Is Mars One Going Anywhere?

Dr. Joseph Roche, one of the finalists in the Mars One project, recently had this to say about the vetting process he underwent to be considered for the trip to Mars:

...all the info they have collected on me is a crap video I made, an application form that I filled out with mostly one-word answers… and then a 10-minute Skype interview...That is just not enough info to make a judgment on someone about anything.

After  reading his story in Matter, titled Mars One Finalist Explains Exactly How It‘s Ripping Off Supporters, about the finances and priorities of Mars One, you can only ask yourself if this is an honest venture or a publicity stunt with no hope of going anywhere. Even the number of applicants is now in doubt, though this is extreme interest has been part of the Mars One story from day one.

The project's recent loss of its television contract anddelays in robotic orders seemed to indicate some significant underlying problems.  And this new interview is further unveiling some clear shortfalls.  I doubt NASA is selecting astronauts based on a 10 minute video interview, and I cannot believe Mars One is doing so with any intent to take these applicants anywhere other than a local television studio.

This is now time for Mars One to become transparent about its program.  If it is not a serious venture, I think we should all here that now and move on to more viable projects.

The 100 Mars One Finalists

The Mars One program has reduced the number of possible Mars colonists from 202,586 applicants to only 100 hopefuls.  The Mars One press release stated the hopefuls are equally divided between men and woman, and come from various continents, including 39 from the Americas, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, 7 from Africa, and 7 from Oceania.  

You can learn about all 100 finalists here.  For instance, you can obtain background on Sergii from Ukraine, who provided this video and profile:

I’m a engineer. I like research space and create space technologies. I have two reasons to go to Mars. Firstly, my dream is fly to space. I always dreamed explore other worlds, especially Mars. The dream lead me in my life. When I was a student I learned space systems and made microsatellite model. Secondly, humanity has long been ready to explore deep space and Mars is closest and more interesting object for this.

Noteworthy Quote: The First Martian?

"It would be challenging, nobody has done any research on giving birth in a low-gravity environment.  I think it would be a funny thing because the first child born on Mars would be the first Martian!"

- Statement by 24-year old Maggie Lieu, astrophysics student at the UK's Birmingham University, to the Mirror concerning her hopes to travel to Mars as one of the 600 finalists in the Dutch private-sector Mars One program.

We Are Not Alone...

That is, we are not alone in our efforts to study the solar system and dream as a nation. This is good news, and yet also a little troubling since we saw ourselves as the smartest kid on the block (though one could argue that was not even the case with Russia during the Cold War until the Apollo landing).  While the Orion mission is a bold step forward, it is not clear where that step is leading as Congress debates destinations such as asteroids, the Moon, and Mars.  And the White House seems to be taking a back seat rather than voicing a vision. 

If you look at the traffic in space, you can see the "space race" is turning into rush hour:  Here are a few examples:

- Europe:  The Rosetta mission was a great accomplishment.  Landing a probe on a comet is no small task, and the European Space Agency (ESA) should be elated with this accomplishment.  ESA is also working with Russia on a new mission to Mars, something that the U.S. backed out of earlier.  Hence, alliances are forming with the U.S. being sidelined.

- China:  China continues to work on its plans for a space station and took further steps last year in its efforts to return samples from the moon.  China already has a rover on the Moon's surface. 

- Japan:  Japan launched the Hayabusa 2 mission last month (pictured above) heading for a 3,000-foot-wide asteroid named 1999 JU3.  NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plan to share asteroid samples.

- Russia:  The Russians continue to build most of the rockets we depend upon, have discussed pulling out of the International Space Station so they can build their own station, and recently restated plans to put cosmonauts on the Moon.  Whether or not Russia will have the budget to do these things in coming years will depend upon economics as much as science and technology given the state of the Russian economy. 

- India:  India joined the big leagues last year with its successful Mars Orbiter Mission, which put a spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet. India is also taking steps to build a new rocket and capsule for future manned missions.

- Private Sector:  In addition to the various national missions, the private sector has its own plans, including Planetary Resources mining asteroid, Mars One bringing humans to Mars, SpaceX hopefully allowing the U.S. to move away from Russian rockets, and Bigelow designing inflatable space stations (see photo) for both science and tourism. 

All of the activity is encouraging, and maybe it will give the NASA and the Congress a swift kick in the pants, letting them know that the world will not stand idle while Rome (or budgets) burn and committees fiddle.  Competition helped us get to the Moon, and it may do so again. 

Image Credits:  Hayabusa 2 from JAXA and inflatable space station from Bigelow.

You Can Contribute to a Lunar Mission

Lunar Mission Ltd. is looking for investors via Kickstarter for a lunar mission.  Once funded, in about 10 years time Lunar Mission One will conduct science on the surface of the Moon to learn more about this orbiting body:

The spacecraft platform will drill down to a depth of at least 20 metres – about 10 times further than drilled before – though potentially as deep as 100 metres. This will enable us to access and analyse lunar rock that is 4.5 billion years old. By studying this ancient lunar rock we hope to shine some light on the following: What are the origins of the Moon? How did the late heavy bombardment of the inner solar system shape the history of our planet? Might the Moon be suitable for a permanently manned base for space exploration?

