Image by Mars One
Josh Richards is one of 200,000 people worldwide – scores of them Australian – who have applied to become part of Mars One, a Dutch-led initiative to establish a human colony on Mars by 2023.
Mr Richards has worked in engineering for the Australian Defence Force and the British Marines, trained as a physicist and is now a stand-up comedian. He believes, at 28-years-old, he is ready for a one-way trip to the Planet.
“To steal a line from Star Trek, it’s all about going where no man has gone before,” he says.
“This is about inspiring another generation of people to push the boundaries. We landed on the moon, sure, but we can’t stop there.”
Bas Lansdorp, a Dutch engineer and entrepreneur, plans to establish a permanent base on Mars, if he can find the necessary $6.49 billion.
By 2015, 40 applicants will start an eight-year training program where they will learn to deal with the physical and mental stressors of space travel, including long periods of isolation. Only four people will make it past this round of selection and be sent to Mars with more people joining every two years.
Some have questioned Mars One’s business model, technical feasibility and the health risks posed by radiation. NASA is sceptical about a private one-way mission and instead plans to send more rovers followed by a manned return mission sometime in the next 20 years.
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If They Survive
The Mars One colonists will be the most isolated humans to have ever lived. Their distance from Earth will prevent any real time interaction with people back home where the shortest delay for communication with Earth will be about 10 minutes. For the rest of their lives they will only be able to interact directly with their fellow colonists.
If they survive the trip, the human Martians will have to deal with temperatures of minus 55 degrees C in a desert-like atmosphere that consists mainly of carbon dioxide.
They will also have to agree to be under 24-hour observation back on Earth, as stars of a reality TV show designed to help fund the expedition.
Ian Christie, from the Victorian Space Science Education Centre, says one of the biggest differences between this venture and those planned by government organisations like NASA, is the funding model.
“It is very much a commercial enterprise, it is a money making scheme. It is in effect the world’s biggest and most elaborate version of Big Brother,” he says.
“They might do it, and if they don’t have to rely on tax payer dollars that’s great but I just don’t think they’ll do it in the time frame they’ve outlined.”
A One-Way Ticket
The Mars One website states that a return “cannot be anticipated nor expected” because of the physiological and technical challenges involved.
The finite nature of the mission has not deterred Mr Richards.
“It’s like preparing for a death. You’ve got a timeline and you appreciate the time that you have. It may not happen but I am committed to it and I’m ready to leave,” he says.
Mr Christie is similarly philosophical.
“We’re all going to die sometime, and if it’s on Mars, well that’s a form of immortality in itself, isn’t it?
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