Mars in 2023

[Majestic]

http://www.mars-one.com/en/

Mars One is a not-for-profit foundation that will establish a permanent human settlement on Mars in 2023. Human settlement on Mars is possible today with existing technologies. Mars One mission plan integrates components that are well tested and readily available from industry leaders worldwide. The first footprint on Mars and lives of the crew thereon will captivate and inspire generations; it is this public interest that will help finance this human mission to Mars.

The Mars One mission plan consists of cargo missions and unmanned preparation of a habitable settlement, followed by human landings. In the coming years, a demonstration mission, communication satellites, two rovers and several cargo missions will be sent to Mars. These missions will set up the outpost where the human crew will live and work.

The mission design takes into account the expansion of the human colony where a new crew arrive every two years.

Mars One will select and train the human crew for permanent settlement. The search for Astronauts began in April 2013. More than 78,000 registered for the selection programme within two weeks of its launch.

Stichting Mars One is a Dutch non-for-profit foundation. It is the mother company of Interplanetary Media Group, a for-profit company, which enables the foundation to secure funds from its investors.


History

In 2011, the founding members of the Mars One team came together to develop a strategic plan for taking humanity to Mars. That first year yielded the completion of a feasibility study after calling upon experts from space agencies and private aerospace corporations around the world. Written letters of interest in support of the Mars One plan were received. In this first-stage analysis, Mars One incorporated technical, financial, social-psychological and ethical components into its foundation plan.

After securing the first investments and commissioning the first conceptual design study in 2012, Mars One was ready to launch its Astronaut Selection Program. It was launched at press conferences in New York and Shanghai in April 2013.

What an opportunity, but one you couldn't decide later on that you didn't want to do if you were selected and went to Mars. It seems the public sector has taken space exploration to heart sick and tired of waiting for our government leaders to actually see the bigger picture. I say good on them and look forward to 2023.

 

[Rifraf]

This is a very interesting subject. The website was fascinating to read through, but I can't help feeling that 10 years is a tad optimistic. Yes, technologies get better all the time, but still. I'm also not convinced that the enormous expenditures would really be worth it even in 10 years (despite the fact that it's private/public funding and not government.) To me the whole "get your *ss to Mars" (remember the movie? ) thing is kind of a only to be able to say we did it kind of thing at this point.

I feel that doing this type of mission on the moon would be be way more plausible, cheaper, less risky and pay dividends sooner that could then be used for a colonize Mars mission further down the road. I love sci-fi as much as the next person, but I've never been able to come to terms with the massive amounts of money that NASA spends on many of it's missions. In all the years we've spent experimenting with different methods of propulsion we are still no further than rockets and solar panels in application.

Part of me wishes this organization would pour those billions of dollars into cancer research or something like that. Their goals are very impressive and optimistic and I'll always be following along. Who knows, maybe things will allow us to get there faster and with return trips in my life time.

 

[Cborg1700]

It's sounds good but I agree with Rifraf, start on the Moon first. A shakedown cruise so to speak that is way closer to earth in the event *knocks on wood* that something were to go wrong.

 

[Majestic]

I think if they can pull it off they should, we as humans have always moved in leaps and bounds and as a society and species it's incredibly important to colonize away from Earth, first in our solar system then in other systems. We have always accepted the risks even in our early days of exploring the oceans when we still thought the planet was flat, so risk is nothing new to us.

It would also be nice to see a organisation not connected to any one government to land on Mars and colonize it first. It would at least initially avoid any one country trying to lay claim to the red planet, which is a planet for all of us not just one nation.

So I support this endeavour and I think we should also look into colonizing the moon and capture some asteroids and use them as a base to develop bases that we can move out throughout the solar system as small outposts and refueling ports that would allow our vessels to go further out into our system.