Kay Radzik Warren is a finalist for the Mars One mission.
Photo/Ashley hennefer
A Reno woman sets her sights on Mars
16 | RN&R |
MARCH 12, 2015
ay Radzik Warren, Reno’s new ambassador to outer space, is a petite woman, poised and articulate, with long hair and glasses. Picturing her in a spacesuit is strange—not for her lack of knowledge, ambition or passion, but because it means picturing her far away on Mars, never to return to Earth. Warren is one of 100 global finalists selected for the Mars One project: a one-way trip to Mars to establish a settlement and conduct research. Mars One is a private nonprofit organization based in the Netherlands and funded by donations and investors. Warren is 54 years old. If chosen as one of the final 24, she’ll spend the next eight years as an employee of Mars One participating in rigorous training exercises. If—and it’s a big if—the trip is a go, she’d be setting off for Mars in approximately 10 years, when she’s 64. “The plan is to launch in the 2024 window,” Warren says. “The window for traveling to Mars is every 26 months. No one is going to Mars or anywhere unless all the technology is in place. Long duration space flight, also called LDSF, is something that has never been studied in-depth.” It’s an ambitious project, not without its critics. Many say that the endeavor is a waste of time and money, which is the usual criticism of any sort of space effort. NASA and SpaceX receive similar feedback regularly. And there’s been a slew of articles speaking out against the project after the final 100 were announced. A study by MIT used the Mars One mission architecture as a theoretical study, and in its abstract claimed that any settlers on Mars participating in that mission would last a maximum of 68 days on the planet. The study abstract lent itself easily to headlines. However, the report also provides some suggestions for the trip. Not long after the report was released, Buzzfeed published an article called “Mars missions are a scam.” The Buzzfeed article was just one of dozens that emerged criticizing Mars One. Much of the criticism comes from a lack of concrete research. No scientist—yet—really seems to know the answer to the questions “What will happen to humans on another planet?” And “Is it worth it find out?
