The Criticism

I personally have a lot of problems with the Mars One plan. So many problems, in fact, that I was left scratching my head after hearing the scant details for the mission. A team of mostly non-scientists wants to run a media circus to gather contestants to spend the rest of their lives on Mars as part of a reality television show? Good luck with that.

Despite all of the things I find troubling about the mission, it occurred to me that Mars One might actually be a serious endeavor—Bas Lansdorp might actually go through with his idea of starting a permanent colony on Mars in 2023. If Mars One does intend to go through with their plans, I would rather add my voice to the discussion rather than just laugh the project off. Hopefully, if enough people voice their concerns over the project, Mars One will give certain aspects of their project more thought.

No Way Back

I want to reiterate that the Mars One mission is a one-way trip, with no plans for a return journey. Mars One cites two main reasons for this: cost and difficulties in readjusting to life on Earth. Mars One’s website says that in the future, maybe a return trip could be planned for some of the colonists—but each of the potential astronauts should be prepared to live out the rest of their lives on Mars.

According to Mars One, the cost of a return trip would eat up 80% of a proposed round-trip budget—as it’s currently more cost-effective to exclude a return trip, Mars One is going in that direction. 

The thing to remember is we are constantly finding ways to make technologies more efficient and cost-effective. I think it would be well worth the effort if the Mars One mission would shift some of their focus into finding ways to curtail the cost of a return trip.

According to the Mars One website, after an extended stay on Mars, the human body will deteriorate to a point where living on Earth again would be impossible. That certainly poses a huge problem for anyone who wishes to return to Earth—but given enough time and research, we could surely find a solution to the problem.

Shoddy Planning?

The Mars One mission has been heavily criticized over the Internet for their apparent lack of planning and knowledge. Bas Lansdorp did two decidedly unsuccessful Q&A sessions on Reddit, wherein many members of the community asked tough questions that Lansdorp seemed unprepared to answer. It is interesting to note that Lansdorp does not currently have enough funds to cover even the first trip to Mars—he plans to use the media as well as sponsorship to fund the entire project.

Though the website provides some information, there aren’t very many details to give, and Lansdorp still has yet to address many of the concerns that have been voiced over the past year. 

As no one on Lansdorp’s main team has extensive experience with interplanetary travel, 

I’m concerned that Lansdorp doesn’t yet have a solid plan—that he only has the outline of a Mars pipe dream. He seems more concerned with the ultimate goal of getting to Mars than the actual work necessary to make the mission possible.

Why Go To Mars?

Why on Earth (no pun intended) would you want to start a permanent colony on Mars in just 10 short years? Well, we want to go to Mars for a lot of reasons. One of the most common reasons I see is the sense of adventure in going where no man has ever set foot before. In fact, many of the applicants featured on the Mars One website cite that very reason for their interest in the project.

But after all the excitement of adventure is over, what’s there to do? Forgetting the very human dream of exploring and conquering new worlds, I pose the same question: why would we want to start a permanent colony on Mars so soon? 

Mars is similar enough to ours that, with the proper equipment, it is possible to survive on the planet. It is probably even possible to eke out an existence on Mars. But in its current state, there’s really no reason to want to live on the planet indefinitely.  The research that could be done on Mars would be invaluable—but at the moment, research alone is no reason to send people to live there forever. 

Proponents of the Mars One mission often compare it to different successful exploration ventures and colonies throughout human history. In the past colonists often didn’t know if they would ever make it back to their homelands—but they had the bravery to go anyway. The argument is always “They did it then—why can’t we do it now?”

But why do we have to be like the explorers of years past? We can be even better than that. What separates us from explorers of the past is that we know more—and have the opportunity to learn more still—about our target destination without personally leaving home.

When the first European explorers came to the Americas, they did not have the option to send an unmanned boat to the continent and remotely pilot robotic conquistadors to survey the land.  We can do that. And we have. And while I’m sure the Mars One project will use data obtained from our survey of Mars to influence how they go about their mission, it seems a bit foolish to start making plans before we know more about the logistics of humans staying on Mars indefinitely. 

With the combined efforts and combined information we get from the Curiosity, Spirit, and Opportunity rovers, as well as the several satellites currently orbiting Mars, we know more about Mars than the Europeans could have ever known about the Americas.

I find it a bit insulting to our current level of knowledge and technological capabilities that the Mars One project would neglect all of the wonderful things that can be done with proper planning and instead embark on a half-baked journey to a planet millions of miles away. 

I also find it a bit troubling that the mission seems focused on the here-and-now rather than the future. Because Mars One wants to leave so soon, the mission will neglect newer, more efficient technologies that could be made to make the journey easier. 

If Lansdorp would more of his efforts into making a successful mission rather than a successful media event, I really think that the Mars One concept could go far. 

A return mission will cost too much money? So let’s work on lowering that cost to make a return trip more feasible. We don’t know all of the psychological risks inherent in shipping someone off to another planet for the rest of their lives? Well, let’s work more on finding out before we start selecting applicants. 

I suppose the core of my criticism is that Lansdorp should consider taking more time to plan out a mission of this caliber properly. A colony in 10 years is just too soon.

I want to end this by making something clear: I want to go to Mars. I don’t mean that I want humanity to get to Mars—I mean that I, personally, would like to someday stand on the sands of the Red Planet. I, personally, want to venture outside our solar system. I want to travel to the far reaches of the universe and marvel at the wonder of eternity. I probably won’t get to do most of that in my lifetime. But as long as I am here, I would like to venture into space exploration cautiously—but with the same spirit for adventure that has set the precedent for human expansion for thousands of years. 

Someday, humans will reach Mars. 

What’s the hurry?