Will humans ever really go to Mars? Let’s face it, the obstacles are quite daunting. Not only are there numerous, difficult, technical issues to overcome, but the political will and perseverance of any one nation to undertake such an arduous task just can’t be counted on. However, one former NASA engineer believes a human mission to Mars is quite doable, and such an event would unify the world as never before. But Jim McLane’s proposal includes a couple of major caveats: the trip to Mars should be one-way, and have a crew of only one person. McLane worked at NASA for 21 years before leaving in 2007 to work for a private engineering firm. Being able to look from afar at NASA’s activities has given him a new perspective, he says. But McLane was still at NASA when he originally had an idea for a one-way, one-person mission to Mars. He calls his proposal the “Spirit of the Lone Eagle," in deference to Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight from New York to Paris in 1927. McLane’s idea came from his acquaintance with a Russian cosmonaut. “I noticed the cosmonaut seemed to be a slightly different type of person than the American astronaut," McLane said. “Cosmonauts are primarily pilots, and like test pilots, they are very focused on getting the job done. The current American astronauts are picked for things such as their speaking ability and social skills, and most of them have advanced degrees.

But the cosmonaut struck me as an adventurous, get-things-done-type person, like our original astronauts back in the 1960’s." A return to the “get it done" attitude of the 1960’s and a goal of a manned landing within a short time frame, like Apollo, is the only way we’ll get to Mars, McLane believes. Additionally, a no-return, solo mission solves many of the problems currently facing a round-trip, multiple person crew.

View: Full Article | Source: Universe Today

so what's the plan? Will they issue a shotgun to this astronomer along some other important measurement equipment

This is more like a Kamikaze mission than a pioneer adventure , your not starting a new life your just completing your objectives before you die. even test pilots have a chance to come home.

The guy is nuts, what is the point of sending a man up there so you can watch him die. We can send robots until we are ready to send people up there with a plan to get them home. I think we should forget going to mars for the time being are focus on building a station on the moon. That way we can work out the bugs before we go for mars. Mars will be there for a long time.

Appolo was a success because we brought men back. If we are to send man on an one way mission we can do it probably anytime now, but thats no achievement....

Unless you are capable of bringing the people back or sending help in case of emergency it is a total brain lacking mission.

What kinds of measurements can a one-way human perform that could not be performed by a one-way robot?

If asked, I would go.

Being the first human to step on another planet would be a big enough reward.

Family and friends I could always talk to. I wouldn't really mind the delay.

Where do you people get the notion of equating this to suicide? The idea would be to pre-ship all the equipment, shelter, etc. so it's there when the person arrives. They'd live out their natural life, just there, not HERE.... Some people may be perfectly fine with this and certainly would volunteer. Heck send 2 or 3 people every few months and let 'em set up their own new world up there.

Just a minutely few Reasons of Loom and Gloom why it will fail.
The Apollo 13 Mission was planned as a lunar landing mission but was aborted en route to the moon after about 56 hours of flight due to loss of service module cryogenic oxygen and consequent loss of capability to generate electrical power, to provide oxygen and to produce water.
Spacecraft systems performance was nominal until the fans in cryogenic oxygen tank 2 were turned on at 55:53:18 ground elapsed time (GET). About 2 seconds after energizing the fan circuit, a short was indicated in the current from fuel cell 3, which was supplying power to cryogenic oxygen tank 2 fans. Within several additional seconds, two other shorted conditions occurred.

Only With the Luck of communicating with NASA Mssion Control was this Fix Made and after the Mission was aborted...
All LM systems performed satisfactorily in providing the necessary power and environmental control to the spacecraft. The requirement for lithium hydroxide to remove carbon dioxide from the spacecraft atmosphere was met by a combination of the CM and LM cartridges since the LM cartridges alone would not satisfy the total requirement. “The crew, with direction from Mission Control,” built an adapter for the CM cartridges to accept LM hoses. The service module was jettisoned at approximately 138 hours GET, and the crew observed and photographed the bay-4 area where the cryogenic tank anomaly had occurred. At this time, the crew remarked that the outer skin covering for bay-4 had been severely damaged, with a large portion missing. The LM was jettisoned about 1 hour before entry, which was performed nominally using primary guidance and navigation system.


Gee it always looks so good upon paper doesn’t, especially when it’s propaganda hype behind the sale will be with Politician Baby kissing lollipop pashing bull sh** pushed through the toothed grins “In the name of Mankind and “ “Brining the World’s Nations together”

Taking into account that we are speaking of Humans here and the Human mind, sure good old NASA can hand pick and completely evaluate their Astronauts (Right “US Navy Captain Lisa Norwalk come to mind to anyone here”) why that would really insure that a mission of such a very long duration would be accomplished, but then maybe not as if this Astronaut snapped say received an E mail from home that his or her entire family was tragically killed or some other traumatic mind shaping event, and he suddenly finds he can’t cope while performing his many mission duties and tasks at hand let alone now being hurtled toward a lone baron Rock in Space, I can see it now Many years alone and with lots of Hay Raw Atta Boys from Home, Go Jim you can do it, the whole world is watching and pulling for yah Jim we are so proud of you, and oh yah we are terribly sorry about your loss of your Family…And there he is thinking now depressed and needing to push that button to employ the landing shutes and fire the Landing booster, but no what the hell for…and the craft lands or rather impacts in a exploding heep of good intentions and world hope and oh yes, Billions and billions of wasted badly needed here upon earth Dollars.

