[ExI] Humans on Mars

Stuart LaForge avant at sollegro.com
Thu Aug 24 10:21:03 UTC 2017


BillK wrote:

>There are plans under discussion to send humans to Mars, with many
>technical problems to be solved. A round trip will take many years and
>one suggestion is that settlers on Mars would stay there and never
>return to Earth.

>One thought has occurred to me that I don't remember being discussed
>and it applies to all deep space missions.

>How do these travellers get paid if they never return to Earth?

Well if I were on such a one way mission, I would want to get paid with
regular shipments of supplies, terraforming equipment, and title to as
much Martian real estate as I could make habitable.

>Money and status are the usual rewards for humans. But these
>travellers are not returning to Earth. If deep space travel requires
>volunteers prepared to work for nothing, going on what could be
>thought of as almost suicide missions, then you are going to get some
>very unusual (strange?) people applying.

Perhaps. But explorers and settlers always have been a strange lot. Would
be  conquerors or adventurers on the run from the law or excessive debt,
or people belonging to strange religions trying to escape persecution.
They all had their reasons plus there is such a thing as posthumous glory
that ones descendants could benefit from.

Stuart LaForge





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