Dutch Company Aims to establish permanent human colony on Mars

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I don't think we'll be able to colonise other star systems in the near future. Consider the fact that it took Voyager 1 35 years to get outside of our own solar system.

Yes, 35 years with pre-21st century technology.

You pass over the fact of rapid technological advance, the rapid arrival of robotics and AI technology etc etc.

Consider Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our own Sun. It is 4 light years away (some 24 million million miles away). The speed of light is some 186,000 miles per second. Now, travelling at the speed of light, it would take 4 years to get from our Sun to Proxima Centauri (given that light travels some 5.8 million million miles in a year and Proxima Centauri being 24 million million miles away). We of course cannot yet travel at the speed of light. But consider 1/2 light speed (8 years to Proxima Centauri), 1/4 (16 years), 1/8 (32 years), 1/16 (64 years). I'll stop at 64 years.

What I'm trying to say is that interstellar travel is very very feasible, even if it would take a lifetime to travel to Proxima Centauri (manned or unmanned). Really, it is not that interstellar travel is innately impossible. Rather, the real issue is funding. If lots of funding were made available, the best minds could work harder and better to get us way out into space - but, of course, governments need to deal with more pressing and earthly issues and companies need to make wise decisions based on popular choice etc.

Reply 21

HARRY PUTAH

Original post by ThatPerson

Think of the fact that the Einsenhower administration was already thinking about the moon in 1960, and JFK's speech in 1961 in which he said that the USA should commit itself to launching a man on the moon in the next decade. Within a decade, a man was on the moon.

2023 is only 11 years away, if you compare it to the Apollo initiative, it seems a lot more viable. People have had these kind of far-off visions before, and yes it might seem impossible, but pre 1969 no one had thought it possible to go on the moon, yet it happened, and now most people (apart from crazy consipiracy theorists) believe fully that it is possible to go to the moon.

oh dear god, how many more of you are there on this forum?

2023?

So we are more advanced than the 60s, that doesn't mean anything in space terms except for our own spear of influence, which includes the moon.

Mars is a year away at least for any object from our planet and short-term space effects are a big concern for any space programs. Can you imagine more than a year in a hostile environment, out of reach from any help whatsoever and you need to land on an unexplored planet?

Are you serious?

The tech alone will need 15 years of advancement and research and then you need to sort the age old problem of how humans react to space. We dont fair very well and the mental effects have not been witnessed either, only the physical.

Stop dreaming of something we might not see until 2030.

Reply 22

dongonaeatu

Original post by geetar

I like the idea of the moon being a giant cannabis cafe, so go them. You might even be able to get some Magic Mushmoons. Ha!

Sorry.

get out.

Reply 23

Pitt1988

Original post by ThatPerson

Agree with this. Couple that with the fact that there is more technology in your smart phone then NASA had sending the first manned mission to the moon, it's seem quite viable (though likely not as soon as what they expect). The only thing that would be preventative of it happening is funding, but now it's gone private the issue no longer exists.

Might actually get me watching reality TV for once!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 24

geetar

Original post by dongonaeatu

get out.

Just cos you didn't come up with it.

Reply 25

Arekkusu

Original post by Old Father Time

This is being used as a 'Big Brother type event'?? Worlds gone mad. Colonization of the solar system should be used only to advance science and human development and civilization. Not entertainment.

Yes, unfortunately it's not the Cold War any more and that sort of rhetoric doesn't appeal to the masses any more. Money has to come from somewhere.

I think it's a pretty cool idea, the Dutch do get things done, don't they?

Reply 26

DeathByBSOD

I can't believe this. Its a start to a real life halo tv series!

*only can dream :frown:

Reply 27

DH-Biker

Original post by Octohedral

Sounds like the most horiffic kind of torture for the people that go. The novelty of being on Mars would wear off pretty quickly, then it's just a barren rock.

I would love the human race to expand across space, and we need the first pioneers to do that. I'm just not convinced there is a lot for us in this solar system.

