Space

More Than 100,000 Enroll For a One-Way Trip to Mars [VIDEO]

Benita Matilda
First Posted: Aug 12, 2013 07:25 AM EDT

Mars One, a non profit agency offers an out of this world experience as it plans on expanding our reach into space by setting up a colony on Mars. This might sound like a science fiction, but Mars One is indeed looking for people who would join them in their mission to establish a permanent human colony in the Red Planet.

According to CNN, more than 100,000 people have joined the growing movement and are anxiously waiting to be the first ones to colonize on another planet. With the hope to spend rest of their lives in the Martian atmosphere they have applied for a one way trip.

Bas Lansdorp, the creator and chief executive Mars One, a Dutch company, plans to send several people to Mars in groups of four with the aim to create human colony on Mars. The launch is fixed for September, nine years from now. Despite a fact that the chosen people can never make their way back to Earth, and will permanently settle in Mars, this has not stopped people venturing into this.

Out of the huge list of participants, only 40 applicants will be finally shortlisted out of which only two men and two women will make it up for the first trip. According to the company the four people will arrive on the Red Planet in April 2023. Two years later another team of four will be sent to Mars.

The chosen 40 applicant before they could bid a final good bye to Earth they will have to undergo a eight year training that will conducted in an isolated region. During these eight years they will be taught how to grow vegetables in a confined space, carry out repairs to the habitat and address to both routine and serious medical issues like muscle tear, bone fractures etc.

The estimated cost of the project comes to a whopping $6 billion. The company plans on getting funds from sponsors and media that will pay for broadcasting rights of shows and movies that document everything about the training astronauts undergo on Earth.

"What we want to do is tell the story to the world," Lansdorp said, "when humans go to Mars, when they settle on Mars and build a new Earth, a new planet. This is one of the most exciting things that ever happened, and we want to share the story with the entire world."

The official announcement was made in May. Since then the organization has been flooded with applications of those who plan on abandoning Earth and becoming a permanent settler on Mars.

What is surprising is that one does not have to achieve a master's degree in science. All it requires is the applicant to be above 18 and take the challenge of surviving in Mars no return ticket to Earth. The fee depends on the applicants' nationality.

There are certain setbacks attached to this trip. For most of the space travel experts, radiation is a big concern. NASA never lets their astronauts to expose themselves to radiations as it elevates their risk to develop cancer by 3 percent and they do not exceed more than 300 or 360 days in space. In deep space as the spacecraft moves, people on board will be exposed to dangerous cosmic radiation and solar particles.

The company states its strategy to survive in Mars, by stating every time the company sends its people on Mars they will carry along with them 5,511 pounds if useful load. By the end of eight missions they will have more than 44,000 pounds of supplies and people, and the capsules will be a part of their habitat. Food and solar panels will be sent in the capsules, source CNN.

If you plan on being a permanent settler on Mars, you can send in your application here.

                   

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