One Small Step for Man, One Small Future Colony for Humankind
Dirk Schulze-Makuch and Paul Davies propose a one-way human mission to Mars as an affordable alternative for colonization in their Journal of Cosmology article. They suggest that eliminating the cost of a return trip could reduce expenses by about 80 percent. The proposed mission, not being a suicide one, would start the long-term human colonization on Mars where astronauts plan to establish a base for future exploration and even further space travel. Along with scientific benefits, a Martian colony could serve as a lifeboat in case of Earthly disasters. The authors stress on the spirit of human exploration and pragmatics of surviving potential Earth disasters as motivations for the mission.
