I am very pleased he is going to Mars. I hope he will be able to set up a TM
center there and bring peace to the Red Planet. Mars has been sending out
aggressive, warlike vibes for far too long now and it is about time some
soothing influence was brought to bear on it.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <rick@...> wrote :
Former MUM grad/faculty selected for trip to Mars
{From Des Moines Register}
To a former Fairfield man, a one-way flight to Mars is not science fiction. He
believes one day he could be a Martian.
Najeeb Najeeb was named one of 100 finalists from 202,000 worldwide applicants
last month by Mars One, a corporation with plans to build a human settlement on
Mars.
"It's a one-way mission, and that really freaks people out," said Najeeb, 38,
who lived in Fairfield for seven years as a student and faculty member at
Maharishi University of Management before moving to Lincoln, Neb., last year to
pursue a doctorate in computer engineering.
Giving up everything on Earth for what skeptics say is a dangerous and
infeasible mission does not scare him. He considers it his chance to help the
future of humanity.
He compares it to Europeans who left comforts for a one-way trip to America,
where they fought diseases and hostile natives to build a society that
eventually "saved the world in World War II. I owe my life to those people. And
now someone needs to take that initiative and do that again. That's why I did
it."
Mars One consists of a not-for-profit foundation to raise money through
donations and a for-profit corporation that seeks investors by promising a
return from media and intellectual property rights. In essence, it's a reality
TV show.
The cast/crew was whittled to 660 after weeding out applications and
conducting a physical examination. The survivors were interviewed to narrow the
list to 100. More rigorous tests are expected to reach a final list of 24
people — six four-person crews.
Najeeb sent his video application on a lark, showing his sense of humor by
joking about the color of his pumpkin shirt and about passing the torch of
human evolution "unless we burn ourselves up in the process."
"They wanted to know if you had a sense of humor and your motivation," he said
in a telephone interview from Lincoln.
He said he was selected after more extensive written applications, the most
rigorous physical he has ever experienced and a Skype interview with Mars One
medical director Norbert Kraft, who examined his psychological health.
"Obviously, I'm sane. At least that's what they think," he said.
Najeeb gathered his wonder and appreciation for life from experiences both in
Iraq and the U.S. He was studying for an undergraduate degree in his birthplace
of Baghdad
when the U.S. invaded.
"Any night you might not wake up the next day," he said. "So you learn to find
peace, make sure you enjoy every moment you have."
He found peace of mind in Fairfield. As a practitioner of Transcendental
Meditation, which is a way of life among many in the eastern Iowa town and the
university, he found the friendly, smiling people of Fairfield eased his
longing to be near his extended family, who had moved to Jordan. The
philosophies he learned there would help him in space, he believes.
"You talk to anyone in Fairfield, they try to focus on the good. They don't
think about bad things that could happen. It doesn't mean they aren't preparing
for it, but it's a very good, optimistic approach. They believe life is not a
struggle. Good things always happen.
"Being from Fairfield makes me not think about negatives."
Others are not so optimistic, noting the dangers in extensive media reports.
The trip will take half a year, and there are concerns if enough food can be
shipped there, or even if they can land on the dusty, radiation-filled
environment through the thin atmosphere, experts have said. An MIT analysis
claims that people could start dying within 68 days of oxygen-related issues.
Even if long-term survival is possible, doesn't Najeeb fret about not being
able to come back?
"That hasn't hit me yet," he said. "What would scare me isn't related to the
mission itself but to the people back home — the best friend's wedding you miss
or family. I was telling my mom the other day, sometimes when you are close to
them you don't see them, but when they are far away you communicate more."
When he told the news to MUM computer engineering colleague Maryam Naraghi,
she was shocked. "I told him if he goes there he would not see his parents
again and would not have the life his parents expect of him," she said. "I'm a
mother so I told him my point of view. And he convinced me that was selfish. If
you hold on to your daughter and not let her live the life she wants, that is
selfish, he said. I now support what he wants and hope he makes it."
While some scientists doubt the technology exists to pull off colonizing Mars
by 2025, others doubt the necessary money will be raised. Mars One officials
refused an interview request, saying they are inundated with them. But Mars One
CEO Bas Lansdorp recently told National Public Radio that the organization is
planning a reality TV show with sponsorships and advertising. "We expect it's
worth up to 10 Olympic Games' (worth) of media revenue, which is $45 billion."
But is it technologically feasible?
Jasper Halekas is an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the
University of Iowa and has worked for a dozen years on Maven, the
NASA-sponsored unmanned mission to Mars.
"I can tell you Mars is hard. It's hard to put an unmanned orbiter on Mars, so
putting a manned vessel there increases the difficulty level immensely," he
said. "Keeping people safe and fed and breathing on the way there" requires
clearing a lot more technological hurdles.
"That said, I'm an avid science fiction reader. I'm always excited when
something fiction becomes fact," he said. "So I'm excited to know if this is
the project that will do that."
Najeeb said there were skeptics about the moon landing, but it happened.
Private technology is evolving at Mars One that the public isn't privy to, he
said. He also laughs at media reports that candidates were picked from those
that paid the most to join.
"I have not paid a dime, except for the medical test. And I purchased a
T-shirt," he said. "I don't know if my 4 dollars bought anything. If that's the
case, I'd like to see their magic."
The only thing that worries him now is that he was told he would have to eat
insects for protein. He likes beef and chicken. Eventually, he says, scientists
would use the ice on Mars for oxygen and water to grow plants to eat.
"So should I stock up on beef and chicken because I would never eat it again,
or should I start eating insects to train?" he wondered.
More seriously, one potential hurdle is if he meets a romantic partner. "The
only thing you can't plan for is your feelings," said Najeeb, who is single.
"You can plan for fear by taking risk measurements, but there is that thing
when you click with someone that may change everything."
The mission, he has decided so far, is too important.
"No one lives forever," he said. "We will run out of power someday. This
exploration might save us. Knowing that I had a part of saving humanity a
thousand years from now is worth it."
If it doesn't happen, he figures the 202,000 people who applied are already
better for the process.
"They may not become Martians, but they became better people on the Earth.
They appreciate the oxygen on Earth that we get for free. That's what I would
say to skeptics and critics. They should start appreciating this planet more."
