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Given the chance to colonize the Moon or Mars–even knowing it was a one-way trip is a no-brainer for me. My only questions would be “When do we leave?” and “What’s my weight allowance for cargo?”
The only regret I’d have? It’s gotta be *really* hard to get a good highland single-malt on Mars. (I guess that’s what the supply ships are for.)
Why is it no contemporary article on fashion fails to mention
Hitler or Saddam Hussein when the issue of mustache comes up.
WHat about Mark Twain, Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin. Salvador Dali.
I feel like the USA stuck in some pubescent mindframe
wherein the idea of facial hair makes people giddy;
Amaybe it’s a result of all the teeny bop “reality” shows and 90210 clones with self-centered adolescents
whining and fussing and fighting.
I am not trying to insult anybody, but volunteering for a one-way death trip, in my mind, tells me that your life on Earth must not be that great.
Orwell blogs: some teachers are doing interesting things with Twitter and blogs. They post as historical figures and the kids are really getting into it. Nice, creative…should be shut down soon by every school board.
Mars: The first real space colonization will have to most likely be one-way. Luckily, Universal Health Care still means a long life…unless I have misunderstood the “universal” part.
What’s the deal with font people? I cannot fathom the passion these people have for… uh, letters?
font-chat is awesome deal with it
Helvetica was good
Legate, if you’ve ever done any design you’d understand. It’s one of those things that’s so ubiquitous it’s easy to overlook, but once you start paying attention it’s hard to miss.
And re: Mars… I’ll defer to whatever Robert Zubrin (quoted in the article) suggests for the simple reason that Frank Black wrote a kick-ass song about him: http://www.last.fm/music/Frank+Black+and+the+Catholics/_/Robert+Onion
Gov. Bobby Jindal… he’ll spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer money to campaign in churches, but I bet he doesn’t even tithe a nickel of his own money to back up his ‘beliefs’.
Sam Elliot (bastard!) has THE moustache that sets the standard…
Interesting piece about the Mars explorers. If I did not have a family I was leaving behind, I too would volunteer without hesitation.
@Angry Optimist.
No insult taken, but your logic is flawed. Just because someone is willing to go does not mean their life here is bad. Some people just want to experience things. A bucket list is the list of things you want to do before you die, right? Skydiving, seeing the pyramids, whatever.
So if you love science, and space, and someone gave you the opportunity to spend the last few years of your life training at NASA, in the suits and water tanks, flying parabolas to experience zero G and so on, just to culminate with being the first human being to travel that far in space, walk on another planet, look up and see the sun and the stars in an alien night sky…Hell yes I’d sign up. Not to mention that you would pioneer the knowledge and technology that others will follow and use to permanently colonize other planets.
People give their lives for a lot less than that every day.
Power mustaches?
That’s pretty Sullivanesque, dude. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Give me Garamond or give me death!
Having said that, it seems to me that the issue of protecting space travelers from solar radiation is one that might as well be solved first. We cannot really go colonize the solar system without it. If a round trip to Mars produces lethal consequences, then clearly we also could not go someplace, like one of Jupiter’s moons, even one-way without lethal consequences.
So, basically, until we solve that issue, we are already limited to Mars as the absolute farthest we can go, even on a one-way mission. With that limit already in place, we might as well keep exploring Mars robotically until we find a way over that hurdle.
I believe it is the Earth’s magnetic field that protects us, and near space astronauts, from solar radiation. It seems like we need that type of solution for prolonged space travel. Heavy shielding is never going to be a long term problem solver on this one.
I thought I was the only one that absolutely loathes Comic Sans. I feel empowered.
“volunteering for a one-way death trip”
Life is a one-way death trip. You cannot choose not to die; if you’re lucky, you can choose where to die. The death rate for astronauts is the same as for everyone else: one per person.
There are convincing historical and sociological arguments that liberty requires a frontier; both employers and governments are strongly incented to improve their behavior when the mistreated have a legitimate option to “go west”. Likewise, the successful settlement of the American frontier and the ending of our cross-continent expansion tracks closely with the rise of American authoritarianism. Diaspora into space must be the future of humankind if we’re to have any palatable future at all.
Re: Mars,
Can I volunteer George W. Bush and Bobby Jindal to be the first two astronauts?
If you really hate Comic Sans, you can go to Design Police and print up stickers to put on flyers, memos, etc. It has “Comic Sans is Illegal” and “Do Not Use WordArt™” stickers.
OK, so Earth’s magnetic field protects astronauts in low Earth orbit.
Earth’s magnetic field doesn’t seem that strong, maybe it works just because it is big.
