Looks like Mars One is a scam in the making!

[Vod]

https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously-flawed-project-2dfef95217d3

No money, no process, no explanation: An insider speaks out on the hopelessly flawed scheme.

Dr Joseph Roche is one of the finalists to go on Mars One's much-hyped mission to the Red Planet. And yet he says he's never had an in-person interview, had to organize his own physical exam, was only tested on prepared questions, and is being encouraged to give more and more money to the group. That's why he's decided to quit.

[galdur]

“When you join the ‘Mars One Community,’ which happens automatically if you applied as a candidate, they start giving you points,” Roche explained to me in an email. “You get points for getting through each round of the selection process (but just an arbitrary number of points, not anything to do with ranking), and then the only way to get more points is to buy merchandise from Mars One or to donate money to them.”

Yeah, sure sounds like a scam 

[CaptainHerpDerp]

**gets to mars after a oneway journey**


"Fuck I've made a terrible mistake" - every person on mars one.

[jaysabi]

So, here are the facts as we understand them: Mars One has almost no money. Mars One has no contracts with private aerospace suppliers who are building technology for future deep-space missions. Mars One has no TV production partner. Mars One has no publicly known investment partnerships with major brands. Mars One has no plans for a training facility where its candidates would prepare themselves. Mars One’s candidates have been vetted by a single person, in a 10-minute Skype interview.

Damn, this is really disappointing. I was hopeful this wasn't going to be some crackpot venture, but it's really in far worse shape I would have thought. Some guy's pipe dream that grabbed media attention it didn't deserve.

[stevegreer]

I haven't really been following it much, but from what I understand, this is a privately funded venture, right? If so, how can the volunteers really get mad for being asked to help with the expenses? IF the journey actually happens, I am willing to bet the people going won't be complaining about the food they will be eating or the water they will be drinking or the air they will be breathing. It's not really any different than someone having to pay for an airline or cruise ship ticket. Well, I guess the difference is that those two aren't usually permanently one-way  .

I will concede that whoever thought this thing up should have had more of a plan for funding and training. And because he/she failed to do so, I seriously doubt this trip will happen.

[TheButterZone]

Sofaking sad.

[Lethn]

Told you guys it was fucking ridiculous didn't I? There's no way that a legitimate space mission would operate this way or even bother going to Mars for a first project, the news organisations that all promoted this bullshit without vetting them properly should be ashamed of themselves, but as usual, they aren't going to make an apology and go onto the next news cycle hoping no one noticed.

[CaptainHerpDerp]

I'm glad it's a scam, until we develop past the point of strapping people to rockets to get into orbit...we shouldn't think about going to other planets.

I say that because, when you think the chinese invented solid rocket propulsion for fireworks hundreds of years ago and that's what NASA (basically premise of solid rocket tech) and all other agenices uses for space orbit, we look ridiculous in space.  I am dissapoint.

[Spendulus]

I haven't really been following it much, but from what I understand, this is a privately funded venture, right? If so, how can the volunteers really get mad for being asked to help with the expenses? IF the journey actually happens, I am willing to bet the people going won't be complaining about the food they will be eating or the water they will be drinking or the air they will be breathing. It's not really any different than someone having to pay for an airline or cruise ship ticket. Well, I guess the difference is that those two aren't usually permanently one-way  .

I will concede that whoever thought this thing up should have had more of a plan for funding and training. And because he/she failed to do so, I seriously doubt this trip will happen.

Because there are standards in aerospace, that apply as much to a simple Cessna 150 as the hypothetical Mars trip.

Any venture or proposal can be measured against such standards.  It's totally reasonable to declare it a scam if it falls short of a reasonable level of compliance.

[Snail2]

This would be the ultimate scam. Ppl will be happy because of they got scammed and no one will come back to complain. Smart.

[Lethn]

I haven't really been following it much, but from what I understand, this is a privately funded venture, right? If so, how can the volunteers really get mad for being asked to help with the expenses? IF the journey actually happens, I am willing to bet the people going won't be complaining about the food they will be eating or the water they will be drinking or the air they will be breathing. It's not really any different than someone having to pay for an airline or cruise ship ticket. Well, I guess the difference is that those two aren't usually permanently one-way  .

I will concede that whoever thought this thing up should have had more of a plan for funding and training. And because he/she failed to do so, I seriously doubt this trip will happen.

Because there are standards in aerospace, that apply as much to a simple Cessna 150 as the hypothetical Mars trip.

