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Comment by andy_herbert | Hacker News Reader

An extremely noble goal, but I'd say it was unlikely for a reason not mentioned in the article, but heavily implied: this would be a one-way trip.

Whilst creating and maintaining a Mars base would be one of humanity's crowning achievements, I don't the proposed journey would pass the moral and ethical objections from the general public.

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Many would have ethical objections, but I think a lot of sane people would volunteer to be the first person on Mars even if it was understood to be a one-way mission.

I would certainly go, but I don't have the qualifications to be a first expedition team member. =/

Would you really? I see all these people say they would volunteer, but I have my doubts. The novelty of being on Mars would wear off in a couple years and the isolation and so forth ... I just don't buy that there are really many people willing to do that.

I just don't buy that there are really many people willing to do that.

You don't need many, you just need enough.

I'm not really interested in some new adventurous experience. I'd like to help build something like a new colony on Mars, even if it's far down the line and all I'm really doing is taking care of the first steps of on-the-ground planning.

It's a claim that has the safety of there not actually being any plan or need for me to prove my claim. But for what it's worth, I've also taken the same attitude towards startups I'm impressed by. It's not really about me and what I want, so much as there's this big thing that I want to happen and if I can shovel some dirt and bring us a step closer, I'm in.

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