We're interested in Pinterest, but we're also interested in space. That's why we find it fascinating that a manned mission to Mars is seriously in the works.
A privately funded planned mission to Mars has narrowed its pool of eager candidates down to the final 100. That’s right: There are a lot of people—200,000 applicants in all according to CNN—who are dying to colonize the Red Planet.
A better way of stating it is that thousands of people have volunteered to be among the historical first group of human beings to leave earth, travel to Mars, live there, and die there. If and when the proposed Mars One mission embarks, it will be a one-way ticket.
The final 100 applicants know that going to Mars will mean leaving Earth forever, but they believe the chance to etch their names in history far outweighs the isolation and other-planetary death sentence. The trip is currently slated for 2024.
Mars One is a non-profit organization from the Netherlands that has the support of some aerospace heavy hitters including SpaceX and Lockheed Martin. Their plan is to whittle the 100 finalists down through a series of team-building exercises and isolation tests.
Ultimately, 24 finalists will be chosen and broken down into six four-person crews. Crews will head to Mars every two years beginning in 2024, with the intent of colonizing our nearest planetary neighbor.
The finalists come from all around the world and have different academic and scientific backgrounds. They have families and friends they are willing to permanently part with to do something no one has ever done before.
Surviving the trip alone—a journey that with today’s technology is estimated to take seven months—would be a major feat in space exploration. Only a handful of unmanned missions to Mars have succeeded in getting there.
What may be more sobering is a recent MIT study, which found that even if the first crew got to the Red Planet safely, today’s science would probably only keep them alive for 68 days.
How feasible the mission actually is, is a major debate. While there are those who believe it can and will work, there’s still the issue of funding. Some estimate the total cost to send the first group at $6 billion.
A privately funded planned mission to Mars has narrowed its pool of eager candidates down to the final 100. That’s right: There are a lot of people—200,000 applicants in all according to CNN—who are dying to colonize the Red Planet.
A better way of stating it is that thousands of people have volunteered to be among the historical first group of human beings to leave earth, travel to Mars, live there, and die there. If and when the proposed Mars One mission embarks, it will be a one-way ticket.
The final 100 applicants know that going to Mars will mean leaving Earth forever, but they believe the chance to etch their names in history far outweighs the isolation and other-planetary death sentence. The trip is currently slated for 2024.
Mars One is a non-profit organization from the Netherlands that has the support of some aerospace heavy hitters including SpaceX and Lockheed Martin. Their plan is to whittle the 100 finalists down through a series of team-building exercises and isolation tests.
Ultimately, 24 finalists will be chosen and broken down into six four-person crews. Crews will head to Mars every two years beginning in 2024, with the intent of colonizing our nearest planetary neighbor.
The finalists come from all around the world and have different academic and scientific backgrounds. They have families and friends they are willing to permanently part with to do something no one has ever done before.
Surviving the trip alone—a journey that with today’s technology is estimated to take seven months—would be a major feat in space exploration. Only a handful of unmanned missions to Mars have succeeded in getting there.
What may be more sobering is a recent MIT study, which found that even if the first crew got to the Red Planet safely, today’s science would probably only keep them alive for 68 days.
How feasible the mission actually is, is a major debate. While there are those who believe it can and will work, there’s still the issue of funding. Some estimate the total cost to send the first group at $6 billion.