5 ms·

Mars One Finalist Announces That It's All a Scam

81 points by SonicSoul 12y ago

nmc 12y ago
Reading on, at first the title feels exaggerated. However, the end of Elmo Keep's piece on Medium (linked from the article, or at the end of this comment) leaves little room for doubt: 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. https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously-flawed-project-2dfef95217d3 https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously...
- yincrash 12y ago
  I don't think 'scam' is appropriate. More like 'failure'? Scam is specifically with intent to defraud, but I do think these guys wanted to go to Mars, just didn't succeed like many other startups.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - ddorian43 12y ago
    They knew from the very start that they would never go to Mars. Probably let's try it and gather/scam/steal what we can.
- Daviey 12y ago
  Hmm, It is exaggerated... Based on public information - there was a TV production partner (Endemol), but they pulled out last month.
Nursie 12y ago
Well duh! Was it not obvious from the outset that (at the very least) it was pie-in-the-sky fantasy thinking? They came form nowhere, with an idea to run a reality show about sending people to Mars. At this point we're already talking about it needing to be the best-funded TV program (or movie) in history, because not only would the tech to do it be hideously expensive, most of it doesn't even exist yet. Then, before having secured any of this massive amount of funding, they start inviting applicants? Not a surprise.
- Galactigon 12y ago
  Kudos.
tokenadult 12y ago
Full article link here (as kindly pointed out by an earlier subcomment): https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously-flawed-project-2dfef95217d3 https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously...
iwwr 12y ago
At least the whole endeavor has fueled public discussion about Mars exploration, which is valuable in and of itself. There is also some value in exploring Mars-to-stay kinds of missions. To people interested in this, you can also contact the Mars Society for their Mars analogue studies (Mars Desert Research Station). They take crews every 3 months. http://mdrs.marssociety.org/ http://mdrs.marssociety.org/
- bkcooper 12y ago
  At least the whole endeavor has fueled public discussion about Mars exploration, which is valuable in and of itself. There's also a cost associated with having the most visible discussion of human travel to Mars be a scam.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  > At least the whole endeavor has fueled public discussion about Mars exploration, which is valuable in and of itself. The risk is that as the scam collapses publicly, people will become disheartened about Mars exploration, and we'll have another setback.
ourmandave 12y ago
What is their pretend projected launch date for this? When all the experts (outside of Mars One) are saying we're 20 years away minimum (just like with sustainable fusion and personal jet packs), who would sign up today?
- afarrell 12y ago
  Is there a serious expectation that personal jet packs are going to be worn by anyone but particular military personnel and particular field technicians repairing infrastructure?
  - ourmandave 12y ago
    Maybe for recreational use? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyboard My point was, as a potential Mars crew member, who is going to commit to a minimum 20 year flight date without all ready being in a space program?
sago 12y ago
Does it matter if we're 8 years late? Yes, yes it does. When you're relying on your mission crew to be at a particular life stage when you are ready to go. When they're suddenly 8 years later with families and commitments, it's going to be a whole different set of decisions. That's assuming some of your dupes don't waste the best years of their lives waiting for you.
VariousPancakes 12y ago
The site alone seemed a bit cheesy for such a lofty "mission". At first glance I totally thought it was the start of a new ARG.
Lambdanaut 12y ago
It's a shame that it's all a scam. They're doing a lot to wreck public perception of the possibility of a Martian base/colony. I'm still holding out hope for SpaceX's Martian ambitions!
wyldfire 12y ago
> Mars One was hoping to generate $6 billion from a reality show. That dollar amount sounds pretty ludicrous. But if you could somehow bootstrap some faith that it was real, I suppose maybe they could generate global viewership that would translate to large revenues. In turn, those revenues could actually be used to fund a real launch. shrug, of course people would only watch in big numbers if you could also supply some washed-up C-list celebrities and oddballs.
- freehunter 12y ago
  I wonder how much money The Truman Show would have brought in... in my mind, Mars One would have had similar viewership numbers due to the novelty of the program.
- mschuster91 12y ago
  > That dollar amount sounds pretty ludicrous. The UK soccer league makes 2 billion euros per year - assume that this reality show runs for three or four years and you got yourself a big fat bag of money, especially as this would be broadcasted and marketed across the globe (including the US, which have a high population but 0 interest in soccer).
  - throwaway283719 12y ago
    The UK soccer league is the most popular sport in the UK, and has a huge following elsewhere in Europe as well as in South America and Asia. For many of the biggest teams, the majority of their fan-base is outside of the UK. For many people, playing or watching soccer is their primary leisure activity. There are 6-10 premier league games screened each weekend across a variety of channels, not to mention the other leagues (which also have huge followings going down into the 2nd, 3rd and 4th leagues) and the various regional and international competitions that UK teams compete in, as well as the untold hours of soccer-related programming that isn't showing games. I don't think the comparison with a hypothetical reality TV show is very meaningful.
  - brudgers 12y ago
    The people running football clubs use a somewhat more rigorous and selective process to assess the suitability of prospective staff. The clubs began marketing their products to paying audiences in the steam age. Other than the part where organizations usually spend more than they bring in, I see few similarities.
morgante 12y ago
Did anyone ever take this seriously in the first place?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
username4321 12y ago
This news article from Mars one's website proves that claim false! http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/mars-ones-ceo-bas-lansdorp-answers-questions-about-mission-feasibility http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/mars-ones-ceo-ba...

