Want a One-Way Ticket to Mars? And, Um, Be on a Reality TV Show, Too?
Nix July 24, 2012
Hey, who doesn’t want to go to Mars? How about going to Mars and staying there? Like, forever. Or until you die of old age. Or get eaten by Martians. Or invaded by alien fungus that slowly takes over your body and eventually becomes you? You know, until your time’s up? That still sound good? Then you, too, can be a part of the Mars One program!
I shit you not. This is all true. A company called Mars One, founded by a 35-year old Dutchman name Bas Lansdorp, plans on sending at least 10 people to Mars in a one-way trip starting sometime in 2023. If, you know, all goes according to plan.
The company will hold a worldwide lottery next year to select 40 people for a training team. They will then set up a mock colony in the desert, possibly somewhere in the U.S., for three months. This initial team will be reduced to ten crew members.
They will then be sent to Mars, never again to return.
“We will send humans to Mars in 2023,” he told FoxNews.com. “They will live there the rest of their lives. There will be a habitat waiting for them, and we’ll start sending four people every two years.”
To help fund the project, the company will do a reality TV show with the 40 contestants, as they compete for the 10 spots available. I’m honestly not sure how that will be enough funds to start sending missions to mars. Are Reality TV that lucrative nowadays? Don’t these rocket launches cost millions each time you shoot one up into orbit? After all, it’s going to cost NASA around $5 billion just to send some rovers to Mars and bring back rock samples over the next ten years.
Anyways, the “selection process” will start next year, though Lansdorp fails to elaborate how the lottery will be held, or when exactly.
Apparently if you are one of the “lucky” few who gets sent to Mars, here is how you can look forward to spending the rest of your days (however long that lasts):
Via : Fox News
