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Yes, but who in their right mind would choose to leave beautiful California, to live in desolation on Mars? Sure it's important to explore new worlds, but expec

Yes, but who in their right mind would choose to leave beautiful California, to live in desolation on Mars? Sure it's important to explore new worlds, but expecting a family to pack up and leave this world for one with absolutely nothing sounds a bit far fetched.

cryptoz 11y ago
Well, I for one am extremely excited to go! I live in beautiful California right now, and I'm soaking it all up while I'm here just in case I get the chance to move to Mars. And I'm sure that the percentage of the population who'd want to go is small - but it's big enough to start a colony, that's for sure.
- overcast 11y ago
  You're crazy man! Also, while that percentage is extremely small, the percentage that actually will qualify has to be insanely small. I'm sure everyone headed there is going to be subjected to rigorous testing, they aren't just going to ship off anyone.
- prodmerc 11y ago
  I wonder how long it would take for you to realize you really miss Earth? Knowing you'll be confined to a closed space for years (assuming no return capabilities on the initial mission), even the awesome research you'd be doing will probably start to look very bleak. Just send robots and control them from Earth...
  - cryptoz 11y ago
    I'm sure I will miss Earth before we even leave Earth orbit! But that won't make me want to go to Mars any less. > Just send robots and control them from Earth... This idea makes me feel isolated and sad. What a dystopian future that would be, with everybody sitting on a single planet at risk of disease, nuclear war, asteroid impacts, global-scale climate change, all without a care, while you look into your VR headset and see the realistic landscapes of other planets. So sad :( I'll take Mars any day over that. And I'm also confident that return trips will be frequent if anyone wants to leave - that's the whole point of reusable rockets, afterall.
    - james-watson 11y ago
      I cannot tell if you are serious, or seriously trolling. >What a dystopian future that would be, with everybody sitting on a single planet at risk of disease, nuclear war, asteroid impacts, global-scale climate change, all without a care, while you look into your VR headset and see the realistic landscapes of other planets. Have you done any reading on the habitability of Mars? I will guarantee that once you truly comprehend what life on Mars will entail, you will be BEGGING for the luxuries of disease, nuclear war, climate change, and all the other great things that life on Earth bring. Mars is a brutal, senseless struggle against a guaranteed DEATH. I recommend going to live in Antartica first, and see how long you can last there. Followed by building a capsule on top of Everest. Then by living in the ISS. Then by living on the Moon. ONLY THEN, would you have any idea of what Mars living will be like. But alas, even then it will be far, FAR more challenging than living on the Moon. The transit time between the Earth and the Moon is childish compared to Earth and Mars. Once you're on Mars, there will be no coming back for a LONG time. I'll take my VR tour of Mars any day, thank you.
      - shpx 11y ago
        How is living on Mars significantly harsher than the ISS? You would get resupply missions once every 2 years [0] instead of 10 times a year, but in general they share most of the downsides but Mars has soil, gravity and an atmosphere. [0] http://clowder.net/hop/railroad/EMa.htm http://clowder.net/hop/railroad/EMa.htm
        vkou 11y ago
        When things go south on the ISS, you are a four hour flight away from Kazakhstan. When things go south on Mars, you die. Supporting the survival of six people on the ISS also costs billions of dollars a year. Even if you cut launch costs by a factor of 10, it's still going to be north of a billion dollars. Supporting the survival of a viable colony on Mars would bankrupt the world twice over.
        tehmaco 11y ago
XorNot 11y ago
Real estate prices on an otherwise empty planet agree probably pretty cheap, and the lack of atmosphere would be an excellent crime deterrant.
- kybernetikos 11y ago
  Easier to dome a gated community on earth and pump the air out of it.
vidarh 11y ago
That is why the number he gave is a paltry 80,000 instead of millions. The assumption is a really tiny portion can afford it, and a really tiny portion of those again will want to move there or visit. But there's a lot of people in the world, and people have willingly settled in a lot of desolate, horrible places.
- overcast 11y ago
  There is nothing as comparably desolate, and horrible on Earth. There is nothing to sustain life, at all. Even in the most punishing Earth environments, people find ways to survive for the simple fact that basic necessities still exist. Mars has none of them, namely air.
  - vidarh 11y ago
    but Mars has something else: It's a different planet. It is unsettled. It has vast, empty spaces. For some that desolation is part of the appeal. For others the challenges. For others the opportunity to be pioneers. Finding volunteers for colonisation won't be a problem.
  - brianwawok 11y ago
    Deep ocean trenches are as bad or worse as the surface of mars. Inside the core of the Earth seems as bad or worse.
    - overcast 11y ago
      I don't see humans volunteering to live in those places either. Deep ocean at least has some way to sustain life. Mars has NOTHING.
lsaferite 11y ago
Well, families with children make things a bit less likely, but I 100% would be on a list to go if I was childless. Even knowing it was a one way trip. Life is already short and if you cannot do something truly meaningful (subject to personal interpretation), then what are you doing with your life? Meaningful to me happens to include space exploration. Having had kids that list also includes raising my part of the next generation to be good members of the human race.
- derekp7 11y ago
  The thing is, when you get there you are essentially living in a small prison cell. At least until there is enough infrastructure to move around in. But your activities are still limited to about what you can do sitting in a little room in front of a computer. Just thinking about some small things, such as going swimming, or riding a bicycle on a path through the woods. Or hiking / camping, or driving a sports car along a twisty mountain road.
  - MaulingMonkey 11y ago
    > But your activities are still limited to about what you can do sitting in a little room in front of a computer. Which sounds fine until you remember you'll have a ping in the realm of 4-24 minutes. And you thought you had trouble matchmaking in some games now...
  - fudged71 11y ago
    >you are essentially living in a small prison cell. [...] But your activities are still limited to about what you can do sitting in a little room in front of a computer. Honestly the VR scenario here isn't so bad and you get exercise from it too :) What young rich kid wouldn't want to play video games and colonize a new planet?!
- brianwawok 11y ago
  I think cruising around space on the Enterprise is pretty meaningful life. But how would a more realistic living 20 years on Mars in a 100x100 foot dome do the same? The exploration part would wear off after maybe 2 weeks.
wrsh07 11y ago
People like building new things. Maybe not all people, but there's a type. Besides, Musk can offer free trips back trivially. [see WaitButWhy's extraordinarily long post about SpaceX]