Any venture or proposal can be measured against such standards.  It's totally reasonable to declare it a scam if it falls short of a reasonable level of compliance.

It's not only that, but the complete lack of disregard for the lives of people taking part should have been enough of a warning sign, it either meant it was a very unrealistic plan that was likely to fail anyway and they really would all end up dead or they were just fishing around for gullible and stupid people to fall for it. What amazes me is that there were people who actually signed up for it and weren't even intelligently considering what they were taking part in, I'm still more pissed off at the news organisations, particularly the ones that should know better like the BBC and so on.

[Rishblitz]

The space age isn't ready for the private sector yet. yeah sure ships can be built by the private sector but a huge project to visit the moon or another planet is feasible without a population to tax.

[pattu1]

So now the insiders have started accepting what the experts have been saying all this while.

An article published a month back

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2960096/Why-Mars-One-NEVER-ground-Lack-funding-no-spacecraft-no-rocket-makes-mission-fool-s-dream-claim-experts.html

Why Mars One will NEVER get off the ground: Lack of funding, no spacecraft and no rocket makes mission a 'fool's dream', claim experts

[Spendulus]

I haven't really been following it much, but from what I understand, this is a privately funded venture, right? If so, how can the volunteers really get mad for being asked to help with the expenses? IF the journey actually happens, I am willing to bet the people going won't be complaining about the food they will be eating or the water they will be drinking or the air they will be breathing. It's not really any different than someone having to pay for an airline or cruise ship ticket. Well, I guess the difference is that those two aren't usually permanently one-way  .

I will concede that whoever thought this thing up should have had more of a plan for funding and training. And because he/she failed to do so, I seriously doubt this trip will happen.

Because there are standards in aerospace, that apply as much to a simple Cessna 150 as the hypothetical Mars trip.

Any venture or proposal can be measured against such standards.  It's totally reasonable to declare it a scam if it falls short of a reasonable level of compliance.

It's not only that, but the complete lack of disregard for the lives of people taking part should have been enough of a warning sign, it either meant it was a very unrealistic plan that was likely to fail anyway and they really would all end up dead or they were just fishing around for gullible and stupid people to fall for it. What amazes me is that there were people who actually signed up for it and weren't even intelligently considering what they were taking part in, I'm still more pissed off at the news organisations, particularly the ones that should know better like the BBC and so on.

There wasn't anything fundamentally wrong with the concept of one way trip, but first you must have a livable environment for those people.  Doesn't have to be great.  They had nothing but vaporware.

[galdur]

How much does the mission cost?

After discussions with potential suppliers for each component and close examination, Mars One estimates the cost of putting the first four people on Mars at six billion US$. The six billion figure is the cost of all the hardware combined, plus the operational expenditures, plus margins. For every next manned mission, Mars One estimates the costs at four billion US$.

- See more at: http://www.mars-one.com/faq/finance-and-feasibility/how-much-does-the-mission-cost#sthash.JvGcOe4d.dpuf

Well, that looks very low. I´d have guessed hundreds, certainly dozens of billion $.

[Agestorzrxx]

Yes it is obviously a scam. That is why 100% of the event is going into the 'selection process' because that is the bit they can do and turn into a TV program. Then the project will get shelved after they've made a big pile of cash

[Vod]

Most egregiously, many media outlets continue to report that Mars One received applications from 200,000 people who would be happy to die on another planet — when the number it actually received was 2,761.

To me, this is/was a desperate attempt to appear legit.  They have lost all credibility with me.   

[innocent93]

When I first heard the project Mars One, I knew it can hardly come true.

A non-government institution are trying to do what NASA or China can't do, the results can only be failed.

[(oYo)]

Most egregiously, many media outlets continue to report that Mars One received applications from 200,000 people who would be happy to die on another planet — when the number it actually received was 2,761.

To me, this is/was a desperate attempt to appear legit.  They have lost all credibility with me.   

Yes, that's pretty bad and honestly everything about this project stinks to high heaven, but the part that REALLY bothered me was the fact that it would take 100 yrs to prep for this expedition, not 10 yrs like they claimed. Which (to me) means, they expected to receive money for the project with absolutely no realistic intention of following through with it. Obviously it's just an elaborate scam!

last month the Nobel laureate and theoretical physicist Gerard ’t Hooft — previously listed as an “advisor” to the project — put a realistic timeframe for a crewed mission to Mars at 100 years from now, not 10.

[Vod]

A non-government institution are trying to do what NASA or China can't do, the results can only be failed.

I don't believe for a second they can't do it...

They just don't want to budget for it.