Mars One first arrived on the scene in 2012, with the immediately eyebrow-raising proposal to send people on a one-way trip to Mars. These pioneers, being sent on regular missions, would be resupplied by cargo missions from Earth, and would live out the rest of their days on the Red Planet.
Originally the plan was to send the firsts colonists to Mars in 2023, following a number of robotic missions to deliver equipment and habitats to the surface. Questions immediately started to be raised, though. Who would build this equipment, and where would the funding for this mission come from, considering such a venture would cost in the billions of dollars?
Lansdorp’s answer was that Mars One would be a self-funded reality TV show, with people tuning in to presumably watch the hopeful astronauts go through training, before the fateful mission on Mars itself. The audience sizes were often compared to the Olympic Games, although failing to take into account that while the Olympics lasted weeks, this Mars mission would last for eternity.
“The Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012 lasting only three weeks each, yielded more than $3.8 billion from broadcasting rights only,” Mars One wrote on its website. “Mars One offers the opportunity to take the world on the greatest exploration mission, from selecting and training the future astronauts, preparing the settlement, to the actual human landings on Mars where the settlers will start building a whole new society on another planet!”
Following its arrival in 2012, Mars One went quiet for a couple of years. That was until 2015 when, following a well-publicized application process, they announced the final 100 volunteers that would be the first to train for the company’s mission to Mars. These 100 people received a considerable amount of media attention, appearing on talk shows, being profiled by various newspapers, and more.
But the cracks had already started to show. In 2014, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) produced a damning report on the feasibility of the mission. Among a number of criticisms, the report noted that within about 68 days, the first settlers would suffocate and die as their habitats failed.
By most estimates, the humans would have been dead on Mars in weeks MARS ONE
Joseph Roche, one of the 100 finalists, laid bare some of the underhand tactics being used by the company in 2015, saying they were ripping off supporters in an effort to sell merchandise. “You get points for getting through each round of the selection process and then the only way to get more points is to buy merchandise from Mars One or to donate money to them,” he said, reported Medium.
And the wheels completely came off in a brutal debate with MIT in late 2015, when two researchers tore apart Lansdorp’s mission, pointing out flaw after flaw. “If somebody was scoring this debate, giving a point for each well-supported argument, deducting a point for each weak one, and subtracting multiple points every time somebody conceded the other side’s argument, then Mars One lost it hands down,” The Space Review noted at the time.
by Jonathan O'Callaghan
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