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Fri 11 Jan, 2013 09:34 pm
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If you think you have the right stuff to help colonize Mars, you'll soon get your chance to prove it.
The Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One, which hopes to put the first boots on the Red Planet in 2023, released its basic astronaut requirements today (Jan. 8), setting the stage for a televised global selection process that will begin later this year.
Mars One isn't zeroing in on scientists or former fighter pilots; anyone who is at least 18 years old can apply to become a Mars colony pioneer. The most important criteria, officials say, are intelligence, good mental and physical health and dedication to the project, as astronauts will undergo eight years of training before launch.
"Gone are the days when bravery and the number of hours flying a supersonic jet were the top criteria," Norbert Kraft, Mars One's chief medical director and a former NASA researcher, said in a statement. "Now, we are more concerned with how well each astronaut works and lives with the others, in the long journey from Earth to Mars and for a lifetime of challenges ahead."
Mars One plans to launch a series of robotic cargo missions between 2016 and 2021, which will build a habitable Red Planet outpost ahead of the arrival of the first four colonists in 2023. More settlers will arrive every two years after that. There are no plans to return the pioneers to Earth. [Mars One: 'Big Brother' on Mars? (Video)]
The organization will fund most of its ambitious activities by staging a global reality-TV event that follows the colonization effort from astronaut selection through the settlers' first years on Mars.
@edgarblythe,
edgarblythe wrote:The organization will fund most of its ambitious activities by staging a global reality-TV event that follows the colonization effort from astronaut selection through the settlers' first years on Mars.
That's an interesting idea for funding. But they need to rethink their "cast". I don't think there will be much of an audience for a shipload of well behaved science types. They would get higher ratings by planning a series of ships and filling each one with a crew of belligerent self centered assholes and catty chicks with big boobs. Then just wait for someone to destroy the ship if a fit of jealous rage over a stray comment that they heard over dinner. I bet none of the ships would ever make it to Mars, but the ratings would be great.
@edgarblythe,
There's already been a study into the effect of the amount of time a mission to Mars would take.
Quote:Some of the first results from a simulation of a mission to Mars show that some of the crew experienced isolation and mild depression.
Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests differences in the sleep patterns of the crew caused problems.
The findings suggest that not all current astronauts will be suited to interplanetary travel.
The Mars500 project investigated how crews would cope on a real mission.
Prof Mathias Basner, of the University of Pennsylvania - who was involved in the sleep study - says that the findings show that astronauts for any future Mars missions should be tested for their ability to cope without a natural day/night cycle.
"This illustrates that there are huge differences between individuals and what we need to do is select the right crew, people with the right stuff, and train them properly and once they are on the real mission to Mars," he told BBC News.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20937729
@rosborne979,
Hilarious ! ! !
The need to deal with micro-gravity and cosmic radiation effectively is going to torpedo any such efforts. Shielding from cosmic radiation will mean huge costs in energy and materials for any group sent there. The year 2023 is far too ambitious.
@Setanta,
we could accept a crew of individuals who wont be missed. How about a bus load of lawyers
@farmerman,
Sounds good to me . . . just keep them away from legitimate scientific literature until lift-off. Let 'em read Heinlein . . .
What's important to me about a story like this is not whether these particular people will succeed, but that people are not going to quit trying. Eventually, they will find a way. Maybe it will be a century from now.
@edgarblythe,
Itll sorta be the 420th anniversary of the VOC. The Dutch will find some trade going on
@farmerman,
How about congress. They work for us don't they? I volunteer them.
@edgarblythe,
I'm not tryin' to pee on your thread, EB. I think it would be a grand thing, too. Alas, i think not in my lifetime.
@edgarblythe,
Just thought this would be relevant:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45161720/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/pale-faced-crew-emerges--day-mock-mars-mission/#.UPxkcFJNElR
I think this shows that we are psychologically capable of making it. I suppose that's a start...
@coolcubed,
China and India, in a JV will be the first to land on and colonize Mars.