I think I could make one hell of a magnetic field if I had a nuclear reactor and some superconducting coils of wire. You could even put the wires outside the spaceship to keep them cold.
I think we will eventually figure it out but I would still rather spend the money on sending heat resistant algae to Venus with robotic probes.
I think we will eventually figure it out but I would still rather spend the money on sending heat resistant algae to Venus with robotic probes.
We should be seeding Venus and Mars (and anywhere else we think might be a good option) as hard as we can with whatever microbes we think can survive there. We don’t want to risk life on a single planet, and if terraforming is going to take a thousand years we might as well start with the baby steps.
I suddenly decided I don’t like the Design Police. They’ll have to take double-spacing after a period from my cold, dead hands! (Yup, my first typewriter was a typewriter.)
“I am not trying to insult anybody, but volunteering for a one-way death trip, in my mind, tells me that your life on Earth must not be that great.”
The only person I’d swap lives with is the dude who’s going to get to set foot on mars and never come back. Not sure if that answers the question more profoundly.
And no offense, but with your attitude we’d all still be in Africa, probably in a tree somewhere.
“There are convincing historical and sociological arguments that liberty requires a frontier; both employers and governments are strongly incented to improve their behavior when the mistreated have a legitimate option to “go west”. Likewise, the successful settlement of the American frontier and the ending of our cross-continent expansion tracks closely with the rise of American authoritarianism. Diaspora into space must be the future of humankind if we’re to have any palatable future at all.”
+1 really insightful
Would anybody have said anything if the Governor was driven to church? When you add the cost of a car, driver, police escort, hotel rooms, (for long trips), per diem and overtime I think the helo is cheap at the price.
f terraforming is going to take a thousand years we might as well start with the baby steps.
I find it interesting there is little talk about the morality of teraforming. Maybe it’s just because planetary terraforming is CyFi (zing!) at the moment, but i’ve never heard the environmentalists utter a peep about the moral difference between preserving tracts of uninhabited land on Earth vs. preserving the virgin landscape of Mars.
Maybe it’s the life thing. Or maybe we just haven’t gotten to that point where it becomes a meaningful discussion. I mean, if we found animals on mars (we very very likely won’t, but if we did), would it be ok for us to become alien invaders, drop plow and “relocate” the fauna? If it wouldn’t be ok, what’s the difference between that and what we do every time we toss up a new home by the river? And if Mars is totally barren (it very very probably is), do we preserve it as a natural thing of beauty? If we want to put-down on Mars, do we preserve some other planets as natural things of beauty?
/rambling
When you add the cost of a car, driver, police escort, hotel rooms, (for long trips), per diem and overtime I think the helo is cheap at the price.
Yea, when you steal from the taxpayers to go speak at churches, it’s good to steal less.
Still, that’s a lot of car, driver, police escort, hotel rooms to add up to $1,200 an hour. The guvunah doesn’t need a big police escort – he wants one.
Environmentalists, no; scientests, yes. I just watched a thing about the Mars rover and they talked about how clean they kept it so as to keep from infecting Mars with any earthborne bacteria or other non native life.
I entreat you, my brothers, remain true to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of superterrestrial hopes. They are poisoners, whether they know it or not- Nietzsche
In a related story Buzz Aldrin says there’s a monolith on Mars moon on C-span last month http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDIXvpjnRws
helvetica was really, really good.
i have no beef with gill sans, so long as it’s not bold or, shudder, ultra. (it goes from elegant to ugly real fast).
verdana obviously isn’t as nice as futura, but the difference is unremarkable for 99% of the population.
and yes, death to comic sans.
Nietzsche who wrote “Will to Power” had the
monster power ‘stache.
Coincidence?
If it’s a one-way trip to Mars, will I still have to go through security and have my bags pawed through by TSA goons? If not, sign me up.
Also, if the cost is just $600 billiion, we should just do it. Haven’t we spent way more than that on stupider things (e.g., wars) in the last 10 years? Seems like such a potentially great thing for humankind would be a no-brainer.
“Hate” is a bit strong, but I really don’t like seeing Comic Sans come up in (nominally) professional presentations. It’s childish.
Also, this:
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07052007
“Environmentalists, no; scientests, yes. I just watched a thing about the Mars rover and they talked about how clean they kept it so as to keep from infecting Mars with any earthborne bacteria or other non native life.”
That has nothing to do with morality, though–they’re trying to see if Mars has native bacteria of its own, so a contaminated sample would ruin the experiment.
I, for one, am looking forward to smoking some martian home grown.
#3 A few more years under Obummer and the Democraps and there may be more volunteers than Need Another Seven Astronauts can handle.
