Ars has voiced its skepticism of the Mars One plan ever since news of it broke, and it seems that double-take was warranted. Today, writer Elmo Keep published an interview with Dr. Joseph Roche, a professor at Dublin's Trinity School of Education with a PhD in physics and astrophysics who happened to be a Mars One finalist. Though Roche advanced to the inner circle, he spoke out to detail some of his sketchy behind-the-scenes dealings with Dutch non-profit Mars One.
The Mars One pitch was this: the company would accept applications from people all over the world who were willing to take a one-way trip to Mars. The winning applicants would get a seat on the first manned mission to Mars, but the catch was that they might die in the process.
The plan opened up some interesting conversationis exploration so intrinsic to an individual that one could give up their life for it? Many dreamers said it was and they could.
Still, there was an insidious side to the dream that Mars One put forward. So much of it didn't add up. The $6 billion budget seemed ridiculously low, and the company was light enough on details and partnerships to suggest that something was either very secret or very suspect.
Roche now seems to think it's the latter, saying that not once did he ever meet with someone from Mars One in person, despite the fact that he was selected to be one of the Mars One Hundredthe lucky 100 people who advanced to the next level in the competition over spaceship seats.
The professor told Keep that ranking within Mars One is points-based; when you are selected to advance through the application process, you join the Mars One Community, and you are given points as you move through each next level. The points are arbitrary and have nothing to do with ranking, but the only way to get more points is to buy merchandise from Mars One or to donate money to them, Roche told Keep. So, in essence, people are likely paying their way to a final round.
The points issued to community members are visible online as supporter points and help attract media interest (Keep points to The Guardian's Top 10 Mars One Hopefuls list). Mars One then requests that members of the community who are paid to appear in media donate 75 percent of their interview or speaking fees to the non-profit.
In addition, it was earlier suggested that Mars One could raise its $6 billion budget by contracting with TV production company Endemol, showing the Mars One project as a series of reality shows. Keep wrote today that Endemol has pulled out of the contract. That sticks Mars One with an awfully large bill to pay on its own if it moves forward.
Roche said that he made his decision to speak out when he realized that the Mars one selection process was a farce:
I have not met anyone from Mars One in person, he said. Initially theyd said there were going to be regional interviews... we would travel there, wed be interviewed, wed be tested over several days, and in my mind that sounded at least like something that approached a legitimate astronaut selection process.
But then they made us sign a non-disclosure agreement if we wanted to be interviewed, and then all of a sudden it changed from being a proper regional interview over several days to being a 10-minute Skype call.
His worry is that Mars One's lack of due diligence and its posturing without money to back it up could cause people to lose faith in NASA and possibly even in scientists.
If I was somehow linked to something that could do damage to the public perception of science, that is my nightmare scenario, Roche said.
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