back to article 100,000+ Earthlings star in 'reality TV contest' for ONE-WAY ticket to MARS

More than 100,000 people want to go to Mars and never, ever come back, according to the non-profit organising a trip to the dust world. Mars One first landers Mars One (of a kind) ... how its landers might look Mars One's mission to colonise the Red Planet from 2022 has attracted thousands of applicants for the coveted …

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  1. Clive Galway

    The first question to ask before making any move

    What kind of internet connections are available?

    How far am I from my local exchange?

    1. ecofeco Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: The first question to ask before making any move

      ...and where's the pub?

      No pub? No go.

      1. NumptyScrub
        Pint

        Re: The first question to ask before making any move

        Enough hydroponics to spare for barley and hops cultivation and some brewers yeast; make your own once you get there. The advantage being that you can make it just the way you like it too ;)

        Seriously, one of the first things any (non-teetotal) community does once the basic nutritional needs are taken care of and there is spare growing capacity, is manufacture brewing (and/or distilling) apparatus. I don't see why Mars would be any different in that respect. Even if they don't specifically provide equipment for it, stuff will get bodged together regardless, I guarantee it.

      2. Tom 7

        Re: The first question to ask before making any move

        Oh cmon use a bit of imagination - take 20 lots of 5g of barley from the John Innes Centre archive and use those to help find out what grows on Mars and make your own beer up there.

        I can guarantee that Martian beer will make you 62% more light headed than earth beer of the same strength so you could be onto a good thing for Stag weekends and that. Come to think of it strippers of all sorts would hold up better too...

        1. M Gale

          Re: The first question to ask before making any move

          Or take a few Sativa, Indica and Ruderalis strains up there and make your own Martian F1 hybrid where the laws are a little.. uhm, less problematic.

          Space Weed? It'd be rude not to.

          1. Euripides Pants
            Thumb Up

            Re: Space Weed

            Nah, Space Coke is the bee's knees...

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O7lbx3JM9k

        2. Amorous Cowherder
          Happy

          Re: The first question to ask before making any move

          If it's technically outside the UK...no tax on the produce!

    2. LarsG
      Meh

      Bored senseless and no way of getting back?

      It would be interesting if this was something that could get off the ground, but it won't.

    3. LarsG
      Meh

      Re: The first question to ask before making any move

      Send all the hairdressers, telephone sanitisers and advertising executives.

  2. Pete 2 Silver badge

    They *all* sound like ideal candidates

    > go to Mars and never, ever come back

    The sorts of people who are willing to demean themselves on reality TV are just the sort of individuals this planet would be better off without. Either we could start a global lottery to fund sending them all, or we could persuade them to sell all their assets (since they wouldn't need them on Mars) to pay for the trip themselves.

    I'm sure D.A. would approve if we called their spaceship the B Ark.

    1. Steve Evans

      Re: They *all* sound like ideal candidates

      I'm sure we could get most of the ex UK big brother candidates to sign up for a colony on the Sun.

      1. Bakunin
        Devil

        Re: They *all* sound like ideal candidates

        "I'm sure we could get most of the ex UK big brother candidates to sign up for a colony on the Sun."

        Only at night. They're not *that* stupid.

    2. JDX Gold badge

      @Pete 2

      No you moron, they are people who are so keen to visit Mars that they are willing to be TV 'celebrities'.

      Someone I live with is applying so I actually know a little about it - typical BB contestants would not get through as they all have to pass scrutiny as suitable for the trip before they can be voted for inclusion.

      1. Martin Kirk

        Re: @Pete 2

        Could we change this around a bit and have a reality TV show where we choose which "celebrities" to send on a one-way mission to Mars?

        And you have to be impressed by the prcision parking of the "landers" in the mocked-up photo. How is this going to work when they actually arrive too far apart to be joined up into a single convenient habitat?

      2. Steve Evans

        @JDX - Was Re: @Pete 2

        Ah yes, whereas BB contestants have to actually fail a psychiatrists check up to ensure that as the series goes on they become more and more deranged.

        Unfortunately after using all that professional skill to find these freaks, they release them back into the general population at the end! Please can't we shoot them as another planet? (landing parachutes optional).

  3. NoneSuch Silver badge

    Just make sure non of them are religious. Last thing we need to export to Mars is religious ignorance.

