I'm sure most of you, including myself, have given death some thought, some point in your life. Death is a world-wide shared fear amongst many of us. But may I ask, how many have you contemplated dying on another planet, notably, Mars? Zero to none I'm assuming.
Well, some people on our planet have started to do just that, that is, contemplate their life ending on another planet. Mars One is an organisation based in the Netherlands, with the contextual aim to colonize Mars, permanently by 2025. The leader behind this remarkable mission is Dutch entrepreneur, Bas Lansdorp. It is believed that thousands of applicants applied to be of the lucky four to be the first humans to inhabit Mars. Further to this, a reality television is being softly spoken about, which will be responsible for mirroring this journey to us fellow Earthlings.
Picture of Martian surface taken by NASA
To be honest, I am struggling to find good and sound adjectives to explain the rushing feelings of awe, tension, excitement and admiration for this project and the people who want to be involved. This week, Lansdrop created a short-list of 100 people from about 200,000 applications and eventually 24 will be selected, to make up six groups of four. Endemol, the television company associated with Big Brother, has reassured significant parties that once the reality TV series is created about this phenomena, it will be consumed by an audience of up to four billion.
As much as I would be thrilled to watch this type of reality show and take down notes, dissect the whole show .. I can't stop thinking about the heart palpitations some of these contestants must be experiencing, even those with a brave face on. First of all, death is almost certain for those who travel to Mars, as they are believed to be affected by solar radiation and also predicted not to live long at all if they do get to reach the proximity of Mars. To know all this and still be so determined to explore life outside of Earth and on Mars, to be a part of the history of humanity, I am stunned at the level of courage shown by these applicants.
Mars One has picked up from where Apollo left off, but there is one catch here, you don't get to come home, you leave Earth to go to Mars. That's it. There is scope for huge ethical and cultural debate here - how will their brains be enriched (will they be educated in Mars, who knows they may get educated by aliens or another equivalent life form), how will they love and be loved? According to The Independent, Professor Welch has been reported to say, "They could become depressed,suicidal,homicidal."
Personally, my love of life on Earth would take over every inch of me rooting to go on an adventure and immerse myself in an extraordinary trip to Mars. I couldn't give up not seeing my family and friends, giving up trips to the local chicken shop, giving up the feeling of contentment during a marathon of soap operas after I get home from uni. Not me.
Needless to say, however, this advance in science and technology is enlightening and moving, we have a come a long way and in order to embrace all the gems of the world, we need to start identifying and learning more. Operation Mars One - utter genius scheme - does just that!
To all the people that have applied to be a part of this life-changing mission, I salute you and wish you all the best. For those who fall in the lucky category of the final 24, my thoughts and prayers will be with you, I hope you can reveal to the world, what has been missing from encyclopaedias since the start of time, proof and studies of other life forms.