And here’s another reason this mission won’t work, do you remember when the Apollo 13 Space craft Air Tanks let go and blow a hell of a hole in the side of the space craft, and it was only the desperate fast thinking and hard scrambling minded work of stressed out ground based Flight Engineers that radioed back the precise life saving procedures to be applied to bring those Men back home, well so what if the Mars Ship has the same or worse Life and oh yah Precious Mission threatening emergency, only this time not only does a air tank blow out the side of the Mars Manned Space Craft but also takes out his/her now extremely needed ground based communications as well, or worse with the loss of gasses and precious Air and maybe as well full on releases in the explosion sends the Craft into a deflected trajectory and makes this Manned mars mission finished, well at least until Jim the Mars Astronaut either runs out of fuel for Oxygen scrubbers or whatever, because I can tell yah there would be no Space shuttle coming after him.

And As for sending ships ahead to pre-post supplies well just watch the Movie RED PLANET and see what can go very wrong with that Idea. Sorry for all doom and gloom, but really sending a Man to Mars is a very foolish and extremely expensive endeavor even if it is backed by propaganda Hype and Flag waving I don’t believe the world will sit by and let that one happen, but then look at how much the protesting world has stopped Nuclear Reactors and wars… so maybe there will be a mission… Sorry just still pulling for the world poor classes and suffering or did they get left out of every ones thinking here? Again How much money was spent by NASA to give us that badly needed answer that Mars soil was way to caustic to support Life…think about it…focus upon this world problems fix the Earths Environment and the Human quality of life for all equally and then, then when there is nothing to do but lay in the green grass and chew upon blades of sweet grass and looking to the Heavens then maybe think about venturing to the very distend Moons and planets. Coffee! More Coffee!!!!!!!! Pavot

Dear Nasa,

Please send me!

Torchwood.

Ps this sounds like some kinda heaven.

I wouldn't go with that. It would be a waste of money cause we would lose a shuttle and it would be bad for the persons psyche. Astronauts are usually 20-30 Imagine living 30years without seeing a single person for the rest of your life. What would he do day to day. I agree we should focus on the moon before mars. Just build more technological robots and send them.

You been watching the movie "Sunshine" man?

The success of being able to step on another unknown land for the first time is a combination of accomplished tasks, that includes the task of getting back safely and unharmed.

Never have seen the Movie... Pavot

I would do it. Everyone dies at some point. To mark my death as a pioneer and on my very own planet would be wonderful.

I suppose it can be looked at this way..the person who'd be going would obviously be willing to go on their own free choice, so the suicide mission aspect isn't that big of a problem even if others see it as wrong. The bigger problem would be finding someone who knows all the technological parts of it to maintain the delivery craft and everything else they'd need to use. Also there's a huge risk factor of it all going down the drain if they fell sick at the wrong time by themselves. At least McLane is thinking out of the box, which is what we'll need to get to Mars no matter how many people go and when.

great reply from pavot i thought..


not sure what to make of this..?

a bit like having a racing tream pitt crew who are all great conversationalists or literary critics..?????

a lot of them [astronauts] are apparently members of secret societies also, i'm told
..these social skills and speaking ability would certainly come in handy for propaganda purposes also, eh?

Actually, we can't send spacecrafts to mars as and when we desire to send one. We can only send one every 26 months. This means that the payload must include rations to sustain the astronaut for a 2 yr period. And the economics & other difficulties involved in sending humans to mars every 2 yrs with the necessary rations will far exceed the difficulties we face today.

So a suicide is okay? We have no urgent need to conquer Mars that we need to loose a human in that process.

Wow !! If all this hesitant uncertainty and naysaying prevailed in the past, humanity might never have moved off the african savannah!

Hardly! Humans - rather our ancestors moved from African Savannahs because their survival depended on it. If they stayed there they would have starved to death, so moving out was a better option. But for us there is no need for a suicide mission to mars, we can wait until we develop a strategy to bring back man from Mars. Actually, I think it wouldn't be long before we develop one.

My point is that each person is responsible for their own life and can choose how they live and die. It would be no secret that it would be a one way trip and the person going would know this. Just because one person or a million people see it as wrong does not make it so, that's up to the person who'd go to decide. To each their own. It's that simple.

Being alone for so long, even with the ability to call his family and get internet for about few months of a year, could he not still go, well, nuts? And if not what of depression never seeing his family again, and never being able just to go outside without a protective suit again? Imagine, never even feeling the wind again...

Well, such a person would be a bad choice to send!

Well, all the stuff about what one must do with his life is up to him is fine. But unfortunately, its not the person who wants to die in Mars who decides what the mission is, rather it is probably NASA [assuming they are the first ones to send man to Mars] which decides what the mission is. If he wants to die in a spectacularly way, he may as well fund his own trip to Mars. We can achieve all most everything through robots what we can with a one way manned mission. The success of a manned mission is in returning him back to earth.

If they can send a single person, they can send two. I'd bet a lot of couples would be willing to go on such a mission.