Mars is proving to be the most popular destination. The campaign of Mars One to invite applications for volunteers to travel to the red planet on the maiden flight has received overwhelming response. 78,000 applications have poured in from over 120 countries in just two weeks. The window for application will be open till August 31 and Mars One is looking forward to receive half a million applications. Every applicant is expected to upload a one minute video explaining his or her reasons for wanting to go to Mars. They hope to select the best four candidates for the historic journey which is planned for September 2022.
CEO of Mars One Believes Mission Represents Entire Humanity
The awareness about the project seems to be the highest in US as the greatest number of applicants were Americans. China was second in terms of number of applicants. It was followed by UK, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Argentina and India Bas Lansdorp, Co-Founder and CEO of Mars One is proud of the global response as he believes that it is a mission representing the entire humanity. The applicants are uploading their applications with their brief profile. It is the first time that a mission of this scale has been attempted by private enterprise. NASA has its own program for Mars but they are concentrating on unmanned vehicles at the moment and trying to learn more about the planet.
Final 30 Candidates Will Undergo a Seven Year Training
The profile of the applicants are open to the public who can rate them but it will be the experts from Mars One who will finally decide as to who will make it to round two. The selection criteria will be primarily based on resilience, adaptability, curiosity, the ability to trust others, creativity and resourcefulness. Mars One has identified 300 geographic regions and 50 to 100 candidates from each region will move to round two. The candidates moving to the next round will need to pay an administration fee which will be fixed in proportion to the GDP of the region. The process will continue till round 4 when the project aims to select 28 to 40 candidates who will all be trained for the next seven years to acquire the skills to survive the seven month long journey and establish a settlement on Mars.
