I’m experiencing acute deja vu. This time last year, I read of a private space mission which sought to advance our exploration of Mars. Again, I have several problems with what is being planned- but this proposal is at least one hundred times worse.
Last year, a commercial consortium announced that it was seeking a middle-aged couple who would spend over a year flying into Mars’ orbit and back, as part of an experiment to determine the effects of long space journeys not only on the human body, but on the human mind too. This couple would/will risk infertility and various unforeseen health problems for the sake of being the first humans to see- not land- Mars with their own eyes. Billions of dollars will be poured into this vast human experiment, to examine the feasibility of expensive projects that our environment would struggle to withstand. But, by comparison, this is a relatively tame idea.
For now Mars One hoves into view. This organisation has been set up to not only manage the first landings on Martian soil, but a permanent settlement that will grow by four people every two years. These lucky people will actually be the first to live on another planet- and they are going to do so within the decade. Two catches, however: the whole project will be funded by converting it into a reality TV event, and there is no return ticket to Earth. That would be too expensive to arrange, apparently.
160,000 people (and there’s still time to join them, if you want to die for in the name of multibillion dollar advertising bonanza) have paid to apply to fly in a crew of four people on a tiny rocket for over a year, then, assuming they make it to Mars, eke out their remaining few years in a claustrophobic settlement, millions of miles from civilisation, until they die from radiation sickness or organ failure caused by low gravity. All while living in a hellish Truman Show-esque closed goldfish bowl universe sustained by the desire of Kellogs to sell the world its interesting new flavor of sugar cereal.
It is simply impossible for the human mind to comprehend what it is like to leave behind communities, society, the feeling of the sun on your skin, the ability to run for miles in a new place, the opportunity to meet new people, even to lack the chance to have a telephone call with a family member (radio signals will take up to 22 minutes to reach Earth) and to be watched by millions of people for most of your day, until you are actually in such a situation. Nobody has been in that situation before. Not even the most brutally confined prisoner has experienced something quite like that. If people cannot comprehend something, who can they truly agree to it?
The effects of low gravity that we know of are horrible. Calcium leaks from the bones, water does not get circulated around the body properly, muscles waste away, and people could even lose eyesight. We know what exposure to high enough levels of radiation can do, too. And though isolation is reasonably well understood, I doubt that any of the mitigating factors (a steadily expanding population of the settlement, communications with Earth, etc.) will avoid the strange things that happen to our minds when we are trapped with a small group of people in a small environment with the cast iron certainty that this is a permanent state of affairs. And as the 30 die off (assuming it ever reaches that figure), I pity the last survivor. That would be the grimmest way of life.
By the act of volunteering for this, I think its clear that people don’t comprehend the full implications or are completely unbalanced.
I think it is certainly creative, but also telling that this titanic human experiment is being funded through commercial advertising and sponsorship. It says a lot about the state of the modern world today, but raises questions about the world in 10 or 15 years time. What happens if the money runs out? What happens when the novelty wears off and people stop watching the Mars One TV channel? What happens if a state of war breaks out that renders any launch of a space shuttle with vital supplies impossible?
Mars One has left many questions unanswered. If you don’t agree with me, do please feel free to defend them!
