Mars One: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

EDIT: For a  more thorough analysis of the potential legal implications of the mission, I have uploaded a paper on SSRN (15 pages).

The latest trend on crowdfunding website Indiegogo seems to be that of Mars One. Mars One is a project initiated by Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders, both Chief Officers of a company called Interplanetary Media Group BV (IMG), based in the Netherlands. IMG is the subsidiary of Stichting Mars One, a non-profit foundation.

The mission’s aim is no other than to colonise planet Mars in the very near future; 2024 to be exact. The plans include life support units that generate energy, water and breathable air. Supply units with food and other commodities, inflatable living units, rovers and other machinery. And that seems to be as far as the provision goes. A number of satellites will be put in Martian orbit to record the lives of the colony members, and to transmit video so Earth can watch through a television link.

All this sounds swell … but is it really that simple?