The Martian Ninja Warrior Competition

No matter which way I hash it in my mind, I don’t see a hypothetical future where any Joe Schmo can pay a (reasonable) fee and take a ride to a colony on Mars. At least not until this whole thing is deeply established, give it 30-40 years, maybe.

So, first colony spots go to the scientists (and a handful of experts building the thing) first, obviously. After the colonies are established, the wide consensus is going to be “Wow! Living on Mars sounds so cool, I should sign up!” Not the entirety of the world, no, but a significant enough number of people willing to relinquish their earthly concerns that it would be difficult to sort through them all.

How do we filter these people, get the creamiest cream of the crop that can withstand the physical and mental toll of extended spaceflight and the barely-tested concept of living on an entirely different planet?

A game show, of course!

I think the most logical group to enter the colonies after literal astronauts and scientists should be a set of people that win a contest of sorts.

It’s mentioned multiple times, but I don’t think it should be childishly “gamey” like American Ninja Warrior. They do that for viewership’s sake. Rather, consider a televised national bracket comprised of challenges branching into sections of mental, physical, and ethical aptitude. Perhaps even a public vote thrown into the mix.

After a suitable number of contestants remain, put them through the standard physical tests NASA does for astronauts. The final group gets to board the Space Mayflower and contribute to the next bastion of human existence.

The better analogy to use for the whole thing would be the Space Olympics. The televised aspect of the competition would inspire new generations of young space hopefuls, allowing them to see that really real people can make it to space, as long as they’re smart, good, and physically capable.

I think a colonization pattern where it’s just extravagantly rich people that get to punch through/outbid everybody else into these very limited seats would be bad space PR and overall ruin the appeal of the frontier. And it’s a win for them too: would they really go up there without letting the guinea pigs test the waters first?

Overall, I personally believe the flow will be: NASA Scientists/Engineers > Martian Ninja Warriors > Rich People > Joe Schmo And The Rest Of Us.