Human Mars Trip Reality TV
Mars is the space fan’s dream. The concept and idea of going top Mars has been around for even longer than the space age kicked off. One relatively new idea about going to the red planet has been muted by a Dutch entrepreneur and it seems to be generating a lot of buzz.
According to the reports, Bars Lansdrop is spearheading a group of likeminded individuals who are looking to set humans on Mars by 2023. But what is really interesting about this report is the way they want to go about it. First of all, they have projected that it would cost them and estimated six billion dollars for the project to be a success but this seems to be one thorny issue as the amount seems too small an estimate to make such a project fly.
But it is quite interesting how they look to sponsor the project. They want to use the medium of a reality TV show to generate interest and funds for the project. They are looking at including the whole world from the very onset where the selection process for the astronauts will take place in form of a reality TV where they will be whittled down to the four that will go.
But it is going to be a one way mission which they are saying will still have an option for their return some point in the future. The idea of theirs has been muted before by Jim McLane back in 2008 but his one only meant for a one-man one-way trip.
But the group headed by Lansdrop known as the Mars One group has said that it would be possible to make a return trip once the project is successful and Mars is developed enough. According to him, the biggest challenge of the project would be financing. He went on to talk about the reality television concept that would cover the selection, taking off and life on the planet.
But it looks like an uphill task because they would have to spend the most part of the money in building and preparation before the selected four can even take off. They say they are preparing a compelling technical case on the viability of the project to see if there would be those willing to shore up the initial capital needed to even get this project off its feet.
They have already covered the areas of the vehicles they would be using and who would make what. They’ll be using a Space Falcon 9 Heavy as a launch vehicle and Thales Aleina Space will be building the transit/space habitat. The lander will be a variant of the Space X Dragon, ILC will be building an inflatable Mars habitat, MDA Space Missions will be doing a rover vehicle and
The whole idea of the project seems to have raised a reasonable degree of skepticism from some quarters that have said that so many things including the cost projections and the practicality of transporting and living in such an environment have not been properly factored in. But whatever the case, Mars has always been a dream and dreams are the fuels of reality.
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