Would you go on a one-way trip to Mars?

[Skandi]

Yes I would go, whether it was to start a colony or just to prepare for others to do that, my life is less important than those who come after, besides getting ones country remembered is important! look at my sig for more.

[Svipdag]

Nothing which we could mine on Mars could be worth the cost of transporting it. However, there is a very valid reason to establish some kind of manned base on Mars.

Earth is in constant danger of an asteroid impact which could exterminate all life on this planet. Mars would be invaluable as a distant early warning station
to detect approaching asteroids in time to take effective action.

In fact, spacecraft equipped to deflect an asteroid, e.g.by vapourising part of its surface with a powerful infrared laser beam, causing a recoil, would be more effectively deployed from Mars when there is ample time, than from Earth when it would probably be too late.

The value of this function would enormously outweigh any conceivable economic benefit we could ever derive from any resource which we might find there. Such an installation on Mars could very well be essential to the survival of life on Earth.

[Cato]

Earth is in constant danger of an asteroid impact which could exterminate all life on this planet. Mars would be invaluable as a distant early warning station
to detect approaching asteroids in time to take effective action.

The gas giants, especially Jupiter, have such a huge gravitational force that they serve as a huge magnet of sorts for asteroids, comets, and the like (like Shoemaker/Levy 9).

Mars could, indeed, act as an early warning station for rogue bodies that make it beyond the Jovian system.

[Eldritch]

The gas giants, especially Jupiter, have such a huge gravitational force that they serve as a huge magnet of sorts for asteroids, comets, and the like (like Shoemaker/Levy 9).

Some astrobiologists actually consider the presence of a large gas giant on the outskirts of the solar system to be necessary for life to be able to develop and thrive on the smaller planets closer to the star.

[Cato]

Under some circumstances I would consider it.

[Lithium]

If I can take the discographies of Hexperos and Gothica, I would go definitely

[Germanicus]

Under some circumstances I would consider it.

For me even to consider it i would ask for these things.

1/ My descendants never have to pay income tax or national insurance contributions.

2/ My female companions would all have to be of child bearing age, blond, blue eyed beauties, it would be up to the other males to choose their own prefered women.

3/ Enough materials and supplies to populate considerably.

4/ Scientific , agricultural, and medical material to help be self supporting in 5 years.

5/ Assured no Earth interference from goverments and political ideals.

[Liffrea]

Originally Posted by Svipdag
Nothing which we could mine on Mars could be worth the cost of transporting it.

That’s assuming that this is A) Correct, it will be some time before we know exactly what Mars has to offer and B) They would transport it to Earth anyway. True it is less likely to have more to offer than the literally zillions of dollars floating around in the Asteroid Belt, but its use as a stop over point seems likely to generate income for ingoing/outgoing vessels. Besides that how many groups on earth from disgruntled minorities to corporations would like to be out of earth jurisdiction? I’m sure quite a few corporations would see economic potential in establishing a Mars economy, once it is cheap enough to get there and set up shop.