Mars Colonization: 200,000 People Apply To Live On Red Planet


Plans to colonize Mars are set to proceed after 200,000 people applied to live on the Red Planet, even though they won’t ever return to Earth if they actually go.

The Mars One foundation announced on Tuesday that their planned expedition, which will see four individuals sent to Mars, has secured its lead suppliers for a 2018 unmanned mission. Elements needed for this trip included a communications satellite and a robotic lander.

If this first mission proves to be successful then they plan to send a manned shuttle to Mars in 2025. It’s believed that The Mars One foundation hopes that 2018’s journey will demonstrate the technology that human settlement can be achieved on Mars.

This is the first privately funded exploration mission of Mars, with the funds coming from partners and sponsors.

Bans Lansdorp, Mars One’s CEO, confirmed that over 200,000 have applied for the project since it was announced in April. The application window has now closed, but individuals selected for Round 2 will be informed by the end of this year.

Applicants are apparently fine with the knowledge that they would have to live out the rest of their lives on the Red Planet. This is because a one-way journey there severely reduces the company’s costs, plus there’s also the major factor that there’s no Kennedy Space Center launch pad on Mars at the moment.

Landsorp stated that the unmanned mission is the “most important and most difficult step of actually getting humans to Mars.”

He also described what the first humans to land in 2025 will have to undergo. It’s hoped that they will be followed by additional crews of four, who will be sent out every two years.

Mars One have admitted that they are currently examining “a range of funding scenarios” to raise the $6 billion that is needed for the first humans to arrive.

Landscorp noted that he hopes media coverage will be a successful source, while he also indicated that a reality TV concept should manage to recoup some costs too. This is because the mission will possess the most unique footage “available in the solar system.” But despite these plans, Landscorp admitted that they have only secured $200,000 so far.

Do you think that Mars One will ever reach the Red Planet? Will they actually be able to raise the amount of money that they require? As Landscorp admitted on Tuesday, “You can’t got to Mars on excitement.”

[Image via Igor Zh/Shutterstock]

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