And just what kind of music lover should be chosen to colonise the Red Planet?

Apparently 43 Australians are in the running for a position on Mars One – the plan to put humans on Mars in the year 2024. I’m glad to say I’m not one of them, as this is a one-way mission. No return is possible. Every year or so, Mars One will send more supplies and more Martians. Some 200,000 people around the world applied and now they have selected 1,000 to undergo training and psychometric testing. (I’m a great believer in psychometric testing by the way. This is the same system that determined Jonathan Shier would be an excellent managing director of the ABC, and we all remember how well that worked out.)  Eventually four Marstronauts will blast off on a one-way ride to the Red Planet. 

What criteria might you use to select four people to leave Earth forever? They’d have to be healthy, but musical compatibility must be up there. Imagine being a string quartet lover and having a country and western fanatic in the next bunk – your Grosse Fuge interrupted by the strains of Keith Urban. Musical tension...