Irish man shortlisted for Mars mission. (one way ticket only)

Banjo String

An amazing opportunity, no doubt about it.

Growing up on a small farm in Kildare, Joseph Roche spent many clear nights gazing at the stars, dreaming of becoming an astronaut. He couldn’t have known that, 20 years later, he would be undergoing a medical examination as part of the selection process for a manned mission to Mars.

Last week, a private space exploration company called Mars One announced that it has shortlisted 1,058 people from 200,000 applicants who wanted to travel to Mars. Roche is the only Irishman on the list. The catch? If he goes, he can never come back.

If you think the whole thing sounds crazy, you wouldn’t be the first. Even the man behind the project admits it’s a gargantuan task. Bas Lansdorp, a Dutch engineer and entrepreneur, aims to land a colony of four astronauts on the surface of Mars by 2025

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/life-on-mars-irish-man-signs-up-for-colony-mission-1.1648449

Admittedly, he's still only one of 1k odd people to be shortlisted, but to make it that far from 200k+ is pretty good going.

Personally, with a wife and kids, I'm happy enough to pass away on on earth, and spend the rest of my life watching them grow up up etc.


Opinions please?

Would you go to Mars given the opportunity, knowing full well when that rocket blasts off, you're essentially leaving the only world you've ever known (in fact the human race has ever known) for good?

Poll coming up.

Edit. To make the thread a bit more interesting.

What one thing from earth, would you miss that you won't find on mars?


Mine would be the smell of the rain, falling on earth after a period of hot, dry weather.

jhegarty

It's not going to happen.

Littlelulu13

I wouldn't go even if I could return! Flying across Europe is enough for me

preston johnny

Can I send my wife?

jimgoose

Emigrating to Australia is bad enough, but this is getting silly.

keith16

preston johnny wrote: »

Can I send my wife?

Post a few pictures to help us decide.

jester77

A 1 way ticket with only 3 other people... there better be a good internet connection on mars

Banjo String

jester77 wrote: »

A 1 way ticket with only 3 other people... there better be a good internet connection on mars

What if the other 3 were extremely fit, Buxom ladies, with excellent sexual skills?

(and they all fancied you???)

Duggy747

You'd have to kill the other 3 astronauts before one of them flips out and kills you.

donegal__road

Banjo String wrote: »

What if the other 3 were extremely fit, Buxom ladies, with excellent sexual skills?

(and they all fancied you???)

Id say you'd soon get bored of it.

smcgiff

jhegarty wrote: »

It's not going to happen.

Yeah, ultimately a publicity stunt.

They are going to raise something like 6 billion dollars by crowd sourcing to fund this. Sounds like a lot of money, but not when you want to support 4 people on Mars.

Nice cause though. Roll up! Roll up !

jester77

Banjo String wrote: »

What if the other 3 were extremely fit, Buxom ladies, with excellent sexual skills?

(and they all fancied you???)

There would be some serious inbreeding after 20+ years :eek:

I Heart Internet

Doesn't ring true.

Many of those 1,000 would/will change their tune if they ever meet the right lady/man and/or have children.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

God I ****ing hate The Darkness. :mad:

They even make Nickelback music sound good in comparison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaaCOHmAbR0

CardBordWindow

jester77 wrote: »

There would be some serious inbreeding after 20+ years :eek:

It'll just be like that Adam & Eve story so!

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

jester77 wrote: »

There would be some serious inbreeding after 20+ years :eek:

It'd be like Navan.

I Heart Internet

jester77 wrote: »

There would be some serious inbreeding after 20+ years :eek:

Even that issue would give rise to HUGE problems. Assuming it is a mix male/female crew, one would imagine that they would have to be sterilised in order to avoid the risk of one of them getting pregnant - no facilities for having/rearing a child on mars.....would it even be fair to them?

Elaborate reality tv show - ultimately going nowhere.

muppetkiller

To be fair it would be a fantastic opportunity but you'd certainly want to get on with the other 3 people...

Wurzelbert

another irishman planning emigration

Rayne Wooney

It will probably turn into a deathmatch

Who's going to police them when they are 35 million miles away..

born2bwild

Maybe it's Brendan O'Carroll?

Plazaman

No matter how much profiling and psychological screening goes on beforehand, there's alway the danger that 7 hours after blasting off, one fúcker will turn around and say "I didn't tell them this on earth but I love sucking peoples ears where they're asleep".

murphym7

So they are undergoing medicals now for something that is going to happen in 2025, a little silly. Plus it’s never going to happen. What are they going to do with the successful candidates until they take off? If it is going to happen, I can guarantee anyone on the shortlist now will not be the ones actually going, too far away and too many variables that can happen between now and then.

Banjo String

Probably leaving Kildare for Mars to get a decent broadband connection.

