Burlington Mars trip hopeful still wants to go, even as criticism grows

Though an astrophysicist and former candidate for the Mars One project has denounced the proposed one-way trip to the red planet, a Burlington woman who is in the running says she’s still on board, criticisms be damned. 

Assistant professor Joseph Roche slammed the Mars One project this week both in this lengthy piece from Medium and this opinion piece from The Guardian, calling the project a “possible nightmare scenario” for science should it fall on its face.

Roche, who works at Trinity College’s School of Education in Dublin, questions many of the project’s practices – like fundraising, the interview process and what he called an “unwillingness to engage with the scientific community.”

One person says it’s flawed, but what about the rest of us that say it isn’t?- Karen Cumming, Mars One candidate

But finalist Karen Cumming, who teaches at Sir John A. Macdonald school in Hamilton, is steadfast in her support of the project, calling it “one of the greatest technological achievements of our time” if it gets off the ground.

“I am absolutely undeterred,” she told CBC Hamilton Thursday.

So who is to be believed here? As with many contentious projects, it all depends on who you talk to.

Wait, we're going to Mars?

Mars One is a $6-billion project headed up by a Dutch non-profit that aims to launch a permanent human colony on Mars by 2025. Cumming one of six Canadians to make it to the final 100 applicants. 

• Julie Payette, former Canadian astronaut, says Mars mission is going nowhere

The 100 finalists — 50 men and 50 women — were announced last month after a search that started in 2012. As the competition continues, they may be selected to be among the first four humans Mars One aims to send to space in 2024, with more following every two years. 

Roche was one of those finalists, though a spokesperson for the mission told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland Thursday that he’s is no longer in the running because he breached a confidentiality agreement.

One of the aspects Roche criticized was Mars One’s fundraising practices. On Medium, he said leading contenders for the mission essentially bought their way to the front of the line through a “supporter points” system in which they buy merchandise and get rewarded with points.

Suzanne Flinkenflögel, Mars One director of communications, refuted that claim in an email statement, saying candidate’s donations don’t have “any influence” on the astronaut selection process.

These first rounds were never meant to be seen as the be all and end all.- Karen Cumming

“There are many round three candidates that have never contributed financially beyond the application fee, and there are many that did contribute significantly, but were not selected to proceed to the next selection round,” she said.

Interview process so far not 'the be all and end all'

Cumming says the point system exists to give people a say in “key mission decisions” down the line. The more points they have, the more sway they’d have. “It’s to get people engaged in it and have some fun,” she said.

Since applying, she has bought two posters, a t-shirt, a coffee mug and some stickers, she says – which is essentially a drop in the bucket for a multibillion-dollar project. “That’s my sole contribution to the mission,” she said.

Mars One has also “informally suggested” that if a candidate takes part in a paid speaking engagement, that a portion of those proceeds get donated back to the mission, she says.

Roche also took issue with Mars One’s interview process, writing in The Guardian that it wasn’t rigorous enough to meet the standard of traditional astronaut programs.

“I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with several astronauts and if you spend any time with an astronaut you will soon see that they are as close to being superhuman as a person can be,” he wrote. “To select such a person requires a comprehensive and exhaustive procedure.”

Instead, he said, got to this point by way of an application form and a 10-minute Skype call.

Cumming has no problem with that being the criteria to this point, she says, as there are still many rounds to go, which Mars One promises will be in person and in depth.

“These first rounds were never meant to be seen as the be all and end all,” she said.

MIT study slams Mars One plan

Then there’s what Roche claims is Mars One’s "unwillingness to engage with the scientific community." According to a recent feasibility study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the proposed plan has potentially deadly and expensive flaws.

Researchers ran a computer simulation based on publicly available information about the Mars One plan and the kinds of technologies it would rely on. The first simulation showed that without special nitrogen-generating equipment, the first human there would suffocate in 68 days.

Researchers also said the plan wasn’t financially sustainable. They invited Mars One to provide detailed data for the study and also sent them a copy of the paper, but didn’t hear back directly.

Mars One CEO and co-founder Bas Lansdorp, who helped develop the mission design, told CBC News after the study was released that the plan was based on the company's own studies and feedback from engineers at aerospace companies that make space systems, such as Paragon Space Development and Lockheed Martin.

"We are very confident that our budgets, timelines and requirements are feasible," Lansdorp added.

Cumming says she still believes in the project, and says the majority of the other 100 Mars One hopefuls (who she communicates with in a private Facebook group) do too.

“It kind of astonishes me that people want all of the details written down all at once,” she said. “Have they laid out all of the facts in front of us? No. Do I expect them to all at once? No.”

“One person says it’s flawed, but what about the rest of us that say it isn’t?”