cryptoz 11y ago

Well, I for one am extremely excited to go! I live in beautiful California right now, and I'm soaking it all up while I'm here just in case I get the chance to move to Mars. And I'm sure that the percentage of the population who'd want to go is small - but it's big enough to start a colony, that's for sure.

overcast 11y ago
You're crazy man! Also, while that percentage is extremely small, the percentage that actually will qualify has to be insanely small. I'm sure everyone headed there is going to be subjected to rigorous testing, they aren't just going to ship off anyone.
prodmerc 11y ago
I wonder how long it would take for you to realize you really miss Earth? Knowing you'll be confined to a closed space for years (assuming no return capabilities on the initial mission), even the awesome research you'd be doing will probably start to look very bleak. Just send robots and control them from Earth...
- cryptoz 11y ago
  I'm sure I will miss Earth before we even leave Earth orbit! But that won't make me want to go to Mars any less. > Just send robots and control them from Earth... This idea makes me feel isolated and sad. What a dystopian future that would be, with everybody sitting on a single planet at risk of disease, nuclear war, asteroid impacts, global-scale climate change, all without a care, while you look into your VR headset and see the realistic landscapes of other planets. So sad :( I'll take Mars any day over that. And I'm also confident that return trips will be frequent if anyone wants to leave - that's the whole point of reusable rockets, afterall.
  - james-watson 11y ago
    I cannot tell if you are serious, or seriously trolling. >What a dystopian future that would be, with everybody sitting on a single planet at risk of disease, nuclear war, asteroid impacts, global-scale climate change, all without a care, while you look into your VR headset and see the realistic landscapes of other planets. Have you done any reading on the habitability of Mars? I will guarantee that once you truly comprehend what life on Mars will entail, you will be BEGGING for the luxuries of disease, nuclear war, climate change, and all the other great things that life on Earth bring. Mars is a brutal, senseless struggle against a guaranteed DEATH. I recommend going to live in Antartica first, and see how long you can last there. Followed by building a capsule on top of Everest. Then by living in the ISS. Then by living on the Moon. ONLY THEN, would you have any idea of what Mars living will be like. But alas, even then it will be far, FAR more challenging than living on the Moon. The transit time between the Earth and the Moon is childish compared to Earth and Mars. Once you're on Mars, there will be no coming back for a LONG time. I'll take my VR tour of Mars any day, thank you.
    - shpx 11y ago
      How is living on Mars significantly harsher than the ISS? You would get resupply missions once every 2 years [0] instead of 10 times a year, but in general they share most of the downsides but Mars has soil, gravity and an atmosphere. [0] http://clowder.net/hop/railroad/EMa.htm http://clowder.net/hop/railroad/EMa.htm
      - vkou 11y ago
        When things go south on the ISS, you are a four hour flight away from Kazakhstan. When things go south on Mars, you die. Supporting the survival of six people on the ISS also costs billions of dollars a year. Even if you cut launch costs by a factor of 10, it's still going to be north of a billion dollars. Supporting the survival of a viable colony on Mars would bankrupt the world twice over.
        tehmaco 11y ago

