This is the frontier. This is greatest adventure in human history. I would risk everything for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdhM9MYcZeE

Ferget it. I’m out.

At best, it’d be like spending the rest of your life as cabin crew on a transatlantic flight.

No way. I like the outdoors.

I would also go with the intent of immediately beginning to foment discontent and separatist sentiments. If I can’t write a sci-fi novel trope, I had might as well live one.

That said, I think it’s a great idea and I wish we would get on with it. But I think it will really be feasible after we develop something similar to ‘holodeck’-type technology, which may still be a while.

i once spent three hours on a tiny plane flying to a remote arctic village, then sat out a blizzard in a 1 star hotel. how much tougher could mars be?

It will be like that, for the rest of your life.

That said, to me the most terrifying passage I ever read about the prospect of living on Mars was written by Maureen McHugh in China Mountain Zhang:

“And there is the council meeting. I haven’t been to a council meeting in years. They hold them in the Commune cafeteria at the long hour on Thursday nights. I don’t know who decided that since the martian day is thirty-seven minutes and twenty three seconds longer than the earth day we should have the hour from eight to nine p.m. last one hour thirty-seven minutes and twenty-three seconds. If we’re going to have a long hour I’d rather have it in the morning. But it’s a bureaucrat’s dream, an hour and thirty-seven minutes to have an hour meeting.”

Then it would be best if you liked dunes…all kinds of dunes:

http://www.universetoday.com/77146/the-dark-dunes-of-mars/

… I personally happen to like dune buggies.

Of course. Sign me up.

I’m happily married, with a reasonably successful career. I have friends and family. I have a dog, a cat, a car, a bank account, and so on. I would give it all up today for the chance to be a pioneer on another world (given a chance of success, however slight). I could make far more of a positive difference on that world that I ever will in my present one.

Of course, I’m with Stephen Hawking; space exploration is the closest thing to a moral imperative we’ve got.

The technology is going to be sufficiently complex that some kind of failure is likely. Our spotty record of nuclear safety comes to mind, and that recent unpleasantness in the Gulf of Mexico, and any number of commercial airliners that crashed or blew up despite sincere best efforts. If we’re serious, we send two ships and hope one gets there.

As for taking kids, well, that’s for people who take their kids along when they drive drunk.

i’d go in an instant, ducks or not
i once spent three hours on a tiny plane flying to a remote arctic village, then sat out a blizzard in a 1 star hotel. how much tougher could mars be?

Maybe this would be a bit of a pressure valve when it starts to happen?

Just a thought.