From Alan Williams, Contributing Writer
Mars One promised people a chance to colonize another planet, but in reality it seems this venture was little more than a scam.
A company called Mars One has been advertising a contest to send humans to Mars for months, taking applications for would-be martians who would be sent to the red planet to build a colony. Recently however, one astronaut candidate came out against the non-profit, saying that the astronauts that were selected paid their way into the program. Many sources like this Ars Technica article say that Mars One doesn't have enough money or income to get off the ground.
A company called Mars One has been advertising a contest to send humans to Mars for months, taking applications for would-be martians who would be sent to the red planet to build a colony. Recently however, one astronaut candidate came out against the non-profit, saying that the astronauts that were selected paid their way into the program. Many sources like this Ars Technica article say that Mars One doesn't have enough money or income to get off the ground.
The Mars One site lists only three paid employees, consisting of a CEO, a CMO, and a CTO. They have also grossly exaggerated the number of candidates. The original group was 200,000 registered, but technically only 2,000 people completed the application process. Even I almost signed up, but I found the variable application price (anywhere from $5 to $75 depending on where you live) to be weird, and decided against it. Also, several of the "partnerships" they say they have formed with TV companies and space launch systems company Space X either don't exist or no longer exist.
This is a devastating blow to the thousands of people who donated money to the cause, and some people are asking for their money back now that they know how poorly planned out this entire project is. Possibly the most shocking and confusing news to come from Mars One is that the final decision of who gets to go to Mars is made by a TV audience vote. The idea that the astronauts who get to go on this insanely dangerous mission will be decided the same way as American Idol winners is absurd.
Even beyond that, the plan has issues.
This is a devastating blow to the thousands of people who donated money to the cause, and some people are asking for their money back now that they know how poorly planned out this entire project is. Possibly the most shocking and confusing news to come from Mars One is that the final decision of who gets to go to Mars is made by a TV audience vote. The idea that the astronauts who get to go on this insanely dangerous mission will be decided the same way as American Idol winners is absurd.
Even beyond that, the plan has issues.
Mars One applicants don't need any flying experience, an engineering skill-set, or even a college degree. NASA requires that all astronauts have at least a Bachelors degree and at least 1,000 of flight time before they are even considered for a position. Also, the medical exam requested by Mars One is a basic physical. NASA astronauts must be in top shape to withstand some of grueling training exercises required for space flight. All of these flaws in the Mars One selection system signal doom for this ambitious project.
They recently announced that while they were "still going ahead" with the project, it will be "delayed by two years". The reporter who originally broke the story has said that Mars One will not return requests for comment. They did post a video in response to the allegations on their website, however the video did not include many of the answers to questions that the original reporter had asked.
According to a study by two PHDs at MIT "the first crew fatality would occur approximately 68 days into the mission". This would be due to hypoxia or lack of oxygen. If the plants that Mars One says will provide oxygen are brought along, and they preform at 100% efficiency they will actually supersaturate the air with oxygen causing a fire risk according to the study. The study proposed building a machine to actually remove oxygen from the crew quarters, but such technology hasn't been built yet for space travel. Overall, it seems that this “mission to mars” was more of a cash grab than a legitimate space exploration endeavor. Hopefully, this shady scam will not turn the public away from private space travel in the future. |
-Alan Williams, Contributing Writer