One-way Martian ticket: Pick passengers for Musk's first Mars pioneer squad

You can do it in a lot less time than that, providing you start out with enough thrust. Elon thinks that the right balance between cargo capacity and safely transiting the distance is 80 days. Add more passengers and it takes longer, less and you can do it quicker.

"Musk seems to think can be traversed in 80 days."

Those would be Imperial days which are 20% longer than regular days.

A life locked in a small room with only a computer for entertainment?

...

Where do I sign up?

If we're voting to send Trump and Piers Morgan, I also vote that we don't send spacesuits.

> Well, if it means I get to travel on the Heart of Gold, I'm in...

Just make sure it's not just a sticker over the real name... B Ark

> a human would get the equivalent of 6,000 chest xrays on a trip to Mars.

I wouldn't worry about that, you're unlikely to survive on Mars long enough to die of lung cancer.

Re: The Dirty Digger

Actually I was thinking "most of the above and quite a few more". David Cameron seems to have some time on his hands after needlessly setting the country on a course for unchartered waters, not unlike a trip to Mars.

Re: The Dirty Digger

It's Katie Hopkins for me personally.

Re: The Dirty Digger

Maybe the list should be the other way around.... 98 seats filled with those we'd like to say "good riddance and you'll make some nice fertilizer" to and the other 2 seats for two guys who make sure the other 98 step out of the ship.

Re: Journey time

"Oh, and sign me up, would you? Sounds like a lot of fun."

I'd offer a similar sentiment, but I'd almost certainly fail any health checks that are carried out.

However, as to others going - I don't care who does it first, but I want someone to do it so that I can see a human setting foot on Mars before I croak.

Despite my dislike of reality shows, I'll even watch that version (the important bits, at least), if it actually happens and it's the one that gets there first.

Re: Journey time

If anyone actually looked at the Musk presentation data, they'd see that the 80-day transit time is the "best case" scenario with one particular Earth-Mars alignment. Worst case was 150 days, or nearly twice as long.

And all of that was in support of determining thrust and fuel requirements for the desired payload mass to Mars, which determines the size of the booster, not for the purposes of scheduling how long you need to board your cat for.

While I'm at it, he also didn't promise 100 passengers to Mars in 2022. The 2022 date is for a completely different mission to Mars (Red Dragon), and he specifically stated in the Q&A that the first test flights of his "spaceship" would have many fewer than 100 people on-board. I would expect that the first flight(s) would have 0 humans on board.

Re: multiple places

For some strange reason Mrs Clinton's name is actually spelt "Hillary". But definitely a candidate for the B-Ark, along with most of the Senate, House of Representatives and the House of Commons, all the hereditary peers, bishops (of all persuasions).

Elon: the ship just isn't going to be big enough!

Re: multiple places

Dear god no.

We can't risk that movie trope of rivals becoming lovers through shared adversity. Imagine a planet populated by their offspring!

Re: multiple places

They wouldn't be going on the Heart of Gold - they're listed for the Golgafrincham Ark Fleet, Ship B

Re: I've got an idea

..."Given that there won't be a lot to do when you get there ........

There will be on hell of a lot to do once up there; building a habitat, mining, engineering, prospecting etc. I should imagine that there would be enough to do to occupy 100 colonists 24/7/365 for 10's of years ....

Re: I've got an idea

"The big benefit of my scheme is that I will also provide simulated gravity;"

If you've managed to simulate 1/3rd gravity while on Earth for the whole dome and the surrounding outside land, then you might as well just take them to Mars anyway, You already invented anti-gravity.