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A group of scientists or astronauts will be brought to Mars along with hi-tech equipment and small nuclear reactor, and they will be able to produce oxygen, water and food.

Sounds great. I want to see this working on the moon before I trust my life to it.

But the idea of sending unmanned robot ships to carry food and supplies is something to consider, whether or not we call it a one-way trip for the human explorers. We could pre-position everything needed for a couple of years survival, and even pre-position 100% backup, or 300% backup, whether in orbit or in on the ground. When the crew arrived in their ship there could be several shiploads of equipment already there waiting for them. Telemetry could assure the condition of their supplies before they ever leave earth.

If it was me I would want plenty of backup, and the tools for repairs. If it takes 6 months or a year to get parts, you had better have plenty of parts on hand and a machine shop to make what you don't have.

You are not going to go to such lengths just to provide your crew with a Martian retirement home, the point in going is that there is plenty to do, I am convinced they should make subsoil mapping a high priority. That means carrying a lot of specialized equipment along with them. And the tools to fix it.

No one is going to volunteer for a suicide mission, though, and if they would they may not be stable for the long haul in any case. You have to provide a way to get out if everything goes wrong.

There are different levels of safe. Someone who sets out to climb Mount Everest does not measure safety the same way an office guy does, he has specialized skills and specialized knowledge that makes certain things safe for him that would be foolhardy for someone else.

That doesn't mean he is not concerned about safety, since he's the one doing it, he's probably very focused on equipment, backup, backup plans, and so forth. He will do everything he can to make sure he gets home to drink that victory beer afterward. No one wants to die from something stupid.

But its still dangerous, and plenty of would-be Everest climbers don't come back. You make it as safe as you can, but in the end you still have to go up the side of the mountain.

A Tradition That Embraces Looking to the Heavens***In the last decade of the 16th century, Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague argued that human intellect, because it is married to the image of God, "transcends" nature: It is only properly utilized when it flexes its muscles and unlocks all the secrets that can be known. In other words, it is inherent in our very humanity that, within the realm of the permissible, "we can do" morphs into "we must do." It is this spirit that drives us to explore our solar system.***

>But the first explorers of Mars will fulfill the important task of founding the colony.

The First Fleet was frighteningly underprepared for the task which faced it. Little was known about the climate, animal or plant life of the land mass, and many of Cook's encounters with the Aborigines had been hostile, at least in part. As Cook said in his diaries,"All they seem'd to want for us was to be gone".

The Fleet consisted mainly of convicts with officers to guard them. There were many more men than women - around four men for every woman - and this caused problems in the settlement for many years.

Few people in the Fleet had any experience of cultivating the land and this, combined with poor soil in the area, lead to the development of farms around Parramatta, but, more seriously, to near starvation in the first years of settlement. Food shortages were severe and the fledgling colony eagerly awaited on the arrival of the Second Fleet in 1790.

The Second Fleet did provide badly needed food and supplies, but created other problems for the new colony. 48 people had died on the voyage of the First Fleet, this had risen to 278 on the Second Fleet voyage. Sickness and disease were so rife, most of those who survived were barely able to walk, the Fleet has come to be known as the 'Death Fleet'.

In spite of the problems, however, the settlement grew, and is now the site of Australia's largest city - Sydney.

[European Discovery and Settlement of Australia]

Now who should go to Mars? Let me think...

Mars is dry, like a big desert. What kind of people would be happy living in a desert? Also, what kind of people can't seem to handle the fact that other people on the planet are different than them?

Yep, raise that crescent flag over Mars. All yours, guys. No Christians, no Jews, and you can have your 14th century laws. I don't see a downside here.