200,000 people apply to be first to live on Mars

[u9y42]

how dafauq would they get to it?
Mt Olympus is like 20 000 m high

Well, they should be able to jump higher on Mars (I think)... 

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[PenAndPaper]

So since this is a one way trip i wonder what kind of people apply anyway...

[Wilikon]

I'm sure I read something ages ago about them turning this into a reality TV show. Could be BS as I don't see how it's feasible.

Living on Mars, months away from any kind of emergency assistance, is about as real as it gets.  

Just add an automated escape pod with room for only one person on Mars to see what would happen for the Live Martian TV show.... The launch card will be hidden on top of Mt Olympus... GO!

how dafauq would they get to it?
Mt Olympus is like 20 000 m high

Every time a "participant" would drop from Mt Olympus all the way down to his death, the Wilikon FlyCam© will follow him live... For 20 min! People on Earth would do the count down just like for new year's eve, for the last few feet. The participant will have plenty of time discussing his favorite classic lady gaga tracks and thanking his sponsors before impact.

Don't you feel the excitement already? It would be the ultimate reality TV show.

[Kaligulax]

With more than 6.5 billion people living on Earth and that number increasing all the time, our planet is quickly becoming overcrowded. So it seems reasonable, notwithstanding the monstrous technical challenges it would present, that we might one day start to look beyond our planet for future housing solutions. But why would we consider Mars? True, it's relatively nearby, galactically speaking; we know a lot about it already; it at least used to be a bit more like us; and it even has two moons (Phobos and Deimos) to hit us in the eyes like big pizza pies -- but Mars? Who knows? Perhaps inhabiting the red planet might be a more realistic housing option than it might seem at first blush. Perhaps one day we'll have no choice but to pack up and leave the planet.

But let's not kid ourselves. Thus far, nothing's changed about Mars. It's still the same inhospitable, rocky, barren place it was yesterday, last week or a thousand years ago. It's quite cold, has a terribly thin atmosphere, has essentially no magnetic field and provides no oceans in which to jet-ski. If we do want to live on Mars, it's not exactly rolling out the welcome mat.

So, clearly, terraforming Mars would be an incredibly daunting task. In order to recreate the planet as a kind of second Earth, we would need to address its atmospheric shortcomings and warm its frozen surface. Scientists, ever on the task, have proposed a number of schemes to induce a Martian greenhouse effect, ranging from the use of oxygen factories to crashing an asteroid into one of its poles. The idea in either case being, of course, that in time the greenhouse effect would thicken the atmosphere and warm the planet, bringing it a little closer to the kind of habitable conditions present on the third rock from the sun. We'd also need to work out the most efficient homes to build; the best way to feed ourselves and a host of other questions. It also wouldn't hurt if we improved our space travel technology so we could shuttle between Earth and Mars a bit more easily during all of this terraforming work. Daunting, indeed.

[guybrushthreepwood]

With more than 6.5 billion people living on Earth and that number increasing all the time, our planet is quickly becoming overcrowded.

It's really not becoming overcrowded at all. In the future we may struggle with food shortages, but that's a long way off.

[Vod]

With more than 6.5 billion people living on Earth and that number increasing all the time, our planet is quickly becoming overcrowded.

We've been over 7 billion people for about a year now.

So it seems reasonable, notwithstanding the monstrous technical challenges it would present, that we might one day start to look beyond our planet for future housing solutions.

We are not looking at colonizing other planets to reduce the population of earth - that is a logistical impossibility.  We colonize to ensure the continuance of our race.

[kuba84]

i will go..
but only if the other 3 are hot chicks...oh yeah ;>

[Lethn]

i will go..
but only if the other 3 are hot chicks...oh yeah ;>

You'd be screwed if they were married or had boyfriends though

[u9y42]

i will go..
but only if the other 3 are hot chicks...oh yeah ;>

You'd be screwed if they were married or had boyfriends though

Why? Unless they would be on one of the next flights in, it's not like they would be seeing each other again. 

[jonanon]

It's a nice idea but I think we're quite a few years away from a manned mission to Mars. At least the first settlers will have the benefit of being able to send BTC home - unfortunately anything they buy would not be arriving with them any time soon....

[NewLiberty]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land

To each their own, I wish them well.

[infinitybo]

Earth is finite, outer space is not therefore it is in the humankind's best interest that we inhabit other planets and evolve according to those needs of newer planets.

[AirFlame]

Lol and they will all die. It's like swimming on the ship more than half year You get crazy

[Wilikon]

Earth is finite, outer space is not therefore it is in the humankind's best interest that we inhabit other planets and evolve according to those needs of newer planets.

The most amazing thing is Evolution (the theory of) should work the same as it did here. 100 000 years from now, our children will adapt to those far away colonies and will not look like us because of those alien conditions.

I may not be a fan of Martian 3 breasted prostitutes in the future but I won't be there to judge anyway... 

[TheButterZone]

It won't even take that long. The first child to be born, and grow to maturity under a fraction of earth's gravity will exceed the height of those who matured on earth. See the character Nono on Planetes.

[Wilikon]

http://youtu.be/r4jf2F3YEAI

"Soon" the time it will take to go to Mars will be same amount of time Columbus's vessels used to take to cross oceans.

[KonstantinosM]

While planet colonization is something that needs to happen this is a horrible option for anyone considering it.

I would rather not being locked in a little box, whether the box was on earth or another planet. I'm not willing to trust a company like this controlling my fate and the fate of all the other people in this mission.

I support their right to this choice. It is a horrible one however. So many things can go wrong. Running out of water, energy, food or oxygen due to an accident or technical failure. Being unable to land. Being unable to set up the colony. Screw this. A lot of technology needs significant improvement to do this safely.

[Wilikon]

While planet colonization is something that needs to happen this is a horrible option for anyone considering it.

I would rather not being locked in a little box, whether the box was on earth or another planet. I'm not willing to trust a company like this controlling my fate and the fate of all the other people in this mission.

I support their right to this choice. It is a horrible one however. So many things can go wrong. Running out of water, energy, food or oxygen due to an accident or technical failure. Being unable to land. Being unable to set up the colony. Screw this. A lot of technology needs significant improvement to do this safely.

You are underestimating the power of the Galactic Funeral Home Camarilla. This need to be done. And fast.

[u9y42]

Seems like they have narrowed it down to 1058 candidates, out of the 200000 initial applicants: http://rt.com/news/mars-one-applicants-selected-039/. 

[Wilikon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfSiMjUDUig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvvOorH1q4g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeV0PhzW9zM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7dhh9aR8OI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayHYPYwmHAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsRvQydukZ8



Emilia.......