We’re sort of obsessed with Mars, and rightly so. It’s close, it’s not shrouded in a layer of impenetrable clouds, and we stand to learn a lot about the Earth and our place in the solar system by studying our red neighbor. To this end, we’ve bombarded it with landers and rovers and made it the finish line in just about every bold plan for manned space exploration. (At least in the short term. Long term we want to colonize the Universe, right?)
The Netherlands-based nonprofit organization Mars One has taken the goal to land men on Mars to an extreme, and they've just released their astronaut selection criteria. The mission: a one-way trip to Mars, landing in 2023 and laying the groundwork for a colony. The gimmick: the whole thing will be televised as a reality show.
The plan, which we first heard about last year, is pretty straightforward. A series of robotic cargo missions will reach Mars between 2016 and 2021. These will deliver the materials robots will need to build the habitable Red Planet outpost before the crew of four astronauts arrives. After the first crew reaches Mars, another will follow the first two years later. Favorable launch windows to Mars come roughly every 26 months.
* Also see our video on another interesting Dutch space project: an open-source DIY rocket ship.
So who are these daring, intrepid, interplanetary explorers, you ask? Well, if you’re over 18 and have a pulse you’re welcome to apply. The company just released its astronaut requirements this week and they really are considering just about anybody. Among the key selection criteria are intelligence and good mental and physical health. Interpersonal skills are also a must. You don't need to be a pilot, a doctor or have any professional degree. Norbert Kraft, Mars One's chief medical director and a former NASA researcher, noted that the old requirements of bravery and flight time in supersonic jets have been replaced with how well a candidate can get along with his colleagues. Dedication to the project, too, is an absolute must.
And on the Red Planet, you'll need to be a vegetarian (but not, to the dismay of PETA, a vegan; "I am not the 'kale eating overlord of Mars,'" insists SpaceX's Elon Musk, who is also dreaming of a Mars colony.)
The company says applications will be available soon. In the meantime, let's study a small sampling of Mars One's selection criteria, and do a little bit of personal self-reflection, shall we?
You have indomitable spirit.
You are at your best when things are at their worst.
You know your boundaries, and how/when to extend them.
You are open and tolerant of ideas and approaches different from your own.
You ask questions to understand, not to simply get answers.
You are transferring knowledge to others, not simply showcasing what you know or what others do not.
You trust in yourself and maintain trust in others.
Your humor is a creative resource, used appropriately as an emerging contextual response.
You have a good sense of play and spirit of playfulness.
You see the connection between your internal and external self.
Needless to say, most reality TV stars on Earth might consider sitting this one out. Also, candidates will need to not have any business on Earth anytime in the future, because you're not coming home.
Of course, going to Mars isn’t like packing up the car with things you want from home and hitting the road. Technology has to be developed, tested, and built, and the crews have to know their mission inside out. That can be very expensive. Once selected, crews will go through eight years of training before launch.
Mars One will also have to buy its ride; the plan is for the crew to launch on one of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rockets in the company’s Dragon capsule. None of this is cheap.
And this is where the mission gets its reality show twist. The whole endeavour, from astronaut selection to landing on Mars, will be televised. Mars One hopes that by selling ad space on a show with a big audience it will have enough money to see the mission through. In the company's introductory video, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Gerard ‘t Hooft, who is advising the effort, says, “This is going to be a media spectacle. ‘Big Brother’ will pale in comparison.”
But there's one little flaw with this plan. Reality TV thrives on drama, interpersonal conflicts, and appealing to the lowest common denominator. Do you think Jersey Shore would have been such a cultural phenomenon if it had been Chess Club Kids Quietly Explore the Library at Oxford and Read a lot of Books? If the Apollo Moon missions are any indication, training for a mission like this involves hundreds of hours in classrooms and sitting in simulators. It’s neat, but it’s not exciting. Interpersonal drama would make it more intriguing for the viewer, but would also go against the whole “let’s send a balanced crew that won’t tear at each other’s throats” thing Mars One needs for the mission to be a success, and not just an interplanetary version of Survivor.
Then again, teaming up with SpaceX could be Mars One’s saving grace. Elon Musk may have enough money (and chutzpah) to send a bunch of guys on a million-mile voyage, regardless of ratings or public interest. And maybe he could spice things up a bit by convincing Buzz Aldrin to play the grizzly Donald Trump-like host, dealing out punches to unruly contestants. Alternatively, maybe Mars One should consider a sure-fire approach to casting their one-way mission, one that would probably ruin the science but that could have benefits for Earthlings beyond mere exploration: simply sending contestants from every other reality TV show.
More Spaced Out:
Spaced Out: Making Mars with Tom Sachs