Mars To Stay

Currently, the mainstream view of a mission to Mars involves a return journey, which is not just extremely expensive, but it also fails to achieve one of the fundamental reasons for space exploration in the first place: To colonise new worlds.

That is why the Mars To Stay idea has been proposed, as it potentially reduces the cost of a mission to Mars by a factor of 10, to around $10 billion, and begins the long term goal of colonising another planet. After the first few pioneers have been sent, the idea is to continue to supply them with essential resources and further colonists, until, over time, they become self-sustainable.

While this may sound ambitious, and like something out of a Sci-fi movie, by far the greatest problem in achieving this goal is not our technological capabilities, or a lack of economic power to fund such a mission, but quite simply that people, on the whole, aren't interested in space exploration. As it doesn't affect people directly, and space travel still sounds like fiction to a number of people, there is simply not enough demand for a politician to see it as a vote winner, or any business/person to think of it as worthwhile to sponsor.

That is why we have created this website, in order to help raise awareness about:

1- The countless benefits to YOUR LIFE when there is investment in space and a mission like this.

2- How this is realistic and easily achievable if YOU want it to happen.

We feel that if you can help enthuse just a few people about a mission to Mars and investment in space, then we're one step closer to creating the necessary demand for a mission like this to get the go ahead.

A Martian sunset - Taken by Rover Spirit

Regarding the current status of a mission like this, while there is no real interest within the U.S. government to carry out such a mission, the most ambitious organization to propose a plan is Mars One, which plans to put the first human settlement on Mars by 2023 through a global effort of private sponsership and reality TV.