Elon Musk: Moving to Mars will cost less than $500,000 maybe even below $100,000

cnbc.com

3 points·somebehemoth··6 comments

It cost about $100K a year to keep people in prison. Just maybe some of them would like to go and settle Mars instead of staying in prison. It might make since to pay their way. One could imagine an entire colony of such prisoners developing and preparing Mars for the rest of us in return for paying off their debt to society and their transportation to Mars .... :)

We can call them Marstralians

Shouldn't they pay the first few generations of volunteers to move to Mars? Anyone going there has the obligation of doing a lot of work in a very hazardous unforgiving environment.

The history of exploring new frontiers is a history of the desperate and motivated being ruthlessly exploited by the rich and powerful. The justification is usually “they volunteered” and “it’s worth the sacrifice.” Personally I find such arguments unconvincing when the people making them aren’t making the sacrifice.

With our current technology it seems that a trip to Mars would be one-way, and you would die young. You’d hope that means we develop better technology before shipping people out, but again, history seems to suggest otherwise.

I agree with all of this. I ask because there are places on earth that will pay you to live there. [1] In most cases you don't even have to do anything. On Mars, the first few generations will have to contribute, follow very strict procedures, be mentally and physically sound, or things will go sideways very quickly for everyone.

[1] - https://smartasset.com/mortgage/us-cities-that-will-pay-you-...

I'd prefer a return trip to a moon hotel.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com