Pushtrak

jester77 wrote: »

There would be some serious inbreeding after 20+ years :eek:

I remember reading they'd send more people up periodically. It isn't just, well, there's 4, that's it.

Westernyelp

It will happen someday though, this will at least get the world thinking about it

EdwardCastle

murphym7 wrote: »

What are they going to do with the successful candidates until they take off?.

Ehhhh....training perhaps.

Banjo String

Pushtrak wrote: »

I remember reading they'd send more people up periodically. It isn't just, well, there's 4, that's it.

No I was listening to an interview by the guy shortlisted.
He said groups of 4 people every few years.

Pushtrak

Banjo String wrote: »

No I was listening to an interview by the guy shortlisted.
He said groups of 4 people every few years.

Just went to the site. One year after the first group is sent, they'll be sending group two (along with cargo for the third crew).

http://www.mars-one.com/mission/roadmap

preston johnny

born2bwild wrote: »

Maybe it's Brendan O'Carroll?

Nah, even the Martians think he's brutal

Wurzelbert

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

It will probably turn into a deathmatch

Who's going to police them when they are 35 million miles away..

the martians might arrest and deport them all straight back to their penal colony which we call earth...

D1stant

Yeragh it wouldn't be too bad. Sure theres skype & RTE player. Plus you could bring a load of Taytos and rashers with ya. Lack of daecent Irish pubs might be a problem though

MonaPizza

It is never going to happen.

For starters how long does it take to get to Mars? A year maybe? Sending 3 guys to the Moon takes about a day or two, a day farting around on the surface and a day or two to get back. So that 5 x 3 = 15 days worth of food .... probably 45 to 50 bags of slop for the guys to eat. Let's say 100 bags plus another 100 bags of water. That can easily fit in a lunar module. So 200 bags of food rations for a 3 man week long (-ish) journey.

4 people to Mars is going to need, what, about 300 x 52 = 15,600 bags just to get there. What size vessel will you need to lug that amount along? Remember there's no re-supplying like the International Space Station after take off. And that's just to get there. I assume they plan on eating once they get to Mars. What the hell are they going to eat and drink once there? A litre of water weighs 1 kilo. So 4 people are going to need one or two tons of water to sustain them on the trip. You can go a week without a shower (to the Moon). A year to Mars.....you're going to need to wash. With what?
Do they plan on recycling piss back into drinking water? Is that even possible?

Assuming they intend to produce food to live on while they're there, how? There will be no meat to eat at all. You can't grow a chicken or a fish in some greenhouse so you will have to grow everything that will provide protein, carbohydrates and fat.....green vegetables, beans, rices, lentils, nuts, fruit etc. So while you're setting up your Croke Park sized green house and waiting a year for this shit to grow you're going to need another 20 or 30 thousands bags of slop and water to keep you going. Then there's the amount of water the plants are going to need.....probably MILLIONS of litres. Where's that going to come from? Are they going to have one guy trek to the polar cap with a billy-can everday? Plants need sunlight too, don't they?
Even if the plan is to just get them there and then have them live on whatever supplies they bring with them for a few months until they all die of starvation, that's still a lot of crap to lug along.

It's bollocks

anncoates

He'd be ridden to death in students union bars all over the world if he got back. Can you imagine?

"Peru? I spent the summer doing surface topology research on Phobos"

Banjo String

Mars bars and baby wipes ^^^^

Westernyelp

MonaPizza wrote: »

It is never going to happen.

For starters how long does it take to get to Mars? A year maybe? Sending 3 guys to the Moon takes about a day or two, a day farting around on the surface and a day or two to get back. So that 5 x 3 = 15 days worth of food .... probably 45 to 50 bags of slop for the guys to eat. Let's say 100 bags plus another 100 bags of water. That can easily fit in a lunar module. So 200 bags of food rations for a 3 man week long (-ish) journey.

4 people to Mars is going to need, what, about 300 x 52 = 15,600 bags just to get there. What size vessel will you need to lug that amount along? Remember there's no re-supplying like the International Space Station after take off. And that's just to get there. I assume they plan on eating once they get to Mars. What the hell are they going to eat and drink once there? A litre of water weighs 1 kilo. So 4 people are going to need one or two tons of water to sustain them on the trip. You can go a week without a shower (to the Moon). A year to Mars.....you're going to need to wash. With what?
Do they plan on recycling piss back into drinking water? Is that even possible?

