An entrepreneur with more money than God has decided that he wants to be one of the first men to complete a mission to mars. And while this space crusader with deep pockets may have the cash flow to pull of such an ambitious undertaking, some believe that he may have spread himself too thin by announcing plans to get his journey underway by 2018. 

According to a press release by the Inspiration Mars Foundation, Dennis Tito, the world’s first space tourist who reportedly spent $20 million to live aboard the International Space Station for a week, will unveil his “Mars-shot” strategy sometimes next week – a plan that is said to include commissioning Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) to conduct a 501 day fly-there, fly-by, fly-back expedition to the Red Planet.

“This ‘Mission for America’ will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration,” according to a release on NASAWatch.com. “It is intended to encourage all Americans to believe again, in doing the hard things that make our nation great, while inspiring youth through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and motivation.”

However, there have been many studies throughout the years that suggest that long-term space missions under extreme isolation are detrimental to even the sanest person’s psychological and physiological state. In fact, it is for that very reason that NASA has continued to send robots to Mars instead of actual astronauts. Yet, even though Tito and his team are aware of the risk factors involved, they say that there is greater danger in not moving forward with human space travel.

What do you think? Will we make it to Mars in our lifetime?

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