Mars One
Out of context: Reply #53
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- biusness0
Just messaged a friend who's doing a PhD at the Surrey Space Centre asking if this was legit, or just some weird viral for a film due for release in 2014, and he says:
___________________Prof. Sir Martin Sweeting, the guy at the head of the research centre I work, has given his blessing and support which is a big deal ( http://mars-one.com/about-mars-o… , third one down- SSTL is actually the payload integration/launch part of Surrey Space stuff). As is the support of Elong Musk of SpaceX which is another private space company with SERIOUS capabilities (reference: recent successful Dragon capsule docking with the ISS)
Having said all that, my speciality is propulsion- and I know that there are some significant challenges to getting serious payloads to Big Red, let alone all that needs to go into developing a vessel that will keep meat bags happy without their bones wasting, as well as the actual Martian habitats- although there has been lots of work done by the Russians and others on this.
In the end it will come down to the business case which has always been a driving force in space tech etc- because the rest is just engineering. We're now entering the age of true space pioneers, funding space adventures with private cash. If you want a ride, work for McDonalds, you might get a ticket for McSpaceShip as a retirement gift.
worth noting also that the nobel prize winner, while a quantum / string theorist, is not an engineer, nor an expert in anything which might be useful when planning such a mission...unless Wikipedia missed something...