Assuming they intend to produce food to live on while they're there, how? There will be no meat to eat at all. You can't grow a chicken or a fish in some greenhouse so you will have to grow everything that will provide protein, carbohydrates and fat.....green vegetables, beans, rices, lentils, nuts, fruit etc. So while you're setting up your Croke Park sized green house and waiting a year for this shit to grow you're going to need another 20 or 30 thousands bags of slop and water to keep you going. Then there's the amount of water the plants are going to need.....probably MILLIONS of litres. Where's that going to come from? Are they going to have one guy trek to the polar cap with a billy-can everday? Plants need sunlight too, don't they?
Even if the plan is to just get them there and then have them live on whatever supplies they bring with them for a few months until they all die of starvation, that's still a lot of crap to lug along.

It's bollocks

much like your research and calculations

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

Plazaman wrote: »

No matter how much profiling and psychological screening goes on beforehand, there's alway the danger that 7 hours after blasting off, one fúcker will turn around and say "I didn't tell them this on earth but I love sucking peoples ears where they're asleep".

Hey guys, I forgot to bring any of my anti compulsive masturbation disorder pills and the last one I took was 23 hours ago, they usually wear off after 24 hours,

sowey, .

Paulie Gualtieri

If you were unemployed would they take you off the live register and announce how unemployment has fallen?

Would go if ... Endless supply of kebabs, 5 or 6 attractive womens , a pool table , a ps4 . had every movie ever made. And stuff along those lines.

gobnaitolunacy

Whatever happened to our other 'space cadets'....Dr Bill and the lad with the Psychic hotline?

Plazaman

Why can't the crew come back? It's a 210 day flight not like light years away. Go off to Mars, have a laugh for 5 years, come back, write a book and spend the rest of your life sitting rocking in restaurants drooling and mumbling "Mars was never this busy, it wasn't like this in Mars".

jester77

Plazaman wrote: »

Why can't the crew come back? It's a 210 day flight not like light years away. Go off to Mars, have a laugh for 5 years, come back, write a book and spend the rest of your life sitting rocking in restaurants drooling and mumbling "Mars was never this busy, it wasn't like this in Mars".

There's no runway on Mars

JustAddWater

Banjo String wrote: »

What one thing from earth, would you miss that you won't find on mars?

Mars bars

aidan24326

MonaPizza wrote: »

It is never going to happen....

...It's bollocks

A lot of the technology we take for granted nowadays would have seemed far fetched if not outright impossible not all that long ago, yet here it is.

Humans walking on Mars will probably happen one day, whether it be 2025 or not. Cost is likely to be more of a stumbling block than any technological issues.

CrinkElite

It's all possible and ultimately necessary.

Sooner or later we're going to have to accept the fact that this type of thing is our collective destiny.

Evolution baby!

dpofloinn

Life is hard enough on Earth never mind trying to start from scratch on Mars .I dont think id miss much,but sure once they get the post office set up there I could ask the mammy to post me tea bags and tayto's

Alun

MonaPizza wrote: »

Do they plan on recycling piss back into drinking water? Is that even possible?

I may be wrong, but I think they do this on the International Space Station.

Muise...

I like the idea of it. My cosmo-heroine Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space, now 76, has said she'd like to go. Perfect retirement. I probably wouldn't make the cut myself, but I want it to happen so I can wonder at it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BB_hCOgdY4

MonaPizza

Westernyelp wrote: »

much like your research and calculations

OK Spock, you tell me how much water a human needs each day? How much do they need to bring? for 4 of them?
You've seen the effort needed to bounce a ball onto Mars, crack it open and and have a robotic vehicle the size of a coffee table roll out. I'd love to see your calculations on how to get a fully operational ground lab, living quarters, plant growing facilities, water and oxygen generation modules, not to mention a few heavy duty rovers digging the soild up and depositing it into the extraction units, up and running in 10 years in ADVANCE of the first crew arriving.
I read on their mission statement that they will get water from the soil. And that 50 litres would be available per person per day. That's a lot of soil to be heated, water evaporated and condensed to produce 200 litres. Are they even sure that there IS viable amounts of water in the soil?
Then there's the notion of extracting oxygen from water in order to breath. Certainly possible but takes a lot of energy.

It's possible to recycle the water and ration or cut down in the event of anything going wrong but the oxygen generation kit breaks down and they're all dead in an hour.

Banjo String

MonaPizza

aidan24326 wrote: »

A lot of the technology we take for granted nowadays would have seemed far fetched if not outright impossible not all that long ago, yet here it is.

Humans walking on Mars will probably happen one day, whether it be 2025 or not. Cost is likely to be more of a stumbling block than any technological issues.

I agree with you aidan. I'm an engineer myself. The technology is there to get to mars as has been proven. The technology exists to derive energy and power from solar radiation. It's all possible.
The weak link is the human body (and mind). This places serious constraints on the mission.

the_monkey

born2bwild wrote: »

Maybe it's Brendan O'Carroll?

F*cking hope so, can he take all the scripts to that muck Mrs Brown Boys too ?