Sure, I’ll only be near 50. I’ll go in a heart beat. But I want some input into how I’ll live and what I’ll do when I get there.
It’s entirely possible to build cities underground on Mars. There are also places that wind and solar should be easier to generate in the canyon. Also, it will be possible to process Martian soil for fuel and products like glass. The soil will need terraforming, but bio-dome farms should be possible fairly quickly.
I don’t mind being a pioneer as long as I’m being a pioneer and not someone elses scientific sociology experiment.
Hard labor. That's my guess. They're not going to pay people to lay around. You're going to be outside in the cosmic rays, doing construction work, which I'm sure is the reason they wouldn't have me. How hard can you work when you're 84? Not very. They'd love you at 50, though. But I think that's a little too young. Life expectancy isn't going to be that great, a few years, what with constant radiation exposure, work hazards and rudimentary medical care. Well, that's just my guess, but I wouldn't go at 50.
Oh, sorry. You'll be rooming with five guys who shower once every couple months... three Russians and two muslims from Kyrgyzstan. Social engineering experiment. ;-)
Around Christmas I saw some cable program (History channel? Discover?) about doomsday escape plans with the notion of building some giant orbiting city with something like 1000-2000 people. And of course the sociologists were saying that all segments of society should be included among those "saved", including the poor among us. So much for Darwinian theory of the survival of the fittest. Didn't learn basic hunter, gathering, mechanical, survival skills on Earth. Sure, pass on to the next grade.