Monday, 10 January 2011

400 people willing to go on one-way trip to Mars. Maybe they’re nuts too?

I think these folks need to take a trip to Belleview hospital first.

CBS News reports last fall, the Journal of Cosmology published an article by a couple of scientists making the case for one-way trips to the planet Mars. The idea so tickled the imagination of readers that 400 have written in to volunteer, according to FoxNews.com.

The article, co-authored by Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University, and Paul Davies of Arizona State University, argue that humans must begin colonizing another planet to hedge against the possibility of a catastrophe that wipes out life on Earth.

Schulze-Makuch and Davies say that the planet has sufficient resources for colonists to use to sustain themselves. But in order to keep the costs of any Mars colonization project manageable - reaching Mars would take about six months - they say the trips would need to be one-way.

"I envision life on Mars to be stunning, frightening, lonely, quite cramped and busy," Peter Greaves, described as a jack-of-all-trades, told FoxNews.com. Greaves. "Unlike Earth I wouldn't be able to sit by a stream or take in the view of nature's wonder, or hug a friend, or breath deeply the sweet smell of fresh air -- but my experience would be so different from all 6 to 7 billion human beings ... that in itself would make up for the things I left behind."

More details here