One Way Trip To Mars, Anyone?

Two scientists are suggesting that colonization of the red planet could happen faster and more economically if astronauts behaved like the first settlers to come to North America and didn't come home. Would you go?

The article titled "To Boldly Go" appears in the latest issue of the Journal of Cosmology. Physicists Schulze-Makuch and Paul Davies of Arizona State University, argues that humans must begin colonizing another planet as a hedge against a catastrophe on earth. They believe the one-way trips could start in two decades.

"You would send a little bit older folks, around 60 or something like that," Schulze-Makuch said, bringing to mind the aging heroes who saved the day in the movie "Space Cowboys." The mission would reduce a person's lifespan, from a lack of medical care and exposure to radiation. Radiation could also damage reproductive organs, so sending people of childbearing age is not a good idea.

Mars is a six-month flight away, and it has surface gravity, a thin atmosphere, frozen water, carbon dioxide and essential minerals. The two scientists propose the missions begin with two two-person teams, in separate ships that would serve as living quarters on the planet. More colonists and regular supply ships would follow. It would be must cheaper on fuel to not come back.