That is the cynic in me talking though, i do want the mission to go ahead. I believe space exploration, though in times of financial constraint is probably seen as frivolous, is vital for humanities development and advancement. I think for humanity to evolve and advance, for us to progress and not stagnate, we need a great unknown for us to stare into, a mirror for our collective souls, the last and unconquerable wilderness. This enthusiasm i have for are outward exploration is not without it's qualms. Considering the undue restraint and rationality we've shown on Earth when it's come to natural resources i'm fairly sure we'll lurch about from planet to planet, blowing huge chunks out of them and scooping out the yummy innards, all the time shouting 'Yee Ha!' and 'Get some'.
Whilst space exploration is currently more or less monopolised by NASA i expect most of the missions will have a fairly high minded and scientifically sound objective. To learn and discover rather than to vanquish and exploit. But as soon as Space travel becomes safe enough and financially viable the private sector will come in and their sole purpose will be profit. Is this necessarily a bad thing? There is no doubt that earth is in dire need of more resources to fire the furnaces of our never ending technological development and rather vulgar population growth, and if we don't find some sustainable alternatives or new sources we're going to have a bit of an Easter Island situation going on, just so that in some distant future aliens can scratch their multiple heads and wonder why we consumed our resources and left nothing but skyscrapers and Starbucks.
Of course the resource problem can be solved quite simply, with less people. The huge and incessant population boom that has gone on for the last hundred years has created a problem that no governments will dare touch. We need more food, more fuel, more houses and more jobs. People are living longer so we now have more elderly we need to support. Poverty and disease (which used to be pretty effective at keeping us in check) have been reduced so less people are dying young. The developing world has huge population growth and a burgeoning middle class who want all the things that we've smugly enjoyed for the past 50 years. As their wealth increases they want to drive cars, eat more meat, live in better houses and have electric lighting and central heating, and why not? They're in their ascendency and probably think it's pretty rich of the West to start harping on about carbon emissions just as they're about to get their fancy hover boards and silver foil jumpsuits like we did in the 80's.Also a special mention to the comments section on the Daily Mail website. 'Can I claim asylum there?, There has to be some place in the Solar System not infested with Socialists?'says Alex of Co Durham. Well done
Alex, you're an idiot.
Of course no democratic government will ever sanction a population limit. It's a sure fire way to get voted out by having a 'less babies, more taxes' stance at an election and the problem with the democratic system really is that politicians aren't looking much further ahead than the next election. It's been pointed out that in the West our population should level out and even drop by about 2030 as we're a bunch of selfish hedonists and would rather spend our money on our own, beautiful selves than a shit ridden baby, but this will only be a temporary drop. The ideal way to solve the population problem would be for a future Totalitarian World government to simply make us stop having babies, and concentrate on what matters, servile, emotionless worship of the State, but we'll probably find reasons to bitch and moan about that. Which is a shame, as the uniforms are cool
Anyway, after the usual diversions around the back alleys of my brain we return to the initial article, and those intrepid few who might be chosen for this mission to boldly die where no man has died before. You'll remember that this mission was a one way mission, and i feel that we should at least hold out the possibility of safe return for them, as most people, unless of exceptionable soundness of mind and possessing tremendous moral fibre, tend to go a bit funny when left isolated and abandoned far from civilisation.
In 1629 a Dutch ship called the Batavia hit a reef off the coast of Western Australia (my handy metaphor for Mars) and about 280 survivors managed to scramble onto nearby islands for safety. There had been attempts at staging a mutiny before the shipwreck so relations weren't quite cordial, but with their lives in such imminent danger you'd expect them to all band together right? The Captain, senior officers and some passengers, after searching in vain for drinking water set off for Dutch controlled Jakarta (a bloody long way) and returned 2 months later to find
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You see they'd left a man called Jeronimus Cornelisz in charge of the survivors and owing to bad luck or very poor judgement or character no one had realised he was a raving psychopath and deluded fanatic, who believed God himself inspired his deeds. Why it is people like this always seem to think God is giving the old wink and nod to murder and rape escapes me, but perhaps he was just a victim of his time. No one would have noticed if he'd been in the Crusades.
Anyway, you can read about the party ship Batavia here
And the super fun space mission of certain death herehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1324192/Nasa-plan-Hundred-Year-Starship--mission-astronauts-Mars-leave-forever.html
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