Mars is for the good of us all. Though it may seem like a barren landscape void of little green men to the untrained eye, the tangible benefits should not be the sole priority. Creating heroes out of astronauts and giving society the common problem of ‘how to colonize Mars’ is what is important. Future generations need to be inspired, and this can only be done by working together.

While competition does motivate the best within people, cooperation is what will get us to colonize Mars.  Governments have the image and means whilst the private sector the ambition and budget. It is with the designs of SpaceX, NASA’s brand, Mars One’s ambitions, and yes, Inspiration Mars Foundation’s highly ambitious goals that man will set foot on one of the Earth’s closest, somewhat hospitable planet.

Mars, here we come…soon…hopefully.

Marc Posth is a writer based in Montreal, but comes from Dubai, France, and Singapore – at the same time. With a background in science, his next logical step is creative writing.

References:

Photo Courtesy of Q92

Photo Courtesy of The Goals Blog

Quotations from Astronaut Jonah Berger

Quotations from Dr.