The NASA mission statement holds that the agency will "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research." The agency has overseen satellite launches, manned missions to space, moon landings, and probes that have reached beyond the solar system.
Other countries' agencies — Russia, France and China, to name three — have also completed similarly historic missions, sometimes in tandem with NASA. More recently, companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX have spearheaded private space exploration.
Mars One is another such private company. Mars One is a Dutch outfit with designs of establishing a manned colony on Mars in 2023. That audacious goal would require not only rapid technological development to make the trip possible, but also a set of volunteers who would live — permanently, no return trip — on the Red Planet.
Art Caplan is a medical ethicist and head of the division of medical ethics at New York University's Langone Medical Center. Caplan said Wednesday on Boston Public Radio he thought Mars One's goal was medically infeasible, at least at this point.
"I think this whole thing is stupid. Why? Because the science isn't ready yet to take us to Mars. It's clear we're going to die from radiation on the way there, much less: what happens when we get there and don't know how to get back?" Caplan asked. "They're not going to arrive alive. Space is full of radiation — cosmic rays, stuff flying out of the sun — because we don't have shielding sufficient to protect them."
"I say, let's keep going with the robots. I mean, it's easier to send them. They don't get sick. You can aim them at things and take pictures. I think right now we ought to be in the robot phase for planetary exploration," Caplan said, adding that he thought manned missions to Mars would be a "geek fascination" for some time to come.
In spite of misgivings about the safety and feasibility, Caplan believed it was ethical for adults to willingly sign on to a mission that — once begun — would seal volunteers' fate on a planet far from earth.
"I'm sure explorers that went with Columbus, or Henry Hudson, or other people thought they were probably going on one-way trips to who-knows-where," Caplan said. "Yeah, I think people could volunteer for such a mission knowingly and willingly."
>> To hear the entire interview with Art Caplan click the audio link above. (Mars One segment begins at 09:57.) Art Caplan is head of the division of medical ethics at NYU's Langone Medical Center. Caplan also cohosts the Everyday Ethics podcast.
