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These people applied to go to Mars
- gluegeorge 13y ago"go to mars"
- stephengillie 13y ago"GOTO Mars"
- pliny 13y agoThese people applied to die on Mars, or possibly on the way to Mars.
- coldtea 13y agoNo, they merely apply to go to Mars. The dying part, they can do here just as well.
- Ecio78 13y agoFrom a philosophical (but also biological) point of view, sooner or later we will all die. From an economical point of view, the Registration fee is way cheaper than a grave on the Earth :-)
- stfu 13y agoSomehow clicking through these profiles makes me feel uncomfortable. Why does everything have to become some kind of public popularity contest.
- stephengillie 13y agoIt feels like a dating site to me. Or Hotornot et al. Marsroulette?
- tnuc 13y ago490 people times $38 application fee. $18620 collected thus far. Maybe someone could start a site to send people to the sun? I'm sure it would work if they went at night.
- martinshen 13y agoIsn't this just a scam?
- hkmurakami 13y agoonly marginally more so than the OP project
- shmageggy 13y agoAnother article [1] says over 20,000 people applied, which is over three quarters of a million dollars. [1] http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/04/more-than-20000-people-apply-for-one-way-ticket-to-mars/ http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/04/more-than-20000-peopl...
- bshastry 13y agoThe application fee varies from country to country [1]. [1] http://mars-one.com/en/faq-en/29-faq-registration-fee/408-why-does-the-registration-fee-varies-from-country-to-country http://mars-one.com/en/faq-en/29-faq-registration-fee/408-wh...
- rdl 13y agoYou'd make more if you took money to send third parties to the sun.
- stcredzero 13y agoThey are going at night? :)
- rdl 13y agoIndeed, and when they get back, they will be going to live on a farm in the country with lots of other friendly people, water, food, etc., where they can run free... but no, you can't visit them :)
- whatshisface 13y agoElsewhere on the website, they discuss a few reasons why they think they are more likely to complete their mission than others who have attempted. Sadly, a couple of their points seem a bit iffy: - Simple rovers – Through the use of relatively simple rovers, designed to conduct basic settlement construction prior to human astronaut arrival, saving both time and cost. I'm not a professional aerospace engineer, but construction robots seem just a bit more complicated than picture-taking robots. (oversimplification, but you get my point.) If it's so much easier, how come robots aren't building houses here on earth? - No new developments – The entire plan revolves around the use of existing, validated technology The falcon heavy hasn't even been built yet, I don't know how they can say this.
- kiba 13y agoBy their settlement date, a falcon heavy or a variant of it, should be ready.
- shmageggy 13y agoSo it doesn't exist, and is therefore unvalidated...
- tempestn 13y agoFrom their site: "While most of the components required are not immediately available with the exact specifications required, at this time, there is no need for radical modifications to the current component designs. All suppliers have confirmed their ability to build what is required--and they can do so now." So their meaning is that, while the specific stuff they need doesn't yet exist, the technology to create it exists. In other words, if the components were needed today, they could be built today, with existing ("validated") technology. Agreed that there's a non-trivial stretch from there to say the components themselves are validated.
- TeMPOraL 13y agoIn defense, it's being built right now. AFAIR SpaceX tested engines for it recently. It's engineering. When you have a design validated "on paper" you're likely already 80% done - the rest is to actually assemble and fix problems simulations didn't catch.
- thoughtcriminal 13y agoI suspect most of these people won't go when the chips are down. The training, mounting stress and creeping realization that this mission is most likely suicidal will separate the wheat from the chafes. Having said that, I have half the mind to go, but that's also why I'm not. I'm not particularly sane or stoic, and this would make me crack for sure.
- sliverstorm 13y agoI think that's a given. I'm sure the same thing happened for the first rockets and the first moon landings. Thank heavens they were successful, but I bet more than a few astronauts in training had doubts.
- goldfeld 13y agoI think a lot of people on here have that half mind to go (though probably not on this particular programme). This is the closest thing to the settling of the Americas ever since; it's something historically meaningful to be a pioneer. Granted, what keeps us grounded are our dreams and plans, and the fact that it's most likely suicidal.
- zalzane 13y agoThis feels like one of the most "in your face" scams I've seen in awhile. The first thing I wanted to find out when I visited the site is where they got their funding - of course that section is absent from the site. The second thing I looked up is how they expected to get there and how they were solving the engineering challenges involved. On the technology page I found a dumbed down list of the different modules involved in the launch, and on the "is this really possible?" page I got a tidbit telling me they were using solar panels and nonpressurized rovers. The icing on the cake is the $38 application fee and the note that "The entire plan revolves around the use of existing, validated technology".
- thoughtcriminal 13y agoA modest processing fee isn't unreasonable. It ensures only those who are truly serious apply, and the money would help cover the many costs of this campaign. Common, don't be so cynical.
- knowtheory 13y agoHello Poe's Law†. †: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poes_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poes_law
- ubersync 13y agoExactly my thought. They have a graphics designer on their team! Actually, I think the graphics designer is the only person who has done anything for this project so far. And those letters from SpaceX etc, that they show in the video, ha ha, a typical scam indicator. I'll rather go buy myself a couple drinks in the club with those $38 tonight.
