Mars and beyond

Group plans mission to mars
A group from the Netherlands plans to start an emigration effort to Mars. Wow.
Now the headline on the Fox News story up there is a bit of a misnomer. It says it is a “suicide mission.” No, for Americans, this is no more a suicide mission than were the English and other European nations’ efforts to establish colonies in North America in the 16^th and 17^th Centuries. Some succeeded, others didn’t.
The point to me is that they even tried.
If you go back to the 16^th Century, you will find a number of references to unsuccessful settlements along the U.S. Atlantic Coast. I suspect that none of the people in this “colonies” viewed their trip as a suicide mission, although it ultimately turned out to be one for many of them.
In all of these colonies, the people who moved there undoubtedly knew the opportunities to return to their native lands were marginal at best … and in some cases they were successful in bailing out. There probably will be no such opportunities for these space-faring pioneers.
Only St. Augustine survived of the pre-1600 efforts and the most successful efforts in the U.S. came in 1607 (Jamestown, which nearly failed) and 1620 (at Plymouth, which also had a rough time of it). More followed and the risk of dying in the process was reduced.
This “pioneering” spirit is part of the energy that was invested in what became America. A similar spirit has been replicated in other places around the world, but can be seen going back as far as the Natives immigrating to the Americas more than 10 millennia ago. It was seen in the people from Europe who went on to explore and, yes, conquer the vast relatively open spaces of North America.
It is what humans do. It is what has been done throughout the history of humankind.
It, to me, is inspiring and incredible to see this Dutch group embark on organizing this adventure not as some government project, but as a private venture. They have the technology … we have the technology … mankind has the technology. We have the resources. It will be interesting if this group can raise the resources for this effort.
It is also inspiring to see American private space pioneering companies willing to join in the effort.
The tragedy is that such an effort could have been undertaken years ago to just the moon, which is not such a big leap. It still could be taken, although, this effort shows much more inspiring imagination. To the moon (been there, done that) is one thing, but to MARS … and maybe someday beyond.
My mother, who spent much of her life studying orbital mechanics and writing computer programs to mathematically model missions to orbit the earth, to go to the moon AND to go to Mars, I hope would be smiling down on these adventurers and infusing them with the spirit that she had as child of the American West in Montana.
These are the new pioneers - wish them luck