In addition to the science, contributors can leave something behind on the moon as well.  Contributions at certain levels will provide the donor with a "Digital Memory Box" where they can upload message, photos, videos, and more.  This information will be buried into the Moon's surface.

The current Kickstarter campaign is designed to raise about £600,000 (or about $900,000) to support continued planning for the mission.  Later on the sales of memory boxes to the general public should generate additional revenues to fund the rest of the mission.

Lunar Mission One, like Mars One, is another way to stimulate public interest in space projects and give them a sense of investment.  It reminds me of The Planetary Society's efforts to put members names on as many Mars missions and other missions as possible, which have included:  OSIRIS-REx, MAVEN, Hayabusa 2, IKAROS,  Akatsuki, Glory, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Kaguya (SELENE), Phoenix, Dawn, New Horizons, Deep Impact. Cosmos 1, Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, Hayabusa (MUSES-C), Stardust - Cassini-Huygens, Mars Pathfinder, and Mars '96. An impressive list. 

I wish the project team luck and will make my own Kickstarter contribution shortly.

Update:  Lunar Mission One's funding drive was a success. So what is the next step.  According to the mission site, now it is time to do some fine-tuning of the mission:

In January, Lunar Missions Ltd will assemble the initial project team to plan the fine details of the next six months – which will be project managed by RAL Space.  This is an incredibly complex programme involving at least four core project teams: Mission, Education, Science and Marketing.

"New Martians Killed by Oxygen"

Let's hope we never read this headline, and it may be thanks to MIT students who identified a short-coming in the Dutch Mars One mission plans. Mars One represents the first effort of a private company to place humans on the surface of Mars. What the students found should be seen as helpful to the planners and one might wonder why it was not considered earlier.

MIT students Sydney Do, Koki Ho, Samuel Schreiner, Andrew Owens and Olivier de Weck conducted their own assessment of the Mars project, funded by NASA and others, and issued their results in a paper titled “An Independent Assessment of the Technical Feasibility of the Mars One Mission Plan.”  Among other things, they reported: 

Our assessment revealed a number of insights into architecture decisions for establishing a colony on the Martian surface. If crops are used as the sole food source, they will produce unsafe oxygen levels in the habitat.

Unfortunately, Mars One was not too receptive to the paper.  MarsOne co-founder and CEO Bas Lansdorp, in an email to SpacePolicyOnline, said he did not have time to respond to the comments and:

the lack of time for support from us combined with their limited experience results in incorrect conclusions.

Mr. Lansdrop may not have time, but if I was one of the volunteers hoping to win a one-way ticket to the Red Planet, I would be reading this report very carefully.

 Source:  Table taken from the MIT students' report.

Varying Religious Views on Space Travel

"I do believe there can’t be other intelligent beings in outer space because of the meaning of the gospel,”states Ken Ham, president and founder of the creationist organization Answers in Genesis.  According to the news coverage of Mr. Ham's remarks, any space aliens are going to hell.

I will admit it is not the most enlightened view, but the religious community has a variety of opinions on this matter.  For example, Pope Francis is a little more open-minded about the issue, and even seeks to add aliens to his flock.  A Vatican Radio story noted the Pope would baptize anyone coming to the church, with the Pope noting the Church needs to move "beyond the limits, go ever forward." 

In other news, the General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments (GAIAE) in the United Arab Emirates, issued a fatwa warning Muslims against a Mars mission.  The fatwa was primarily aimed at the Mars One mission, where individuals are not expected to return from Mars.  In this sense, GAIAE is equating the mission to suicide.  Luckily, Muslims in general have been more favorable to space exploration, going as far as creating a guidebook for Muslims working on the International Space Station. 

17th International Mars Society Convention

If you are looking for more information on Mars, from past rover programs to ideas for future settlements, you may want to attend the 17th International Mars Society Convention at the South Shore Harbour Resort in League City, Texas from August 7-10, 2014.  

Last year's conference covered a number of interesting topics, including:

-- Latest Findings from the Mars Probes
-- Plans for Human Mars Missions
-- Martian agriculture/aquaculture and greenhouse/greenhab technology
-- Terraforming - Creating an Ecology for Mars
-- The One Way Mission to Mars
-- Asteroid Missions: A Bridge to Mars?

For example, Bas Lansdorp, the co-founder and CEO of Mars One, discussed his idea of organizing a mission to Mars.  If you want to view this presentation and others, you can view them at the Mars Society's page on YouTube.  And if you want to learn more about the projects of the Mars Society, I recommend you visit their website as well as view their past quarterly reports.