ONE WAY TRIP TO MARS ANYONE?

“How many of you would sign up for a one-way trip to Mars?” This was the question I heard Buzz Aldrin ask at last year’s Concepts and Approaches for Mars Exploration Workshop in Houston, Texas. In an audience comprised of mostly scientists and engineers, more than half raised their hands. I was not among them.

I was astounded at the response. Would these highly-educated scientists really give up the blue skies and green grass of Earth to live forevermore in what amounts to a Winnebago on the fourth planet from the Sun? A good day on Mars is colder and more inhospitable than a bad day in Antarctica. Instant death would surely follow the first careless mistake and there would be no easy way to get help in an emergency. What were they thinking???

Yes, I would go on a round trip to Mars and back. I would take a calculated risk in order to experience Mars first hand but I would definitely want to return to my family and friends, to my yearly trip to the North Carolina mountains and to the simple walks around the neighborhood that I take with my wife each day. But I wouldn’t give all that up to live and die on Mars.

Mars-One (http://applicants.mars-one.com/) is talking about settling Mars and for them the one way trip might actually become a reality. What about for you? Would you go on a one-way trip to Mars?