one-way Mars mission

TRX
November 21, 2011
79:

"Energy loss" has been mentioned in context of going from plants to meat. I'm not sure I understand what that means in context. Unless something miraculous happens with regard to solar cell efficiency, you probably brought a nuclear power plant along to provide heat and electricity. It'll do to keep inflatable farm domes warm. A bunch of megawatts at hand is too useful to forego without some dire reason.

TRX
November 22, 2011
151:

{Lots of commentary on risk and one-way missions}

1) given the debilitation of years of zero and Martian gravity, coming back might not be all that attractive

2) while extensively-trained Ph.Ds would be nice to have on-site, any schmuck can run the equipment, take measurements, and consult with any number of experts back home. Remember, though bandwidth wouldn't be all that large, they'd still be in communication with Earth.

3) if we plan to eventually send a colony to stay, one-way missions make much better economic sense than return missions.

4) With 7 billion people to choose from, I doubt volunteers would be a problem. I'd go, though I'm probably not a highly desirable choice.