The final 100 candidates for the Mars One expedition have been selected and hope to set up a permanent community on the Red Planet some time after 2025. The reasons for wanting to go on the expedition seem quite varied as they must have been on all of humanity's great leaps into the unknown. There is much talk of, "leaving a legacy" and a great deal of pessimism about the future of humanity on Earth. The logic is, I suppose, that having fucked up one planet it's time to move on to another. But Mother Earth will continue as a benign habitat long after we have gone and for myself I would prefer that humanity used it's undoubted potential to build a more just and equitable society for itself. Amongst all the quotes from the potential interplanetary pioneers that are sculling around the media today I came across this little gem from one Hannah Earnshaw - "My family is pretty thrilled. They are really happy for me. Obviously it's going to be pretty challenging leaving the earth and not coming back but we can still communicate via the internet."
1 comment:
Anyone remember the Daily Herald signing people up for the first Moon Colony? I think it went the way of the early CND argument for irrigating the Sahara with peaceful nukes.
Treat yourselves to a good book on the subject of space exploration and Mars. I worked with friends in NASA on this and got applauded by the US Vice President's Chair on Martian Studies as well as by Patrick Moore. I did a chapter on how colonists could green Mars, and mentioned the psychological problems facing colonists. But please save me from the madness of the Greens and anti-frackers in the UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Extra-Terrestrial-Intelligence-Philosophical/dp/0415243416
Post a Comment