Virgle
Never one to let April Fool’s Day go by without some form of over-elaborate prank, Blizzard Google has really pulled out the stops on this one… they even got Richard Branson of Virgin to play along, which is both impressive and even more entertaining.
Yep, Google and Virgin are teaming up to create Virgle (variably pronounced “ver-gull” or “ver-jill” depending on your accent and tendency towards the Classics, it seems), an effort to create a permanent, self-sustained colony on the surface of Mars. They’re even taking applications via a Google Docs spreadsheet form (which has some priceless questions, and even more priceless responses) and YouTube.
The really scary thing is just how thoroughly this joke has been put together (and the amount of wry humor on the site ensures that it is, sadly, just a joke). I know Google has a long and colorful history of April Fool’s Day jokes, but the degree of research (even cursory) that has been put into this is kind of awesome. Of course, I’m also aware that Google isn’t the first set of geniuses to turn their attention to colonizing Mars. In fact, they openly credit the Mars Society on their FAQ page (of note, the Mars Society website says they’re interested in talking with Virgle if they’re actually serious about the “it’s not real. Yet,” on the site’s Virgle is Real page).
I’m not sure how well a Google/Virgin space exploration/colonization effort would actually pan out, but with Google throwing a couple million into the pot for the Lunar X-Prize competition and Virgin Galactic getting into the sub-orbital commercial space flight business, it’s not entirely outside of the realm of possibility. And that’s awesome. And also a little bit scary putting Google in charge of an entire planet. But mostly it’s just completely awesome. Much as I love NASA, they’re going to be effectively grounded for upwards of 5 years once the Shuttle is done with its heavy lifting responsibilities at the space station until they can get their Orion dealy up and running, and after that, it’s 5-10 more years before they send small astronaut crews back to the Moon for brief visits, 1960’s-style. If we’re ever going to get off this planet, we’re gonna need some private sector funding. Good thing Google’s still trading around $430 a share…
Somebody please make this thing actually happen before I die… every last bit of it is at least scientifically possible, if not practically achievable, with today’s technology. It’s just gonna cost a ton of cash up-front.