Clearly, planet Earth is not enough.
In an ambitious space exploration project, Mars One - a non-profit organization has decided to set up a human settlement on the red planet. It proposes to build and sustain an inhabitable environment on the alien land and is soliciting applications. More than 200,000 people from across the world have applied for the one-way ticket to Mars, according to several news reports.
Mars One has received about 202,586 applications from all over the globe of which 10 percent are Indians, six percent Chinese and five percent Brazilian. However, America leads with every one in four applicants hailing from the U.S., reports ABC.
By 2015, the firm will have selected its potential astronauts who will undergo rigorous training. Every two years, a group of four will be transported to the martian base. Reaching Mars will itself be a tedious journey of seven months.
Sounds exciting right?
Apart from being one of the first people to land on an alien planet, the selected four will also be watched from Earth, just like a reality TV Show!
Bas Lansdorp, the Dutch entrepreneur who founded Mars One, hopes that the project would take off by 2022. He expects that the first crew would land by 2023 and the next would arrive within a gap of 240 days.
Renderings and some details of the elaborate project have been revealed. According to Dezeen, the settlement will comprise of a number of inflatable units that will contain a modular environment. The settlement will be a 1000 m3 area with about 250 m3 for a team of four.
Each living unit is called a lander, where the human would live. It will be filled with breathable air from a life support unit before the humans arrive. Rendering pictures show that there will be a sitting area and an indoor farm (where food will be harvested).
Check out a video of Mars One's proposal below:
Though NASA is sceptical about the project and its feasibility, the proposition has given wings to people's dreams. While 19-year-old Bailey wants to be the first musician on Planet Mars, another generous 18-year-old Australian, Sean Holt said he would make tin-foil hats for his fellow astronauts if the trip was successful! For others it is more of 'making history'.
According to the Daily Mail, the love for Star Wars and Star Trek is the major motivation among applicants.
However, on a much practical note, IT World asks a crucial question: "Can humans handle the psychological challenge of living on Mars?"
The feature goes on:
How many of these people have seriously considered how they would handle the isolation, the boredom, the loneliness, the deafening silence of living on Mars or elsewhere beyond Earth? They'd never again see a bird fly, smell the ocean, watch a dog run in a field, build a fire, or hold hands in a mall. None of that would exist anymore for Mars colonists. Humans have interacted with Earth in ways that have been encoded in us for thousands of years. What happens to your mind when all of that is gone?
The project is definitely a challenging proposal. However, if successful, it shall be another milestone for mankind!
