I don’t see a point in discussing what motivates people to either part from or stay with their spouses and children.

If I had either, I would not go to Mars. End of discussion, because aside from stating what you yourself would do everything else is just speculation and banter.

It’s useless to sit here and try to figure out what everyone else is thinking. Take for example Kamikaze pilots. They almost all had families and decided to leave them behind too. We may call them crazy but their military called them heroes. Morality is subjective and it is your place only to decide what you would do, not to judge others for what they decide to do.

So what happens if after a couple of years or so we find out that Mars just isn't that interesting? We are human and after some time the amazed factor of living on Mars will fade.

The funding will stop, supplies will not longer be sent, and if we are not self-sustainable by that time we will live for about 20 or 30 more years (which is the expected lifetime anyway) until our equipment breaks down to the point where it can’t be repaired.

I personally intend never to let that happen, because one of the things I will most adamantly request as a supply is a good 3D printer. There are proper minerals on Mars to make plastics so we should never run out of printing material, and should be able to produce whatever tools we need. Plastic won’t work for every patch that would need to be made but we should have enough of those parts to last a long while. A metal 3D printer would be nice as well.

If funding was to stop after only the first mission, it would likely not shorten our lives that much, if at all. And in 30 years a monument will be built near our landing site to remember us.

L. Spiro

I more meant what would you guys on Mars do if Mars just isn't that interesting? You have a handful of people only to keep you company for the next 20+ years.

The world won't/can't sit by and let you guys die. A rescue mission will happen and that'll take resources here on earth. You can say don't come get us but I don't think it'll matter. This could cause more issues here on earth than helping advance mankind in any sort of way. If you want to make a difference I'd say get into politics and be one of the "good guys" that can set policies that help the professionals handle this sort of stuff.

I couldn’t say. When I get bored, I do something to stop being bored. I’m not very experienced at boredom. My mother complimented me on being able to find ways to entertain myself even when I was 5.

A 3D printer, PC, and Internet is all I really need for 100 years of entertainment.

And a Super Nintendo Entertainment System USB controller or 2.

And a piano.

L. Spiro

The internet? Won't you have like 10+ min lag?

The internet? Won't you have like 10+ min lag?

A Mars trip would have, at the very least, plain-text email that arrives at earth in less than half-an-hour (Curiosity was 12 minutes one-way communication, but depending on where Earth and Mars is, it can be as long as 24 minutes or as short as 4 minutes).

L. Spiro

Woah. Have fun with that...

Congratz!

Lets hope they don't pick people that are prone to fight with each other like in other reality shows :p It's probably really interesting and I doubt you'll have time to be bored, but it will probably be times when its really hard to cope though.

Lots of meditation, exercise and healthy foods!

I think internet with 4+ minute ping would have given me a early heart attack though, I struggle already with a couple of seconds :p

Stock up on MicroSD cards and mirror as much interesting content as possible before leaving ;)
You could take a whole library in your pocket with their storage densities!

And those old turn-based-via-email games might make a comeback, at least on mars.

Iirc, aren't there also communication blackouts when earth/mars are on opposite sides of the sun? How long do they last? Could they be avoided with relay satellites in ELO's?

I think internet with 4+ minute ping would have given me a early heart attack though, I struggle already with a couple of seconds

I grew up in Kansas on a farm with no high-speed connections, cursed forever to ping over 200 in games.
Then I lived in Thailand where it only got worse, having to wait sometimes 20 minutes for a page to load.
In a way, I’ve been training all my life (except while in Japan where I have this connection: ) for crap pings.

Also, at our request they will be constantly uploading certain sites to a server on our orbiting satellite so we will in fact have instant access to the main sites we want to visit.

If it is a site such as a forum, the satellite will still be out-of-date by 4-to-24 minutes, but sites such as Wikipedia that don’t change much will basically mean up-to-date information at instant access.

And those old turn-based-via-email games might make a comeback, at least on mars.

I will probably end up brushing back up on my chess skills, getting back to http://www.chessatwork.com/. They could make a sister site, www.chessonmars.com!

aren't there also communication blackouts when earth/mars are on opposite sides of the sun? How long do they last? Could they be avoided with relay satellites in ELO's?

There will be 3 satellites: an areostationary/geostationary one over Mars, one orbiting Mars, and one orbiting the sun. These relay signals to existing ground satellite dishes on Earth.

The sun comes between Earth and Mars once every 26 months, and the sun-orbiting satellite handles these cases.

The only case that this does not handle is when the sun is between Earth and Mars and Mars is between its 2 satellites, but this is very rare, occurs after midnight on Mars, and only lasts for about 2 hours.

L. Spiro

Maybe I get what Rpiller is trying to say.

You moved pretty frequentrly (um.. every 2-3 years?) in your life, because something was not quite right in the previous places (i.e. you got bored). But now, you plan to go to a place that you can probably never able to leave, even if you get bored of it.