Space & Astronomy

Mars One to reveal applicant shortlist

By T.K. Randall
February 14, 2015 ·  28 comments

Can Mars One really build a Mars colony within 9 years ? Image Credit: Mars One / Bryan Vertseeg The Netherlands-based organization, which is still moving forward with its plans to send humans to live on the Red Planet, continues to remain something of an enigma in the field of space exploration.

Despite there having never been a manned mission to Mars and with NASA still decades away from attempting such a trip, Mars One believes that it can not only send humans to Mars by 2024 but that it can also set up a fully functioning colony there where these first pioneering explorers will live out the rest of their lives.Now the company has announced that on Monday it will be revealing its shortlist of 100 applicants who will be vying for a chance to book their seat on the first historic mission. The list has been whittled down from the original 200,000 who put their name forward for the trip.

The next step in the process will be to send a satellite to Mars in 2018, a rover in 2020 and a cargo vessel with a habitation module in 2022 for the first colonists to live in.

Critics however argue that the technology to accomplish such an endeavor simply isn't there yet and that any attempt to send humans to Mars so soon will almost certainly end in disaster.

Source: Independent | Comments (28)

Tags: Mars One