Life on Mars: How a One-Way Martian Colony Project Could Work

t's a one-way ticket, but don't worry: You'll live there longer than back home on Earth, says Bas Lansdorp. After all, on Mars you can't get hit by a car. And everything you'll eat will be organic — no pesticides, just fertilizer made from, well, recycled human waste.

As he addresses a room full of entrepreneurs, Lansdorp — founder of the Mars One colony project—looks as excited as a child. He is here at a recent International Space Commerce summit to promote his out-of-this-world idea, a one-way trip to the Red Planet, and possibly spark the interest of investors.

"There's no good answer to the question why exactly we want to go to Mars. But it will happen because exploration is what we humans do," Lansdorp says enthusiastically.



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NBC to Broadcast Virgin Galactic's First Commercial Space Launch Live

It's official: Virgin Galactic's commercial spaceflight revolution will be televised.

Virgin Galactic's owner, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, has inked a deal with NBC ensuring that the network will air live coverage of the inaugural flight of the company's private SpaceShipTwo rocket ship, as well as other special programs in the run up to the historic first flight. Branson and NBCUniversal unveiled the deal today (Nov. 8).

Branson and his two children, Sam and Holly, will be the first passengers on SpaceShipTwo, which is designed to fly six passengers and two pilots on trips into suborbital space and back for $250,000 a piece. The spacecraft launches from the air after being dropped by its mothership, the huge carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo. [Photos: 1st SpaceShipTwo Powered Flight Test]

Virgin Galactic and SpaceShipTwo builders Scaled Composites have been putting the spacecraft through a series of supersonic flight tests this year leading up to the first space launch. The first commercial flight is currently expected to take place in 2014 from Spaceport

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http://www.space.com/23517-virgin-galactic-nbc-televised-spaceshiptwo-launch.html