> Given the wealth and power of the richest nations on earth today With a limitless budget, you could send dozens of people to live on Mars. But they would li

> Given the wealth and power of the richest nations on earth today With a limitless budget, you could send dozens of people to live on Mars. But they would likely die from a thousand little cuts (rocket failures, vitamin deficiencies, air leaks, primitive medical help, it's endless) since you're basically duplicating an earth environment. Or they could just sit around waiting for the next supply ship. We like to think that people are hardy pioneers, but most Americans stopped being tough farmers after WW2. (The press interviews with the Mars volunteers showed they were maladjusted on earth, and probably mentally ill.) I personally don't care if astronauts die on missions, because that's the risk they signed up for, but apparently other people do. And sending people on what is likely a one-way trip is something to be discussed beforehand. As an example, Shuttle engineers estimated the loss likelihood at 1/100 per mission, but managers 1/10,000 and couldn't justify manned flights with the engineers' estimate. The actual number was 1.6/100. The Biosphere project, the Space Shuttle, our lack of oceanic exploration all don't bode well for our readiness to colonize another planet. Reading scifi about going to Mars isn't the same as reality.