Final Mars One Numbers Are In, Over 200,000 People Applied 176
An anonymous reader writes "The first round of the Mars One Astronaut Selection Program has now closed for applications. In the 5 month application period, Mars One received interest from 202,586 people from around the world, wanting to be amongst the first human settlers on Mars."
Re:Modern era Mayflower (Score:2, Informative)
The Puritans were not 'fleeing' religious persecution. Being 'Puritans', they strongly disapproved of the increasing liberalism in Europe. They traveled to the new world so that they could enforce their views in the new colonies.
Re:Of course the application wasn't free (Score:5, Informative)
I post this every time another MarsOne piece of fundraising comes up. So here goes again....
I really wish people would stop posting MarsOne propaganda. It's a scam, pure and simple. It's been pointed out time and time again that their team is primarily artists and PR people. Just look here for yourself:
http://www.mars-one.com/en/about-mars-one/team [mars-one.com]
Of the 7 people listed there's: an artist, an editor, a communication specialist, a communications director, and an MD. There's only 2 people who could conceivably have any expertise on getting to Mars.
They did an interview (AMA) on reddit and were torn apart:
http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/ufb42/ama_i_am_founder_of_mars_one_sending_four_people/ [reddit.com]
They lack any coherent plan on how they're going to even test their technology, let alone actually get people to Mars. Stop looking towards entertainers to do what you know will require a massive engineering effort. These people are after free press and free money.
STOP FEEDING THESE PEOPLE FREE PRESS!
Re:Of course the application wasn't free (Score:4, Informative)
Nice strawman.
Successful commercial launch systems already exist. And soon, in a few years probably, commercial man rated launch systems will exist too. No one here is refuting this.
Mars One is an out and out scam. That is the claim. Anyone who thinks Mars One is legit needs to familiarise themselves with what a real manned space mission looks like and what is really involved, the time, cost, and expertise, of a manned space mission. I suggest start here [wikipedia.org]. And save yourself the bother of arguing that Apollo was 40 years old and with todays methods make it easier. Here are some mind boggling facts to get your head around and hopefully instil some badly needed incredulity:
1. We have not returned to the moon or even left orbit of the planet since 1972
2. Apollo cost $170b in todays rough figures. 30 times more expensive than Mars One
3. Apollo at its peak employed over 400 thousand people. Mars One - today is a dozen or so and most of them are Marketing/PR types who know fuck all about problem domain they are working in
4. Apollo mission profile is significantly simpler than Mars One. Although the return journey complicated the mission profile,the mission profile of Mars One incurs its own complications : extended stay in deep space and the necessity to provide life support and supplies for extended period of time
5. Apollo delivered in about 8 years along the way they had real and incremental work outputs to show for it. Mars one have been going from about 2011 and they have no tangible outputs to show for it other than martketing/PR spin