Diary of a Network Geek

I love me some science-fiction!

Tonight, Ridley Scott’s return to the [amazon_link id=”B001AQO3QA” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Alien[/amazon_link] universe premiers tonight and I’m quite excited to see it.  In part, I’m excited because it starts on Earth and then follows the first team to the movie’s namesake planet; [amazon_link id=”B005LAIHY0″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Prometheus[/amazon_link].  I hope it will show more of Ridley Scott’s vision of the future Earth and how we got to be the space-faring race we become in the later movies.  I’m looking forward to that because I think we’ve lost the drive to do that kind of exploration and I hope this movie will spark someone’s imagination and help get us off this sad, busted planet we’ve got now.
But, of course, that’s not quite what this post is about.

The quote which makes the title of this post comes from another science-fiction movie, which is being remade; [amazon_link id=”B000HIVOIM” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Total Recall[/amazon_link].  That movie, of course, has a significant portion of the action on our closer alien cousin; Mars.  And, frankly, I have more hope of us reaching Mars than leaving our solar system in my life time.  Part of that hope is due to projects like Mars One, who hopes to have people on Mars by 2023.
Granted, it is an ambitious project, but one that is possible.  How?  For one thing, they plan on the trip being one-way.  First there will be a series of unmanned missions that will bring habitat modules to the surface of Mars.  Then, again hopefully in 2023, a team of four colonists will travel to Mars and begin to live there.  Then, every two years another group of colonists will head to Mars, all also on a one-way trip.
And, how will they finance all this?  Simple.  With reality television.  Think of it as an interplanetary “Big Brother” or “Real World“.

Will it work?  Who knows?  But the Mars One video at IO9.com is pretty convincing.  And, hey, it’s Friday, so why not check it out?  (And, enjoy the movie tonight, too!)