Using Energy and Resources from Space to Raise Living Standards of Across Earth
While Expanding Free Independent Human Societies Throughout the Universe

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Peter Diamandis on Mars to Stay


"I think privately funded missions are the only way to go to Mars with humans because I think the best way to go is on "one-way" colonization flights and no government will likely sanction such a risk. The timing for this could well be within the next 20 years. It will fall within the hands of a small group of tech billionaires who view such missions as the way to leave their mark on humanity."

"The cost, complexity and risk of round trip missions is too high. I also am concerned that they typically result in flag-and-footprint missions which is what happened with Apollo. Government space mission budgets always get cut and compromised in the long run - it's just the nature of the beast - and the science and meaningful long-term infrastructure is what gets cut out. With a one-way mission, you have to make sure you have the long-term infrastructure in place."

"A private Mars mission is likely to a five to ten billion endeavor and you won't see multiple teams ever raising this level. If we ever re-invent launch technology to reduce the cost by 100-fold, then I think a "humans to Mars prize" would make a lot of sense."

"I'm a big fan of heading to the asteroids first. In this light, I'd be very interested in a human outpost on Phobos before heading to the Martian surface. I do think this type of a human mission is within the scope, cost, and risk of governments."