81 points by SonicSoul 12y ago

nmc 12y ago

Reading on, at first the title feels exaggerated. However, the end of Elmo Keep's piece on Medium (linked from the article, or at the end of this comment) leaves little room for doubt: 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. https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously-flawed-project-2dfef95217d3 https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously...

yincrash 12y ago
I don't think 'scam' is appropriate. More like 'failure'? Scam is specifically with intent to defraud, but I do think these guys wanted to go to Mars, just didn't succeed like many other startups.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- ddorian43 12y ago
  They knew from the very start that they would never go to Mars. Probably let's try it and gather/scam/steal what we can.
Daviey 12y ago
Hmm, It is exaggerated... Based on public information - there was a TV production partner (Endemol), but they pulled out last month.

Nursie 12y ago

Well duh! Was it not obvious from the outset that (at the very least) it was pie-in-the-sky fantasy thinking? They came form nowhere, with an idea to run a reality show about sending people to Mars. At this point we're already talking about it needing to be the best-funded TV program (or movie) in history, because not only would the tech to do it be hideously expensive, most of it doesn't even exist yet. Then, before having secured any of this massive amount of funding, they start inviting applicants? Not a surprise.

Galactigon 12y ago
Kudos.

tokenadult 12y ago

Full article link here (as kindly pointed out by an earlier subcomment): https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously-flawed-project-2dfef95217d3 https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insider-quits-dangerously...

iwwr 12y ago

At least the whole endeavor has fueled public discussion about Mars exploration, which is valuable in and of itself. There is also some value in exploring Mars-to-stay kinds of missions. To people interested in this, you can also contact the Mars Society for their Mars analogue studies (Mars Desert Research Station). They take crews every 3 months. http://mdrs.marssociety.org/ http://mdrs.marssociety.org/

bkcooper 12y ago
At least the whole endeavor has fueled public discussion about Mars exploration, which is valuable in and of itself. There's also a cost associated with having the most visible discussion of human travel to Mars be a scam.
TeMPOraL 12y ago
> At least the whole endeavor has fueled public discussion about Mars exploration, which is valuable in and of itself. The risk is that as the scam collapses publicly, people will become disheartened about Mars exploration, and we'll have another setback.

ourmandave 12y ago

What is their pretend projected launch date for this? When all the experts (outside of Mars One) are saying we're 20 years away minimum (just like with sustainable fusion and personal jet packs), who would sign up today?

afarrell 12y ago
Is there a serious expectation that personal jet packs are going to be worn by anyone but particular military personnel and particular field technicians repairing infrastructure?
- ourmandave 12y ago
  Maybe for recreational use? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyboard My point was, as a potential Mars crew member, who is going to commit to a minimum 20 year flight date without all ready being in a space program?

sago 12y ago

Does it matter if we're 8 years late? Yes, yes it does. When you're relying on your mission crew to be at a particular life stage when you are ready to go. When they're suddenly 8 years later with families and commitments, it's going to be a whole different set of decisions. That's assuming some of your dupes don't waste the best years of their lives waiting for you.

VariousPancakes 12y ago

The site alone seemed a bit cheesy for such a lofty "mission". At first glance I totally thought it was the start of a new ARG.

Lambdanaut 12y ago

It's a shame that it's all a scam. They're doing a lot to wreck public perception of the possibility of a Martian base/colony. I'm still holding out hope for SpaceX's Martian ambitions!

wyldfire 12y ago

> Mars One was hoping to generate $6 billion from a reality show. That dollar amount sounds pretty ludicrous. But if you could somehow bootstrap some faith that it was real, I suppose maybe they could generate global viewership that would translate to large revenues. In turn, those revenues could actually be used to fund a real launch. shrug, of course people would only watch in big numbers if you could also supply some washed-up C-list celebrities and oddballs.

freehunter 12y ago
I wonder how much money The Truman Show would have brought in... in my mind, Mars One would have had similar viewership numbers due to the novelty of the program.
mschuster91 12y ago
> That dollar amount sounds pretty ludicrous. The UK soccer league makes 2 billion euros per year - assume that this reality show runs for three or four years and you got yourself a big fat bag of money, especially as this would be broadcasted and marketed across the globe (including the US, which have a high population but 0 interest in soccer).
- throwaway283719 12y ago
  The UK soccer league is the most popular sport in the UK, and has a huge following elsewhere in Europe as well as in South America and Asia. For many of the biggest teams, the majority of their fan-base is outside of the UK. For many people, playing or watching soccer is their primary leisure activity. There are 6-10 premier league games screened each weekend across a variety of channels, not to mention the other leagues (which also have huge followings going down into the 2nd, 3rd and 4th leagues) and the various regional and international competitions that UK teams compete in, as well as the untold hours of soccer-related programming that isn't showing games. I don't think the comparison with a hypothetical reality TV show is very meaningful.
- brudgers 12y ago
  The people running football clubs use a somewhat more rigorous and selective process to assess the suitability of prospective staff. The clubs began marketing their products to paying audiences in the steam age. Other than the part where organizations usually spend more than they bring in, I see few similarities.

morgante 12y ago

Did anyone ever take this seriously in the first place?

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

username4321 12y ago

This news article from Mars one's website proves that claim false! http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/mars-ones-ceo-bas-lansdorp-answers-questions-about-mission-feasibility http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/mars-ones-ceo-ba...