16 Feb 2015 100 Finalists Selected for One-Way Trip to Mars
One hundred finalists have been selected from more than 200,000 applicants looking to permanently settle on Mars.
The Mars One mission is a non-profit group that seeks to begin human colonization of Mars by landing teams of four on the Red Planet beginning in 2024. The last round of applicants had 660 members, and now that the pool of would-be astronauts is down to a hundred the program can begin focusing on how well applicants work together - an important thing considering the length of the trip.
The Mars One mission is a non-profit group that seeks to begin human colonization of Mars by landing teams of four on the Red Planet beginning in 2024. The last round of applicants had 660 members, and now that the pool of would-be astronauts is down to a hundred the program can begin focusing on how well applicants work together - an important thing considering the length of the trip.
Fifty men and fifty women are still in the running, with 39 coming from the Americas, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, 7 from Africa, and 7 from Oceania. If selected for the 2024 launch, they'll never see home again. Last week a Guardian documentary asked why anyone would want to die on Mars, but the question the Mars One selection program has to answer is, "who could live there?"
Of course, there's more than just teamwork required to travel to a planet millions of miles from earth. In 2018 Mars One is planning an unmanned mission that will act as a proof of concept for the spacecraft and lander the team will use for the journey.
If you're interested in playing a part in the mission, the Mars One community will be asked to make decisions about the program and, since this is an non-profit venture, is still taking donations. There will also be a new round of applications in 2015 to find potential replacements for the astronauts should one of them withdraw from the program for any reason.
2. BIOSPHERE-2: COULD A HUMAN COLONY ON MARS BE SELF-SUSTAINING?
When eight "biospherians," dressed in Star-Trek uniforms, marched into their gleaming 3-acre terrarium in 1991 and closed the air lock, it was hailed as a bold experiment. They vowed to remain for two years, recycling water, air and waste and growing their own food. It didn’t take that long to get an answer. Within weeks, the crystal-clear "ocean" turned to slime. Biospherians were soon gasping for air; then the crops failed. Texas oil billionaire Edward Bass, who had bankrolled Biosphere-2, turned to Columbia University to find a legitimate science use. But the original research question was already answered: Far larger and more elaborate than anything that could be transported to Mars, Biosphere-2 could not sustain eight humans. Columbia is pulling out, but Biosphere-2 could still be useful. Anyone who proposes a space colony could be sent there to live for two years.
Only someone sufficiently ignorant of basic science to vote for Bush is stupid enough to think that makes sense.
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