http://mars-one.com/

They want to start a mars colony in 2023. Ambitious...
I wonder if they will really find people who want to live the rest of their lives in these totally artificial structures with no way to get out?

Just because you don't, don't assume nobody does. A lot of people would want to for the recognition alone.

This looks really interesting, and I think it's great that private ventures are showing what they can do for humanity, with this and the asteroid belt project, and the recent success of SpaceX's Dragon

Yeah I mean for the first 2 years or so it may be really cool, but after 10 or 15 years there, when the fame has subsided and one recognizes that one cannot talk in person to any one of ones admirers... But I guess they will find enough people who are fascinated enough to do this.

This just looks like another high-concept project that won't really go anywhere. All it's plans are ifs and buts, dependent on technolgy that hasn't been built yet, or even designed.This kind of thing happened in the 60's with Collier's Mars mission which was another ambitious plan to get to mars. That never went anywhere.

Anyway private space travel to mars raises far too much space politics. Who got to mars first? Who is responsible for them? Should the base be run by a state? etc.

Its a nice idea but such plans need money, and only states can stump up the kind to get to Mars. Anyway this project has a team of 4, SpaceX is a true business with over a 1000 people.

Yeah, I can't help but feel very pessimistic about this. This kind of money can't really come from anywhere right now, and I wonder if this will ever be in anyone's budget.

It's all based on stuff that exists now. The fact that they've actually talked to potential manufacturers and suppliers (and have at least one for everything they'll need) says a lot rather than just "We might do it this way". As Moco said, it's just funding, but with the destruction of any and all NASA manned capability by the current US government, I think it's more likely that any Mars missions will have to be privately purchased anyway.

It is just me or does it look a little bit like a project that is about to collect a lot of money from enthusiastic people but then fails and goes bancrupt with some people getting richer in the process? Maybe that is sarcastic, but It happened before with ideas that looked "too good to be true".

Go on, point out exactly where there's a donation meter? where there's a point of contact for investors?

Oh wait, there isn't one.

Just because they do not try to get money from people like you does not mean that they are not trying to get sponsors. Of course they are trying to get sponsors and investors: http://mars-one.com/faq-en/23-faq-fe...ce-the-mission
And I dont even say that the mission is planned to fail - just that their timeline is extremely ambitious and they are talking about 6 billion dollars they want to collect. To me that sounds all a bit strange. They want to launch a mars mission with a rover and sattelite in the next 3 years and build, launch and assemble the whole settlement in the next 8 years as well. It is just a gut feeling, but I dont think they will be able to do this and if they cannot keep up to this, it is possible that they will fail and that the invested money is then lost. We'll see - maybe I am wrong and there will be people living on Mars in 10 years.

A question - would anyone here go there and become one of the astronauts that goes to Mars? I mean seriously and honestly?

Haha, I had a strange feeling that somethign was odd when I read that the "inventor" of the "Big Brother" TV show was on the team with this. But I guess this is one way to finance the mission once it has started:
New 'Mars One' mission aims to establish first human colony on Red Planet by 2023 | Mail Online

Make a Reality TV show from it. You can see live how the colonists suffer from a leak in the hull of a building, you can witness the death of one of them who was in that capsule and tomorrows special is - you can vote one of them out of the container who then has to find his own way in the lonely martian desert. Call now, just $5.60/call

Or something like that

Let us see where this leads. Perhaps it will share the faith of a lot of similar somewhat megalomaniac vision capitalist ventures which often are halted by a shortage of funds.
And still most of those ventures have been on a much smaller scale than the Mars mission.

Freedom Ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moller M400 Skycar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moller's skycar was flawed, and has essentially ruined a plausible concept in the eyes of many.

Try harder

So maybe Mars-One is flawed and is ruining the concept of sending humans to Mars for many

PS: Just read on that Skycar, that it has four large engines that are as powerful as a big regular car. That is about 3 times as much power and fuel consumption as my car - for one of the engines. That is 12 times as much fuel consumption as my car, that is about 24 times as much fuel as the most efficient commercial car. This sounds totally insane in a time of pending fuel scarcity. And I certainly don't see how that contraption should fly with electricity. There is a plausile concept of a lightweight personal air transport though that is based on the Quadcopter technology. But it is not as "sporty" and heavy as that Aircar. It is more like a air-scooter.

There's a reason it's dead (but that wasn't even it, really). As I said, Moller has ruined the concept to the point that "flying car" is now a joke rather than a serious concept. If the world had more sense, they would have examined things more critically first.

Big progress is often made by those who aren't afraid to dream big.

"Failure is always an option" - JC


- Mikko