    Otherwise, half of them will try to kill the other half and both sides will do it in God's name.

    1. Evil Auditor Silver badge
      Devil

      half of them will try to kill the other half and both sides will do it in God's name

      I don't see a problem here.

    2. wowfood
      Devil

      Ah man that could be a great way to make the show entertaining. Of the four being sent up, put in a muslim, a christian (born again, or mormon), a black jew, and an asian of indeterimate eastern religion.

      Nothing could be funnier.

      1. DrGoon

        I bet it would be funnier if there was also a tiger who had been named David Bowie due to clerical error.

    3. JDX Gold badge

      >>Just make sure non of them are religious. Last thing we need to export to Mars is religious ignorance.

      Or intolerant douchebags...

      1. Steven Roper
        Mushroom

        >>Or intolerant douchags...

        Or sanctimonious PC do-gooders...

  4. Magister

    Space Cadet

    Anyone remember that bloody awful piece of garbage that was on channel 4 a few years ago; presented by that knob Johhny Vaughan. This almost seems to be a variation on that.

    1. The Man Himself Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Space Cadet

      Actually, I quite enjoyed it. There's something about watching a bunch of gullible wannbes humiliating themselves on national television which I find somewhat amusing.

  5. Don Dumb

    How legal is this?

    Considering this is essentially a suicide mission, could this be considered legal anywhere other than, perhaps Switzerland?

    Here in the UK, time and again the judiciary has confirmed it is illegal for people to assist those wishing to die or even help in getting them to a place where it is legal. Even people who are in chronic pain, with no hope of recovery and not able to do anything for themselves still cannot exempt their loved ones or doctors from assisting them. I'm guessing the US has a similarly harsh legal position.

    Which makes me wonder - how exactly is what is basically a sucide mission legal?

    I'm not convinced that these projects are any more than elaborate manslaughter methods in the eyes of the law. Have they really taken reasonable efforts to prevent death? I wonder how much funding they will be able to generate if the projects are on such dodgy legal ground.

    I don't necessarly agree that this should be illegal but considering the current legal position has been explored in great detail recently (even in wartime scenarios), I do wonder whether the law is against them.

    1. Tom 7

      Re: How legal is this?

      A precedent has been set in the UK - your more likely to die waiting for the train to take you to Switzerland than you are there and railtrack haven't been tried yet.

    2. Grikath
      Facepalm

      Re: How legal is this?

      By your reasoning any endeavour carrying risk of death or injury would fall afoul of the law, including many daily activities.

      The organisors would be culpable if they conspired for the mission to fail, but otherwise you have to assume they will make a serious effort to minimise the risks, which would include the usual tests for fitness and mental stability needed to make an operation like this work to begin with.

      Don't forget that the big payoff for the organisors will be lift-off, and the actual landing/initial settlement if they ever pull it off. It's still a commercial venture, after all, and those two moments will be prime selling material.

    3. ecofeco Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: How legal is this?

      Suicide? Not hardly. Space travel tech has come a long ways since the Shuttle and ISS, both of which are almost 40 year old designs to begin with. So has medicine. What we get at the local clinic and hospital is nothing compared to what is available and waiting for gov-corp to adopt. But no, there will be no open heart surgery or advanced cancer treatment.

      Risky as hell? You bet. The closest earth bound analogy would be the Antarctic bases, but even they are living in relative luxury these days. The actually have real modern buildings with real modern amenities. Google "antarctic base station" or "architecture of antarctica ". As modern as any city or large village.

      The key of course, will be the actual site and supply train and a base at least as durable as offshore rigs until they can become more or less self-sufficient with mining and farming.

      The biggest problem I see is the closed ecology and lack of biomass. We really don't know if Martian soil is conducive to farming and that will only be something found out the hard way.

      Human history is littered with failed and lost colonies. Yet here we are. You have to start somewhere.

    4. Old Handle

      Re: How legal is this?

      I assume the plan (whether it will actually work or not) is to go to Mars, set up a base, and live there for a normal lifespan. Obviously there are huge risks involved, but I don't think it can be classed as a form of suicide just because they don't intend to come back.

