Fancy life on Mars? Not the telly series, the real thing. How keen would you be? It's a chance to be one of the Hilary's, Armstrongs. or Shackleton's of the new world. A Vasco da Gama or Columbus. Fame for all eternity. The downside is - you die there. On Mars. With a crowd of like-minded lunatics.
That's what science may be offering, a one-way ticket to the red planet. You'd get temperatures of -23C, 668 days of the year and gigantic dust storms that can cover the whole sphere. Awesome.
You'd also never catch a cold, or any other infectious diseases. You might still get cancer, or another untreatable nasty, but there would be a suicide pill for that. Sounds like a dream come true doesn't it? Yet the boffins believe there will be plenty of takers. Astronomer Royal Lord Rees says:" Many could be found who would sacrifice themselves in a glorious historic cause!" He's probably right.
Me, I remember the space-shuttle disasters. Clouds of debris streaking the sky as glowing bits of God knows what plummeted. Much as I fancy a tour of space, and the chance to see Mother Earth from above, I would take the return fare option. Till that happens, they can keep Mars, I'll make do with the hash we've made of this place. thanks.
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