One-way ticket to Mars
Posted on Aug 22, 2012 in Science
Amid the commotion and celebration of the successful landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars last week, a small group of entrepreneurs outside of the United States is already planning for the next giant leap — sending humans to Mars.
The Dutch-based Mars One project, with a projected cost of about $6 billion for the first four astronauts involved, intends to put a man on the Red Planet by 2023 well before the United States does. In contrast, NASA projects its first manned mission to Mars to be in the 2030s, almost a decade later. After the first group of astronauts land, more would be sent periodically to create a sizeable and sustainable colony.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? But there’s a catch. Everyone who leaves Earth will be spending the rest of his or her life on Mars, never to return. The one-way program makes perfect logistical sense.
The fuel requirement would be halved, and a return spacecraft would not be necessary. The reduced weight makes getting to Mars much, much easier than a two-way trip.
What sounds good on paper may not work in real life, however. The psychological effects of such a mission upon the astronauts must be thoroughly considered. These brave souls would never see other humans again. They will live and die in another world, quite literally millions of miles away from civilization.
But haven’t humans done this before? The fearless colonists who settled the Americas surely knew that they would never see their home again. They surely understood that they will have only themselves for company. A one-way mission to Mars isn’t too different, is it?
Yet, the colonists of the Mayflower only journeyed across a single ocean. They were still within the embrace of Mother Earth. It wasn’t too different; fewer people, perhaps, and a few new plants and animals. The colonists of Mars, on the other hand, will have left their cradle. They will be stripped of all the comforts of home — no more birds chirping; no more cloudless days on a golden beach; no more crisp sea breezes.
These colonists will live in a metal can in an arid wasteland frequented by planet-wide dust storms. Risks include suffocation from lack of oxygen and decompression sickness from breathing in too much nitrogen. The only thing that separates them from certain death from these ailments is a thin layer of metal and plastics. One can only imagine the psychological strain such an environment would put upon the astronauts. I cringe even at the thought of being in such a place for a month, much less the rest of my life.
Though the mission of Mars One is noble, it is very rash. Columbus didn’t come to settle the New World; he came and returned to the Old World. In the 1960s and 1970s, we did not simply put a man on the moon; we also returned him safely to Earth. Our exploration of Mars should follow the examples of Columbus and the moon missions.
The first astronauts to step on Mars should also have the opportunity to return to Earth. Only when we are capable of sustained interplanetary flight should there be a permanent colony on Mars. By then, we will have improved the technologies for spaceflight, and astronauts will be able to come and go as they please.