Mars One has received a variety of criticism, mostly relating to medical,
[97] technical and financial feasibility.
Chris Welch, director of Masters Programs at the
International Space University, has said "Even ignoring the potential mismatch between the project income and its costs and questions about its longer-term viability, the Mars One proposal does not demonstrate a sufficiently deep understanding of the problems to give real confidence that the project would be able to meet its very ambitious schedule."
[98]
Space tourist
Richard Garriott stated in response to Mars One, "Many have interesting viable starting plans. Few raise the money to be able to pull it off."
[99]
Robert Zubrin, advocate for manned Martian exploration, said "I don't think the business plan closes it. We're going to go to Mars, we need a billion dollars, and we're going to make up the revenue with advertising and media rights and so on. You might be able to make up some of the money that way, but I don't think that anyone who is interested in making money is going to invest on that basis — invest in this really risky proposition, and if you're lucky you'll break even? That doesn't fly."
[100] Despite his criticisms of some of the elements of Mars One, Zubrin became an advisor to Mars One on October 10, 2013.
[80]
Many have also criticized the project's US$6 billion budget as being far too low to successfully transport humans to Mars. A similar project study by NASA estimated the cost of such a feat at US$100 billion. Objections have also been raised regarding the reality TV project associated with the expedition. Given the transient nature of most reality TV ventures, many believe that as viewership declines, funding could significantly decrease thereby harming the entire expedition.
[101]
Wired magazine gave it a plausibility score of 2 out of 10 as part of their 2012 Most Audacious Private Space Exploration Plans.
[102]
In January 2014, German former astronaut
Ulrich Walter strongly criticised the project for ethical reasons. Speaking with Berlin's
Tagesspiegel, he estimated the probability of reaching Mars alive at only thirty percent, and that of surviving there more than three months at less than twenty percent. He said, "They make their money with that [TV] show. They don't care what happens to those people in space... If my tax money were used for such a mission, I would organise a protest."
[103]
Astronaut
Buzz Aldrin in an interview said that he wants to see humans on Mars by 2035, but he does not think the nonprofit organization Mars One will be the first to achieve it.
[104]
