The Best Australian Science Writing 2015 Read Online Free PDF Page A

Apollo lander, and from then on fine-tuning every aspect of his life to maximise his chances of going into space – which he achieved 26 years later at the age of 35.
    â€˜Thirteen years ago we started living on the space station, so we basically started colonising space. The next steps out were the Moon, asteroids and then eventually Mars. We absolutely need to do it on the Moon for a few generations, learn how to do all ofthose things – how do you completely recycle your water? How do you completely recycle your oxygen? How do you protect yourselves from radiation? How do you not go crazy? How do you set up the politics of the place and the command structure, so that when we get it wrong we won’t all die? It’s not a race, it’s not an entertainment event. We didn’t explore the world to entertain other people. We did it as a natural extension of human curiosity. And that’s what will continue to drive us.’
    His doubts were reinforced when, at the 65th International Astronautical Congress in Toronto, four MIT PhD students presented a 35-page paper on the technical feasibility of Mars One’s plan. The students concluded that (among many, many concerns) the oxygen required to grow crops would quickly rise to deadly levels, producing almost 100 per cent humidity, requiring venting via as yet non-existent technology that would separate nitrogen and oxygen; the habitat would soon become a serious fire hazard and the colonists would likely asphyxiate as a result.
    The first fatality would occur 68 days after landing.
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    CEO Bas Lansdorp is vague on the details of Mars One’s financial status.
    On its site, Mars One sells merchandise and lists a page of ‘silver sponsors’, which include a science blog, a Dutch film company, a translation agency, a consumer electronics retailer, and an open-source 3D-printing software provider. On contacting one of these, I learned that the cost of becoming a silver sponsor is less than $10 000, but my source would not say exactly how much. Mars One is also casting around for designers willing to make online advertising in return for merchandise (including a mug). It lists a tally of donations, split into countries, all the way down to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s $1 pledge. The total, at thetime of publication, was US$784 380. That’s just over 0.01 per cent of the $6 billion mission price tag.
    â€˜Right now Mars One is receiving funding from investors, donations from all over the world, and small corporate sponsors are helping us. We’re in negotiation with a few very large brands,’ says Lansdorp. But he won’t talk specifics about which brands or what their investment would be. He says the company has the funds available for the unmanned lander feasibility study and the suit study currently under way.
    Then there’s the company’s claim that 200 000 people applied for a one-way ticket. This statistic, issued by Mars One’s press office, was picked up with credulous haste by news outlets around the world. Even religious leaders made their opinions known, with the UAE-based General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment forbidding Muslims from applying, as to leave the sanctity of Earth forever would be an affront to Allah.
    But Norbert Kraft has told The Guardian he was sorting through 80 000 applicants, not 200 000. NBC News tallied the number of video applicants on the Mars One website and came to 2782, each of whom paid an application fee of between $5 and $75. I ask Lansdorp where the 200 000 people registered their interest and if this list was ever made public. His answer is … complicated.
    â€˜I don’t know if that was ever made public, but they have registered on our website,’ he says. ‘Then there was a number of steps where people had the opportunity to drop out. The application process was kind of a self-selection that avoided us having to review all of them. The first