An article titled ‘To Boldly Go’ appeared in the Journal of Cosmology, vigorously agitating for one-way trips to Mars. The article proposes that Mars explorers adopt the mindsets that settlers first coming to North America had; not having the expectations of a homebound journey.

According to one of the co-authors of the article, Dirk Sculze-Makuch, this would mobilize the Mars exploration tremendously.

However the idea has been greeted with criticism and disbelief from a number of quarters. Michael Braukus, the NASA spokesman stated that the organization wanted its people to come back while Ed Mitchell of the Apollo 14 termed the idea as premature.

The two scientists who wrote the article are convinced that humans must commence the colonization of another planet as a buffer against the occurrence of a catastrophe on earth. They propound the rolling out of this settlement in a period of about two decades.

They have outlined a strategy in line with the same. According to Schulze-Makuch and Paul Davies, the ideal first settlers on Mars would be older men of about 60 years. The reason for this is the fact that the mission is likely to reduce a person’s lifespan as a result of exposure to radiation and lack of medical care. The radiation may also have adverse effects on people of child-bearing age and so these are not recommended for the mission.

Mars, which takes six months to reach, has surface gravity, a thin atmosphere, frozen water, carbon dioxide, as well as essential minerals. The scientists have calculated that the mission would be able to cut extra fuel and provision costs by 80%.
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