Life on Earth gets slightly exasperating sometimes, but does the prospect of moving to another planet fill you with curious excitement or utter dread?
For the 100,000 people that have applied to be part of the Mars One mission it’s presumably the former.
The Dutch-based Mars One project is a ‘not for profit foundation that will establish a permanent human settlement on Mars in 2023′, aiming to add more crew to the human colony every subsequent two years.
The organisation’s search for the first group of astronauts began in April, combing applications of thousands who are willing to dedicate their lives to the one-way mission. There is, it must be said, no coming back if they get homesick.
Bas Lansdorp, the Mars One founder and CEO, said that the wannabe astronauts will need eight years’ training to be fully equipped for the journey. They will learn, for example, how to deal with ‘both routine and serious medical issues such as dental upkeep, muscle tears and bone fractures’.
This year 40 people will be chosen for the project and four of these (two men and two women) Lansdorp hopes to send to Mars in September 2022, to land April 2023.
Anyone over 18 can apply with a fee to submit an application. For the 30,000 Americans that have done so it’s a $38 payment, while for those who reside in Madagascar or Afghanistan it’s just $5.
The varying amounts, the foundation says, take into consideration a country’s GDP, ensuring that access to the selection programme reaches as wide an audience as possible.
Its first mission to the red planet will cost $6billion, according to Lansdorp, and though the project’s feasibility has been called into question, the CEO is adamant that it can and will work.
One would be astronaut said he wanted to be counted among the likes of Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin.
‘To be a proper pioneer of space travel would be simply amazing. Extending our frontiers to other planets is not just cool; it’s literally awe-inspiring,’ he said.
Twenty-seven-year-old Charlotte explained her reasoning, saying she ‘really, really wants to go into space’.
‘Who wouldn’t want to go to Mars, it’s the world’s biggest adventure, I’m an adventurer, bring it on,’ she added.
Sarah, 29, said: ‘I am here to dispel the myth that accountants are boring by becoming the world’s first astronaut accountant!’
