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OPINION: The Mars reality comes to life

The Mars One project to colonize that planet by 2024 sounds like science fiction to me. Apparently 200,000 adventurers expressed interest in one of the 24 seats on the one-way trip to the Red Planet.

The Mars One project to colonize that planet by 2024 sounds like science fiction to me.

Apparently 200,000 adventurers expressed interest in one of the 24 seats on the one-way trip to the Red Planet.

The list has been narrowed down to one hundred finalists including four lucky Canadians.

The final selection process will further reduce the crew to two dozen prospective Martians who hope to leave Earth forever.

The Mars One project is headed by a Dutch organization which plans to colonize the red planet in 10 years at a cost of $6 billion.

That seems a tad frugal to me.

It looks like a low-budget, cut-rate expedition – NASA’s budget for a trip to Mars is tens or even hundreds of billions more costly.

But the Mars One organization says it can be accomplished easily and inexpensively using existing, off-the-shelf technology.

That’s not very reassuring.

Astronauts on that spaceship will be a little nervous knowing it was built using obsolete parts from the NASA surplus store.

In fact, the closer I look at this mission the more suspicious I become that this ambitious undertaking is just a front for a new reality show.

The Mars One web site includes fun facts about the one hundred finalists and the mission itself but much of the information seems frivolous and sensational.

It doesn’t reflect a sophisticated scientific organization planning a very difficult and dangerous mission.

It comes across more like a colossal fundraiser and a trailer for the upcoming reality series based on the fortunes (or misfortunes) of two dozen hapless Martians.

The site implores visitors to spread the word about Mars One on Facebook, Google and Twitter in the hopes that something will go viral.

Supporters are encouraged to make financial contributions, become corporate sponsors or simply visit the on-line webshop to buy a t-shirt or souvenir novelty.

The business model includes fundraising activities such as on line crowd-funding, corporate sponsorship and especially the sale of media rights.

This ultimate reality show offers gripping human drama, science fiction, extreme difficulty, danger and the prospect of certain death.

If everything goes as planned we can follow the crew for a decade as they train and prepare for their ultimate adventure.

Then, we will travel with the astronauts and if they survive the perilous six-month journey to Mars we can watch them fight for survival on a hostile planet.

And if not, there’s nothing like the prospect of grim, horrible death to boost ratings and attract sponsors.

The potential revenue for this decade-long reality show could easily exceed the six billion dollar price tag for the mission.

Even if the mission never leaves the ground the organizers will still be sitting pretty and the sponsors will be satisfied with the ratings.

In fact, there is a growing feeling that Mars One is an elaborate hoax and the resulting reality show will be the scam of the century.

The final crew selection will be made with a reality, TV-style competition.

According to experts at MIT, if these astronauts ever make it to Mars they will begin dying within six to eight months.

They will perish one by one from hypoxia, starvation, carbon dioxide poisoning or death by spontaneous immolation due to an oxygen-rich atmosphere.

It has all the makings of a dynamite reality show.

Personally, I’m a little disenchanted – it reminds me of the time NASA claimed to have landed on the moon.

Skeptics said it was also a hoax, elaborately produced on a sound stage somewhere.

Sometimes it’s hard to separate virtual reality from the real thing.

Stay tuned for further developments.





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