  6. Khaptain Silver badge

    Reality show producers wet dream

    I can't even begin to imagine how "exciting" this must be for the producers. There is a very strong chance that everyone will simply die..... Whether they eventually get their or not. The question lies in how long the whole affair will last. ( Yes, I know that everyone dies eventually anyway)

    If they die during take off, the producers are f****ed, too quick, no profit.

    If they die half way across, this would lead to a major anti-climax, several months of nothing , then death....boring.. This would make it difficult to get funds for EarthToMars2...

    The best most exciting, largest audience, think sponsorships, would be death upon orbital entry.....This way no one would have to fund boring daily routines on Mars and everyone would have had their fill.

    I don't possess a television so I guess that I will never become a sponsor to the madness.... Why would anyone even consider being sent to a barren planet.....

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Reality show producers wet dream

      >>Why would anyone even consider being sent to a barren planet.....

      I don't know. Maybe you could ask one of the people who dedicated their lives to visiting the moon. Or those people who settled in the USA a few centuries back.

      I think it's called having a pioneer spirit...

      1. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: Reality show producers wet dream

        Pioneer as in "We have already made a mess of the earth, why not export our shit elsewhere as well".....

        1. Grave

          Re: Reality show producers wet dream

          "Pioneer as in "We have already made a mess of the earth, why not export our shit elsewhere as well"....."

          more like: "we have been born to a messed up world and no matter what we do the stupid keep making it messier. so lets go somewhere else where the stupid wont go"

    2. Amorous Cowherder
      Alien

      Re: Reality show producers wet dream

      I hope it all goes a bit "Apollo 18", they find something up there they didn't expect and all hell breaks loose!

  7. Black Rat

    Food for thought

    Media whoring & trolling aside the idea is technically sound. Four autonomous 'biobots' would be more versatile than their mechanical counterparts, plus they can be recycled as plant food for the next crew.

  8. Fat Boab

    ONE-WAY TICKET TO MARS

    I am guessing that we cannot volunteer folks for this? I can think of a few who "work" at a large building on the Thames close to Westminster Bridge that could benefit from such a trip...

  9. Ninetailed

    Radiation Shielding

    You've got to admit, while its efficacy is laughable at best, sticking your fingers in your ears and going "la la la I can't hear you" is rather more affordable than any other proposed method for mitigating radiation exposure.

    It's not just that you don't have to pay for the expensive shielding and the murderous cost of launching it, you also don't have to deal with supporting the folk you've sent to Mars after the advertising revenue from televising Big Brother On Mars tails off because they'll all have died from cancer anyway. Sounds like a winner to me.

  10. Anomalous Cowshed

    Radiation not really a problem

    I don't see radiation as being a problem...I only see lots of mugs, mugs, mugs, a big fat bank account and some nice wheels and a handful of women with ze big boobies on my yacht!

  11. Robert Helpmann??
    Childcatcher

    Radiation Levels Still a Problem

    Something that is not talked about much in the discussion of shielding for the spacecraft is that Mars atmosphere and magnetosphere do not do as good a job blocking radiation as do Earth's. Until this is solved, it seems more likely that any settlement on Mars will be underground. Exploration would more likely be done using remote control bots. Given that, an argument could be made that it makes more sense to set up shop on one of the moons, which would also make a return flight much more of a possibility.

    1. Cliff

      Re: Radiation Levels Still a Problem

      I suspect there are so many other likely causes of death, a slow killer is less of a risk than pretty much the whole of the rest of the mission

    2. stuartnz

      Re: Radiation Levels Still a Problem

      Set up shop on Phobos or Deimos? Given their tiny size and close orbits that sounds even more difficult to me, especially with the larger of the two having a decaying orbit.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I am an applicant

    I view my chances as being selected as reasonable, and you won't find my video on the site. The mission is reasonable as are the risks. You should visit the website and read all the documents. There was even some recent information from NASA on observed radiation levels. And all the talk about the "reality tv" aspect of the plan is way overblown. It is no more daft than the LOHAN missions. Go here http://www.mars-one.com/ and then here http://marsonefans.com/ to show your support for a reg reader going. And while you are at it watch the "one way astronaut" video. It will cost you less that a pint of the good stuff, and almost as entertaining ;)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I am an applicant

      Enjoy being completely ignored by everyone once the ratings fall off and they shut down the communication when the funding dies. Hey, if you manage to survive a few years you could end up on a 'where are they now?' show!

