09-10-2017, 05:22 PM
As much as I like the idea of promoting solar system exploration to the public, I'm not convinced this is the way to do it. The good thing about HI-SEAS is that the participants are in a remote area with no contact or interaction with tourists. That's the way it'll be on Mars.
Having a resort nearby for tourists to "visit Mars" will also likely affect the experiment. Having said that, I don't know what the plans are to remove the participants from any interaction with others, and am hoping they thought of that.
At the very best, it takes four minutes for a message to get from Mars to Earth and often it takes up to 24 minutes, depending on our relative orbits. Gawping tourists aren't going to help.
Having a resort nearby for tourists to "visit Mars" will also likely affect the experiment. Having said that, I don't know what the plans are to remove the participants from any interaction with others, and am hoping they thought of that.
At the very best, it takes four minutes for a message to get from Mars to Earth and often it takes up to 24 minutes, depending on our relative orbits. Gawping tourists aren't going to help.