No, no...back to Earth!

Apparently a lot of people have registered interest in going on the one-way, privately-funded journey to Mars, mooted for somewhere in the 2020's. It is one-way only because the ostensible space pioneers will be going as settlers, with zero to nothings chance of stopping the ride due to queasiness or second thoughts. Mars has a poisonous atmosphere, is very cold and water may be difficult to get at, should there be reserves of it. And quite aside from the logistical problems of hauling everything needed for survival to the red planet and then having to set it all up, there is the question of people.

Apart from the experiences of crews in the orbiting International Space Station, we simply don't know what a long period of space travel might mean for human beings, nor how living in extreme conditions might affect the psychology of what is essentially a group of strangers living together, forever. Call me unadventurous and trapped in my comfort zone if you will, but I could not be payed enough money, not billions, to undertake such a journey. Additionally, I am very fond of the Earth.

A view from the living pod. It has a certain beauty, but might become tedious or oppressive with the passing of years -