- skrebbel 13y agoThere's less than 500 people on that page. Let's be wild and assume they quadruple that to 2000 applicants. Times 38 dollars, that's less than 80000 dollars. For that, they made an elaborate web page, did tons of PR outreach (not just on the internet; they're Dutch, and have been in Dutch traditional media a fair lot). They even got a reputable university on board (Universiteit Twente). To scam people out of $80k? No. They actually believe that there's a fair chance that they'll pull this off. Whether that's a sensible belief is another thing entirely, but they believe it. You do know that they plan to finance the trip by selling TV show rights for it? Even if it miserably fails, it's great television.
- SCAQTony 13y agoI suggest that death row inmates be selected for the "Mars One" mission. These inmates are the most practiced at being forcibly confined in a hopeless environment and would be the most inspired individuals to make a death sentence into a life sentence. Australia is a de facto example.
- mostly_harmless 13y agoThen again, throwing a whole bunch of murderers into a can with no authority figures to referee is bound to end badly
- scotth 13y agoJust send the guards too.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoSo true, before you know it, they start building cars like these: http://blogs.motortrend.com/from-there-to-here-57-years-of-holden-utes-1756.html http://blogs.motortrend.com/from-there-to-here-57-years-of-h...
- claudius 13y agoI’d say that ‘we won’t surivive if we kill each other’ is a pretty strong authority figure.
- grimtrigger 13y ago"Don't attribute to malice what you can attribute to stupidity". I think taking application fees even when they are at least 10 years away from their goal is absurd and probably unethical, but it looks like their team has a sincere desire to make the mission happen. Its threads like this that make me wish HN was not so cynical.
- sliverstorm 13y agoRemember to quote it correctly: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity The differences may be subtle, but the meaning is quite distinct from the way you phrased it.
- scotth 13y agoBlah blah blah
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- fixxer 13y ago"Spaceman I always wanted you to go Into space man..."
- jasonm23 13y ago"He's the Chungwit the Biff Boff and the Puff Pastry Hangman" (ref: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3XgouVH9-Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3XgouVH9-Y )
- mtowle 13y agoCouldn't help but notice the applicants are almost exclusively white people. What do you make of that?
- ghostbrainalpha 13y agoMars planet is a racist... obviously.
- mtowle 13y agoYour snark is much appreciated. Sometimes a question is just a question.
- enupten 13y agoThat white people are less sane ?
- stephengillie 13y agoI think it means that most of the applicants are of European descent. Are most of them Americans too?
- CoffeeDregs 13y agoPutting aside fees and whatever, that was straight-up unpleasant. I watched about 10 videos, between recent, popular and random. I appreciate the people for submitting videos and such, but this is a serious endeavor and none of them would have a chance in a real mission. I suspect most are treating it like a vanity exercise. This felt more like a reality TV show about going to Mars. Unfortunately, seriously interested and competent folks were probably mixed into the rabble clamoring for attention. I seriously respect the [real] folks that sign up for the eventual, one-way trip to Mars, but these seem not to be the folks. It's going to be hard. It's going to be unpleasant. And it's going to end both badly [in a sense] and gloriously. I didn't see that gravitas reflected in the folks I watched.
- nostromo 13y ago> This felt more like a reality TV show about going to Mars. That's because that's what it is! Literally! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_One http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_One > A global reality-TV media event is intended to provide most of the funds to finance the expedition.
- mvzink 13y agoHow could it even go to air? It would be such an incredibly deep and likely harrowing experience that it couldn't possibly be entertaining except perhaps to psychotics—and even if it was funny or something, that in itself would be absolutely horrifying. That said, I would have to see it for its depth and significance.
- mladenkovacevic 13y agoIt seems like one of the questions all the applicants are answering is "how would you describe your sense of humour?" I'd say it would have to be pretty poor to go along with this joke.
- rowanseymour 13y agoIf I was looking for people to build the first human colony on Mars I'd want the most mentally stable, non-egotistical, discerning people on planet Earth. Precisely the last people who'd make videos of themselves and apply to be on a reality TV program.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoOut of these 490 submissions, 422 are men, 68 are women (you think dating on Earth is hard? Try Mars!). 164 applicants are over 30 (they will be over 40 when this trip is supposed to happen). Then again, they’ve got at least one flight instructor[1] and one person studying to become a mortician[2], so I’m sure this will work out just fine. [1] http://goo.gl/v7OYg http://goo.gl/v7OYg [2] http://goo.gl/Vygy4 http://goo.gl/Vygy4
- buro9 13y agoHaving read all of that I suspect it's an elaborate plot for a TV series in which they will dupe some of the applicants into believing they are going to Mars and film them in an ultra-extreme Big Brother capsule for a sustained period of time. There is precedent, in the UK there was a program that duped 10 people into believing they were orbiting Earth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadets_(TV_series) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadets_(TV_series)