  13. Grave

    doomed to fail

    if this is the kind of people they have in mind for the mission:

    i like outdoors (hiking/camping/etc), i like horses (insert other animals/etc), i like partying, etc

    you need introvert people not extrovert. well unless the objective is for the members go bonkers from introvert-friendly environment and vent the oxygen :rolleyes:

    1. tony2heads

      Re: doomed to fail

      It is somewhat like an antarctic winter stay. Only a few people can take the being cooped up and lack of change of scenery. Stay indoors or die.

      Perhaps they should do a try-out there. The temperatures are pretty similar to a lot of Mars, and if you don't like it or shit happens TOUGH LUCK.

      I also would also suggest that anyone under 25 is too immature to make a one-way trip decision

      1. Grave

        Re: doomed to fail

        i agree, and from what i've read, they will actually spend years training and preparing in harsh isolated environments (both antarctic and cold deserts). thats what i would do, if they cant survive on earth how are they going to survive on mars?

        as for the age, agreed again - even though by the time of actual mission they would be 10 years older. its still too young, at 25yo not enough experience and self-restraint even for training (wasting both time and resources on things that might seem important at 25yo but become irrelevant as you get older)

  14. Herby

    Once there...

    Do the shows producers take wagers on how long their mission will last? I understand that the UK bookmakers take wagers on lots of things (most recently the royal baby's name).

    The interesting part will be how two people will be able to get along for the multitude of years the (extended) mission will last. Will there be representatives of each gender, and will they be allowed to procreate? Maybe martians from the future will call them "Adam" and "Eve", who knows.

    Note to self: Don't be Abel.

  15. unitron
    Alien

    "...go to Mars and never, ever come back..."

    Can we please get Donald Trump on that ship?

    And then nuke the whole planet from orbit?

    You know, just to be sure.

  16. hi_robb

    Beep, Beep, Beep

    PASADENA CONTROL: It's looking good. It's going good. We're getting

    great pictures here at Nasa Control, Pasadena. The landing-craft touched down on

    Mars 28 Kilometers from the aim-point. We're looking at a remarkable landscape,

    littered with different kinds of rocks - red, purple.... How 'bout that, Bermuda?

    BERMUDA CONTROL: Fantastic! Look at the dune-field.

    PASADENA CONTROL: Hey, wait. I'm getting a no-go signal. Now I'm losing one of

    the craft. Hey, Bermuda, you getting it?

    BERMUDA CONTROL: No, I lost contact. There's a lot of dust blowing up there.

    PASADENA CONTROL: Now I've lost the second craft. We got problems.

    BERMUDA CONTROL: All contact lost, Pasadena. Maybe the antenna's...

    PASADENA CONTROL: What's that flare? See it? A green flare, coming from Mars,

    kind of a green mist behind it. It's getting closer. You see it, Bermuda? Come in,

    Bermuda! Houston, come in! What's going on?

    Tracking station 43, Canberra, come in Canberra! Tracking station 63, can

    you hear me, Madrid? Can anybody hear me? Come in, come in...

  17. Kanwal
    Alert

    I guess they are gonna send four guys, two men and two women. What source of entertainment will they have there? Will they ever come out of their suits? If yes, they might mate.. lol.. I guess they will mate before they reach Mars.. they will be so depressed.. by the time they reach Mars, they be 6 people. Mars ONE should offer them contraceptives or protection.

  18. genghis_uk

    Humans left on their own...

    So how long before one of the Alpha male types goes stir crazy, throws a couple of geek scientists out of an airlock and rapes Lucy?

    First deaths and violent sex on live TV - Big Brother Gold! Ratings through the roof!

  19. CapnAHAB

    30 days to mars

    I'd wait 7 years to see what becomes of the fusion engines myself, before undertaking a one way death trip:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/10/nasa_fusion_engine_fast_mars_trip/

  20. Kanwal
    Alert

    Ever thought?

    I guess they are gonna send four guys, two men and two women. What source of entertainment will they have there? Will they ever come out of their suits? If yes, they may mate.. lol.. I guess they will mate before they reach Mars.. they will be so depressed.. by the time they reach Mars, they will be 6 people. Mars ONE should offer them contraceptives or protection.

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