I keep saying it... There are billionaires alive today, who might actually chose to die on Mars. They could do it.
If James Cameron, Richard Branson, or Elon Musk decided they wanted to die on Mars, I think they could make it happen. And I don't think it would be a big departure from their personalities.
And I don't think it would be a PR disaster.
I think it would be inspiring as hell.
"All men die. Not all men truly live. Follow me to Mars. Colonize it. Make it a second home for humanity. Life is too precious to keep all of it in one basket."
It might be, depending on how you write it.
"Millionaire crackpot Elon Musk and his crew asphyxiated on Mars today, after the Banks Dome suffered a catastrophic failure. Musk spent over six billion of his personal wealth to get himself and his crew of seven to the red planet. He is survived by his wife and five children, all of whom have launched lawsuits against SpaceX, arguing that he was clearly not of sound mind."
Billions do not buy you much in terms of comfort on the way to Mars.
Yes, it Will be hard for non-billionaires, too, but they will give up less, and have more to gain; they aren't famous yet.
He also worked as a truck driver for a while...
...and he'd probably bring VR along, and have multiple crews back on earth filming anything he wanted to see...
And I'm talking about them near the end of their lives... I could envision it happening.
Advancements by SpaceX have not been released. They haven't even been patented because SpaceX is competing against governments, so Musk does not want to disclose information to them. And since the product (rockets/spacecraft) can't be examined by the public, there's really no incentive to public domain the tech and give it to competitors.