Hundred Year Starship

Have you heard about this? This is cool. And scary. And exciting. And disturbing.

The idea is, we send some astronauts to Mars to colonize. And they are not expected to return. They will set up a self-sufficient colony and live there.

I do feel a bit of guilt over that. I mean, that’s a pretty huge thing for a person to do—commit to going to another planet and spending the rest of your life there. And I’ve heard a lot of people comment that we shouldn’t send people to another planet if we have no way of bringing them back.

Just imagine, four months on a ship. What if you panic in month two? OMG, I think I made a big mistake. I want to go home. Or what if once you are there—maybe it takes ten years for you to feel this way—you think Oh shit. What did I do? I’m never going to see Earth again and the only people I will ever see for the rest of my life are the ones who are right here?

Holy crap. That’s kinda scary to think of. I mean, I get a little panicky when I am driving in an unfamiliar place. (Hate that OMG WHERE AM I??! feeling) Then again, 2030 is a long way away. So, while the technology for a return trip is cost prohibitive now, it might not be a thing 20 years from now, right?

So consider this the same way as our forefathers did when they explored new territory. Here in America, our ancestors came here—some willingly, some not—with the acknowledgement that they were there for good. This is kind of the same thing.

Of course, this time we won’t be stealing/scamming land from indigenous people. Or killing/converting them. Or pushing them out of their ancestral homelands. At least I hope not.

Still, I think this is fantastic. In the literal sense of the word. It’s the stuff of my childhood dreams and, since it’s expected to happen in 2030 or so, I will actually see this in my lifetime! (Now where the hell is my flying car?)