If it’s a one-way trip to Mars, will I still have to go through security and have my bags pawed through by TSA goons? If not, sign me up.
Indeed. If you go to Mars, assuming you will live in BioDome, make sure you bring enough weed and booze – or at least the implements to grow the ingredients.
On Mars, the DEA and ATF can’t see you.
I was watching Cowboy Beebop last night (never seen the show, it rocks!). They were on a city on a moon with a big lake or ocean. They had seaguls flying around the dock, and I was thinking “of all the damn things to bring…why?”
I say crank up the printing press and churn out another trillion or 10 to fund the “explore space because all problems on Earth are solved and this damn money is burning a hole in our pocket”.
+420 to #32
Al Steiner has some online novels, “A Perfect World” and “Greenies”, about a dope-smoking socialist revolution/secession on Mars. If you can get past his economics he spins a good yarn.
omar,
The morality of preserving alien landscapes vs. terraforming is something that is frequently discussed in speculative fiction books that I’ve read. Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars series (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) discusses it throughout, although it’s a minor point, and the preservationists always lose, in some big ways.
I’m sure the subject is something that’s in the back of a lot of people’s minds (of those who think about terraforming at all), especially as the same sentiment of preservation and restoration gains more and more mindshare on Earth.
Regarding increased repellant of mosquitoes….Most people who maintain a high level of Vitamin Bs in their system will emit a scent (not detected by other people) that repels mosquitoes. The challenge is that Bs are water-soluble and also depleted by sugar intake, so unless you’re ingesting a good daily supplement, chances are likely that you’ll be short. A good physical indicator is the color of your urine. The brighter and more flourescent yellow, the higher your level of Bs. Pale or clear indicates you’re pretty much empty.
How could you have a gallery of mustaches and leave out Thomas Friedman and his mustache of understanding?
“Still, that’s a lot of car, driver, police escort, hotel rooms to add up to $1,200 an hour.”
These days a Governor needs security, no telling who he’s pissed off. Figure 2 hours of flight time at $1200 per, another 2 hours ground time at about $400 per and you are looking at $3200 for the trip. If you figure this Governor is going to make this trip, helicopter or no helicopter it still works out as a bargan. I wonder if people would be so worked up if it was a Democrat Governor attending Code Pink rallys.
The only thing that could make me not go on a one way trip to Mars is if my wife couldn’t come.
You may infer whatever you wish about my life here on Earth from that.
http://tete-tete-tete.com/2009/09/calling-radley-balko/
The author of the Mars piece left out the most important note. People who live on Mars for any extended period of time on’t be able to return. People born there will never be able to visit Earth.
The great author left out the muscle and bone atrophy that occurs in lower gravtitational environments. Those born there will never achieve the muscle strength to support the increase in weight that would occur as soon as they reach Earth.
Moon inhabitation is subject to the same problem. Stay a long time and you ain’t coming home. If you are born there, you can’t come here.
In all cases, their bodies would simply collapse on themselves because of the higher gravity of Earth.
Since I’ve taught this in my college chem course for more that 20 years, MY student know this.
Tiocfaidh ar la!
I don’t think any national government would be willing to send people on a one-way trip to Mars, but why shouldn’t a private group do it?
It could be funded by a lottery, with four or five winners being selected from the billion or so who buy chances at $100 each.
Where do I send my check…?
The radiation problem for the trip to Mars really isn’t a problem. If the author of the op-ed is going to quote Zubrin he should quote the part of his work where he does the math that shows the increased risk of cancer due to radiation exposure during the trip and while on the surface is a lot smaller than expected and would be entirely acceptable for a great many people. He even goes through several options for reducing it further. I highly recommend Zubrin’s book “The Case for Mars”. He works through most of the problems very convincingly using current technology.
While on the surface he shows how it’s possible to construct habitats out of martian soil that would reduce radiation exposure to less than what the astronaut would experience on earth. The thin martian atmosphere allows most of the radiation that reaches the planet to get to the surface, but Mars is much farther away from the Sun than Earth and the radiation that reaches the planet drops off quickly – inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
As for the gravity problem, I’ll just invoke the magic of future advances in technology and medical care. Nanotechnology will save us! At least that’s how they do it in the SciFi books. What’s wrong with a little wishful thinking? :)
Humans couldn’t possibly survive travelling to Mars. Here, here’s my friends Mr. Aaa and Iii and Xxx to explain how you’d have to be utterly mad to believe that is possible…
No offense, but i hate any sans serif font. Takes too much effort to read, as you can’t just skim the top half of the letters. Nearly as bad as books written in first person. Leave me my courier and i’ll pay for a one-way trip to mars.