Mars One Project: Over 1,800 Indians Apply for One-Way Trip to Red Planet

Mars One, a non-profit organisation, is working to establish a human colony on Mars by 2023. More than 1,800 Indians have already applied for the one-way trip to the Red planet, Aashima Dogra, spokesperson of the Netherlands-based Mars One, told The Times of India.

Dogra also revealed that out of 1,800 applicants, several people hail from Bangalore.

"This program is proving to be extremely popular among Indians," Dogra said adding, "The number of Indians who've applied has increased from 6 in May to 1,800 in the last three months."

For the mission more than 100,000 people have applied from across the world. Out of the thousands of people who have signed up for the project, only 40 will be shortlisted and from that the NGO will select four people - two men and two women, for the final trip.

The four people will leave for the Red planet in September 2022 and are expected to land in April 2023.

The mission is headed by Bas Lansdorp, CEO and co-founder of Mars One. The organisation aims to fund the project by broadcasting every aspect of the mission starting from launch to landing and living on the Red planet.

"What we want to do is tell the story to the world. When humans go to Mars, when they settle on Mars and build a new Earth, a new planet. This is one of the most exciting things that ever happened, and we want to share the story with the entire world," Lansdorp told CNN.

The mission is open to anyone who is above 18 and the applicant needs to pay a fee of $7 (approximately 449 INR). The number of Indians who wants to move to Mars is surging.

On 6 May, the official website showed that only five Indians have applied for the project. The number has now increased to 1,800 in the past three months, Dogra said.

"This programme is proving to be extremely popular among Indians, I think because of the excellent space programme we have," she told TOI.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/k6xqdkj