[lostalex]

Originally Posted by Niall

This is a beautiful idea, and I applaud this company for having the conviction to push this forward. I often think that space exploration is something of a forgotten area nowadays. I wish governments around the world made a bigger effort with it.

That said however, the technological risks and constraints are so mind-bogglingly massive that I doubt that the efforts of just one nation plus a TV production company will ever actually amount to anything. I seriously doubt the Dutch government could fund something this monumental in size and scale. You need only look at the space race to understand that: both the USA and USSR poured billions into their respective space programmes and massive failings were seen multiple times on both sides despite the huge economies backing them up. If Martian colonisation happens I think it would require an effort on a much more global scale than this.

Um what?

wtf are you talking about massive failing? actually both the Russian and American space programs have been HUGELY successful.