Why buying a one-way ticket to Mars is madness (chance for you to relocate to new world)

Broadcaster Kate Russell wonders why anyone would want a seat on the first manned mission to Mars and If your application is successful you won’t be coming back. Ever

You have until the end of this weekend to book your place on the world’s first manned mission to Mars. The bad news is if your application is successful you won’t be coming back. Ever.

Mars One is an ambitious project that aims to recruit four astronauts from the civilian population to leave Earth for their new home in 2022. Unmanned rovers will have already assembled living pods and life support systems to allow the astronauts to colonise this brave new off-world, growing and harvesting their own food and extracting water and other resources from within the planet itself.

It sounds like the plot of a William Gibson novel; but is it possible?

As far as the science goes it’s actually not as outlandish as appears. It is within the ability of the human race today to build all of the technology required for the trip. The one thing we can’t do is transport and land a vehicle capable of then bringing the astronauts back home – hence the very definite one-way ticket.

A lot of the doubts about manned missions to Mars have been cleared up by Nasa’s Curiosity rover, which made the trip last year. While sensors suggest exposure to radiation on the 210-day flight will be high, it is not far off the realms of acceptability and could be reduced even further with improvements in shield technology. With the right training, exercise regime and medical treatment on the long voyage through deep space the withering effects of living in zero-gravity could be counteracted enough for the astronauts to land safely and still be able to function – in fact with 62% less gravity than Earth they will feel positively light-headed, and light-footed and light-fingered too.

Exposure to radiation on the planet’s surface, with an atmosphere 100 times thinner than Earth, could also be countered quite easily with solar shields, bringing the risk of fatal cancer down to acceptable levels for long-term living.