Several hundred would-be Mars colonists
have just had their hopes and dreams
dashed.
The Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One ,
which aims to establish a Red Planet
settlement beginning in 2025, announced
Monday (May 5) that it had sliced its pool of
potential colonists from 1,058 down to 705.
The remaining astronaut candidates now
advance to an interview round with Mars
One's selection committee.
"We’re incredibly excited to start the next
phase of Round 2, where we begin to better
understand our candidates who aspire to
take such a daring trip," Mars One chief
medical officer Norbert Kraft said in a
statement. "They will have to show their
knowledge, intelligence, adaptability and
personality."
The 353 people who didn't make it were
eliminated for personal or medical reasons,
Mars One representatives said. The 418
men and 287 women who survived this
latest cut come from all over the world, with
313 hailing from the Americas, 187 from
Europe, 136 from Asia, 41 from Africa and
28 from Oceania.
Mars One plans to launch its first crew of
four Mars colonists in 2024, with touchdown
on the Red Planet coming in 2025.
Additional crews will blast off in two-year
increments thereafter, gradually building up
the off-world settlement. At the moment,
there are no plans to bring these pioneers
back to Earth.
The organization will mount several
unmanned Mars missions in the next decade
to demonstrate technologies and prepare for
the arrival of people. For example, it aims to
launch a robotic lander and orbiter in 2018,
a scouting rover in 2020 and six cargo
missions in 2022.
Mars One plans
to pay for all
this by
organizing a
global media
event around
the Mars
colonization
effort, from
astronaut
selection
through the
settlers' time on
the Red Planet.
It's already
negotiating with
media companies about showing Round 2
of the selection process on TV,
representatives said.
"Once the television deal is finalized and the
interviews begin, the stories of the 705
aspiring Martians will be shared with the
world," Mars One said in a press release
Monday.
More than 200,000 people applied to
become Mars One astronauts. In December,
the organization slashed this pool down to
1,058 candidates.
The interview round will slash the ranks
further, from 705 potential settlers down to
just a handful — enough to staff "several
international teams consisting of two
women and two men," Mars One's press
release states. These teams will train full-
time for their possible Mars mission.
"Whole teams and individuals might be
selected out during training when they
prove not to be suitable for the mission,"
Mars One wrote in the press release. "Mars
One will repeat the selection process
regularly to train additional teams to replace
eliminated teams and crews of settlers that
have successfully left Earth to live on Mars."