The rare earths and other strtegics like Lithium (from the JPL spectral imaging0 are right wheretheyd expect em.
Mars is gonna be an extraction fest
Buzz is building about a planned 2018 private mission to Mars, which may launch the first humans toward the Red Planet.
A nonprofit organization called the Inspiration Mars Foundation — which is led by millionaire Dennis Tito, the world's first space tourist — will hold a news conference on Feb. 27 to announce the 501-day roundtrip mission, which will aim for a January 2018 launch.
"This 'Mission for America' will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration," Inspiration Mars officials wrote in a media advisory yesterday (Feb. 20). "It is intended to encourage all Americans to believe again, in doing the hard things that make our nation great, while inspiring youth through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and motivation."
78000 People Apply for One-Way Trip to Mars
@edgarblythe,
oh please. this will never ******* happen. we can not survive the TRIP to mars, let alone the deadly environment of the planet once we arrive.... dumbass
A mission to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2024 just took another step closer to launch.
The Dutch nonprofit Mars One said it had selected 1,058 candidates from a pool of more than 200,000 applicants to enter the first round of testing before a final team is selected to make a one-way trip to Mars.
What did it take to make the cut? Many factors were considered in making the selection process, which began in April 2013. But the Mars One selection committee had their eye on one attribute in particular.
“We selected people for the most important skill: their ability to function in a team," Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and CEO of Mars One, told The Huffington Post. "The reason it’s the most important skill is because they’re leaving the planet forever, and they’re leaving on a team, and the members of the team depend on them for their survival.”
The selectees include men and women from 107 countries, with most coming from the U.S. Nearly 300 candidates are from the U.S., 75 are from Canada, and 62 are from India, Reuters reported.
Candidates who passed the first round were notified via email around the new year, according to BuzzFeed. The message read:
It’s time to talk with your loved ones regarding your dream of starting a human civilization on Mars. Passing the first round of selection is a major step closer to going down in history as one of the chosen few who will experience and live something that has never been done before.
To make it into the next round, candidates must make it through an intense screening process meant to weed out those ill-equipped for life as a Mars colonist.
“The next several selection phases in 2014 and 2015 will include rigorous simulations, many in team settings, with focus on testing the physical and emotional capabilities of our remaining candidates,” Norbert Kraft, chief medical officer for Mars One, said in a written statement. “We expect to begin understanding what is motivating our candidates to take this giant leap for humankind.”
Mars One's plans call for crews of four to make the seven- or eight-month-long journey to Mars every two years starting in 2024. Lansdorp said the final 24 candidates will have to learn all the necessary skills for survival, including engineering, medical and botanical skills.
“They also need to be very healthy, have good track records of health or no inheritable diseases, and one of the most important things is to actually test their ability to function in an isolated environment,” he said.
A board of industry experts, including former NASA engineers and a member of the NASA Advisory Council, will be advising the mission throughout its advancement. Once the final team is selected, members will begin the rigorous training and be hired as salaried full-time employees by Mars One, Lansdorp said.
“The training will likely happen in the U.S. and the candidates will be like any other expat in the country," Lansdorp said, referring to those from countries outside the U.S. "Hopefully they’ll be able to bring their families over, too. This will be like any other job, except the goal of the job is more ambitious.”
Mars One is seeking investors to back the pricey endeavor -- a fact that has many skeptical that the organization's plans will actually come to fruition.
"I respect their interest and wish them well, but I really just don't take them seriously," John Spencer, the founder of the Space Tourism Society, told ABC News. "You need billions of dollars to do a Mars mission."
Whoever it is, would someone be good enough to ask them if they would have a look for my pistol?
Since I got back from dropping Elvis off, I can't find it anywhere.
@edgarblythe,
What is frightening, is they are in short, in the knowing that Earth is so stuffed up by man that they "hope" to secure another planet to live on.
So what? Then start all the carp all over again that has destroyed this planet..
Lucky I won't be here either.
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