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So, who's up for going to Mars?
Written By Gnorb on Apr. 1, 2008.
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Just saw this announcement by Virgin and Google (Virgle) regarding a 2014 mission to set up a Martian colony, and couldn't help but get excited, dreamy, angered, and frustrated while wondering whether it was someone's sick idea of an April fool's joke. If it's true, this is awesome. If it's not, then that's that.
Can anyone verify the information therein?
I'd always dreamed of going to Mars, and seeing people with the means to make it a reality proposing a colonization project not only during my lifetime, but within the decade is... exciting, to say the least.
Ozone42
Written Apr. 1, 2008 / Report /
Shotgun!
*cough*checkthedate*cough*
Scrivs
Written Apr. 1, 2008 / Report /
Poor Gnorb.
And Mars doesn't look like any fun even if it was possible. Neptune seems more interesting.
Gnorb
Written Apr. 1, 2008 / Report /
*Cough*Idid*cough* April fool's what I figured, hence the mention of it during the first paragraph. Still, I thought I'd heard about it before, and wanted to know whether it really was a joke or whether it was real. Face it, between Google and Virgin, enough capital can be pulled together to fund something like this. And given the styles of the Google founders and Richard Branson, the writing wasn't enough of a tip to say "not serious." (It's not like they're talking about pigeon-powered searches, after all.)
A man can dream, though. A man can dream...
Ozone42
Written Apr. 1, 2008 / Report /
I'm with you there. All for it, and that team up would be the most likely candidate. Throw in the gates foundation and it might be plausible.
First though, I'd really like to get a moon colony established.
publicenergy
Written Apr. 1, 2008 / Report /
If it hadn't been for the date (2014), this could have been plausible. Virgin already have Virgin Galactic and an aspiration to go to Mars doesn't seem that mad.
However, on documentaries I've seen, even a manned mission to Mars seems unlikely for the foreseeable future for all sorts of quite horrible technical reasons. Some people reckon it could be doable in 50 years though. definitely not in 6 or 7.
Google is weird though, didn't they slip the original Gmail announcement out on April 1st a few years ago? You do wonder amongst all of these announcements if one of two really bizarre but true stories got lost in the mix! :)
RightOn
Written Apr. 1, 2008 / Report /
in the FAQ...
Okay, come on -- seriously. Is this Virgle thing for real?
What, you doubt us? Well, yes -- Virgle is real.
oh, all right. Fine. April Fool's. Ha, ha, ha. It isn't real. There. Are you happy? Does it please you to drag us out of our lovely little fantasy world, to crush all our hopes and dreams? Is that really what you need to hear? Fine, you've heard it. Virgle isn't real.
Yet.