While NASA promises to have human settlements on Mars by 2030s, more than 78,000 people have paid a $75 application fee to Mars One, a company that hopes to colonize the red planet
When Mars One launched their introductory video on 22nd April, 2013 nobody would have imagined that it would get 78,000 sign-ups by 07 May, 2013.
The Mars One is a private space flight project which offers to send four humans on a one-way trip to Mars for a permanent settlement. The project was announced on June 2012 by a Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdrop and is being endorsed by a Nobel laureate in Physics, Gerard 't Hooft
The project plans to send a communication satellite and path finder lander to the planet by 2016 which will later be followed by humans who will land and build colonies on the planet by 2023.
As reported by Daily Online, more than 10,000 Chinese people have already applied to join this aerospace project contributing over 100,000 U.S. dollars to this project for application.
To add to the surprise, nobody is scared of living on a new planet. In fact most are excited to discover a new world and explore the new surroundings. Mars One has asked its participants to give a self introduction and talk about their interests by uploading a video of themselves answering three questions:
1) What makes them a perfect candidate?
2) How would they describe their sense of humour?
3) Why would they like to go to Mars?
These three questions got various responses. We are listing some popular profiles from the Mars One website
Anders from Sweden
Anders, a 51-year-old Swedish man describes his sense of humour as goofy, says, "I don't belong here, but out there in space and I would like to leave this planet."
Nadia from Russia
29-year-old Nadia, a Russian veterinary doctor says, "It's a great opportunity to turn my life into a life adventure. Besides it's a great honour to turn a desert planet into a biosphere"
Katie and Aaron Nickle from United States
Katie, 21 and Aaron, 29 are the duo in a relationship who wishes to go to Mars. Katie, a nurse who loves excitement says, "I love helping people. I love thrills and through Mars One I would like to put my nursing skills to new use."
Aaron, an IT guy says, "I have always been fascinated with space and when I heard about Mars One, I was inspired to go for it. There's a lot been going on this planet that needs some serious inspiration and Mars One is one of them."
Ariel from China
Ariel a 27-year-old engineer turned graphic designer/photographer from China says, "Why wouldn't I like to go to Mars? I have been dreaming of a moment like this."
Chris Leblanc from Canada
23-year-old Chris who is a member of a Search and Rescue team says, "Ever since I can remember I wanted to go to outer space and explore worlds. Now with this mission I can do it."
Vinod Kotiya from India
When it comes to India, Vinod Kotiya is the most popular participant from the country. The 30-year-old is project manager. He says, "The purpose of humankind is to know the truth of the Universe, Mars One is a small step towards this truth".
The contest is open to people of all nationalities as long as they are atleast 18 years old.
Mars One estimates the cost of putting the first four people on Mars at about six billion US dollars. They will be selected after participating in a TV show. Whether the project will actually take off is not known but the huge response from people all over the world leaves us wondering.
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