New elements, new life forms, new forms of fuel and other resources, further expanded travel by the lessons we learnt from inter-system travel. There's an abundance of factors why travel between planets would be ideal. From everything to resources to easing off the population pressure Earth is currently facing within the next few decades.

Space travel, across long distances, is an inevitability. Mankind is far, far to interested in what else there is to even consider keeping our feet firmly planted on Earth, we're just waiting for technology to catch up with our ideas.

Sending a manned mission to Mars will be one of the next major milestones in human history, something that people will look back on in years to come and say, "Wow, I was there for that", or "Look how it started". Just like the Moon landings in 1969; it will have the same effect.

We need a mission that far out to show us how much further we must aim for in terms of technology to allow us to travel further afield. It is a costly avenue and one that poses a major risk (were it down to me, I'd negate the costs necessary for such missions and promote ulimited grants for such missions, but I'm like that in regards to Space), but so did the major expeditions (at the time, of course) throughout human history. The Arctic and Antarctica, America, South America, Australia; time after time man stretched out from where it was to find somewhere new and its exactly what will happen again, purely because we feel a need to.

Not to mention, again, the benefits such a mission and indeed future missions of its kind will yield.

Original post by ThatPerson

I don't think we'll be able to colonise other star systems in the near future. Consider the fact that it took Voyager 1 35 years to get outside of our own solar system.

A very sad but true point. As above, we need to wait for technology to catch up with our hopes for the future before we can actually warrant such ventures. Mars is approaching its closest point with Earth that it reaches every decade. 2013, around the Summer (I believe is what I heard), Mars is a year's travel away with current tech. If the Dutch planned mission is 2023, that supports that but I could be mistaken. A year to travel what is, in terms of the cosmos, the equivilant of shuffling one foot forward an inch does not bode well, but we're still in our utter most infancy when it comes to what's out there, and in time we'll master that.

Reply 28

ThatPerson

I would like to point out that even if the mission is delayed to 2030 for whatever reasons, we must start focusing our efforts on this now. I firmly believe that space is our future for resources and for scientific exploration, and we need to capitalism firmly on our own solar system by colonising it/ sending probes to planets and moons like Neptune, Io and Europa.

Mankind's greatest fallacy is to set goals based on current technology, rather than the converse is true: we must make technology based to achieve an end goal.

Reply 29

Octohedral

Original post by DH-Biker

That's what I'm saying - I think it's an important stepping stone, but that the very first people to go will essentially be giving up their lives. We won't find new elements (they'd have to be radioactive) on Mars, new life forms are unlikely, and if we could bring back resources we could bring back people. The moon landings were a short trip. This will be permanent.

I'm an idealist too by the way - if I could spend the entire US budget on scientific advancement I would (which is probably why I'm not in government). I think this is fantastic. I'm just pointing out that spending the rest of your life on an uncolonised Mars is not something to be taken lightly.

Reply 30

Old Father Time

I can just see something going really wrong with this. What if theres a problem with the food or water supplies once the explorers reach the Red Planet? It would take another 7 months to send more supplies, they would starve or die of thirst/dehydration before then. Also, what if they have conflicts? They could kill each other with no laws to stop them. What if some sort of strange bacteria on Mars which we don;t know of makes them critically I'll? What if one of the explorers gets pregnant? What if the oxygen supply runs out? There are so many dangers that it would be unethical to risk sending humans to live on Mars. A return mission would be the only answer. It would make a good start.

Reply 31

Yoko Ono

It wouldn't surprise me if this was some sort of hoax; they're Dutch, after all. :rolleyes:

I mean, there's no way you'd be able to set up a permanent colony on Mars with advertising money. They'll probably dupe people into thinking that they're going to live on Mars, when in reality they'll still be on Earth, in a studio, filled with big red rocks.

The more I hear about this, the more I think it's complete and utter bull****. If some amateur Dutch TV makers can do this, why haven't Nasa done it?