XorNot 11y ago

Real estate prices on an otherwise empty planet agree probably pretty cheap, and the lack of atmosphere would be an excellent crime deterrant.

kybernetikos 11y ago
Easier to dome a gated community on earth and pump the air out of it.

vidarh 11y ago

That is why the number he gave is a paltry 80,000 instead of millions. The assumption is a really tiny portion can afford it, and a really tiny portion of those again will want to move there or visit. But there's a lot of people in the world, and people have willingly settled in a lot of desolate, horrible places.

overcast 11y ago
There is nothing as comparably desolate, and horrible on Earth. There is nothing to sustain life, at all. Even in the most punishing Earth environments, people find ways to survive for the simple fact that basic necessities still exist. Mars has none of them, namely air.
- vidarh 11y ago
  but Mars has something else: It's a different planet. It is unsettled. It has vast, empty spaces. For some that desolation is part of the appeal. For others the challenges. For others the opportunity to be pioneers. Finding volunteers for colonisation won't be a problem.
- brianwawok 11y ago
  Deep ocean trenches are as bad or worse as the surface of mars. Inside the core of the Earth seems as bad or worse.
  - overcast 11y ago
    I don't see humans volunteering to live in those places either. Deep ocean at least has some way to sustain life. Mars has NOTHING.

lsaferite 11y ago

Well, families with children make things a bit less likely, but I 100% would be on a list to go if I was childless. Even knowing it was a one way trip. Life is already short and if you cannot do something truly meaningful (subject to personal interpretation), then what are you doing with your life? Meaningful to me happens to include space exploration. Having had kids that list also includes raising my part of the next generation to be good members of the human race.

derekp7 11y ago
The thing is, when you get there you are essentially living in a small prison cell. At least until there is enough infrastructure to move around in. But your activities are still limited to about what you can do sitting in a little room in front of a computer. Just thinking about some small things, such as going swimming, or riding a bicycle on a path through the woods. Or hiking / camping, or driving a sports car along a twisty mountain road.
- MaulingMonkey 11y ago
  > But your activities are still limited to about what you can do sitting in a little room in front of a computer. Which sounds fine until you remember you'll have a ping in the realm of 4-24 minutes. And you thought you had trouble matchmaking in some games now...
- fudged71 11y ago
  >you are essentially living in a small prison cell. [...] But your activities are still limited to about what you can do sitting in a little room in front of a computer. Honestly the VR scenario here isn't so bad and you get exercise from it too :) What young rich kid wouldn't want to play video games and colonize a new planet?!
brianwawok 11y ago
I think cruising around space on the Enterprise is pretty meaningful life. But how would a more realistic living 20 years on Mars in a 100x100 foot dome do the same? The exploration part would wear off after maybe 2 weeks.

wrsh07 11y ago

People like building new things. Maybe not all people, but there's a type. Besides, Musk can offer free trips back trivially. [see WaitButWhy's extraordinarily long post about SpaceX]