An organization known as Mars One has been making quite a stir in the scientific community over the past few years. They made headlines in 2010 when they announced their plans to found the first off-planet colony on Mars by 2023.
It's a lofty goal by anyone's estimate, but the Mars One team seems adamant on pursuing it. They've just announced that they will be beginning their recruitment process for Mars-bound astronauts this July.
Mars One will be accepting video submissions for its first round of astronauts, with anyone over the age of 18 eligible to apply. To dissuade spammers and other less-than-desirable candidates, the organization will be charging a $25 entry fee. The fee will go towards the overall project funding.
The organization has stated that it hopes to raise "millions" of dollars from the application process, and believes that certain videos may end up going viral. That appears to mean that the applications will be made public.
Mars One also wanted to make it clear that you should be ready to leave Earth forever, since they have no current plans to bring the astronauts back. After all, this is a Mars colony, not a Mars vacation. They hope to have 24 astronauts chosen by July 2015, organized into six teams of four crewman each. These four teams will then undergo seven years of training that will include extended periods of time in a replica of the Mars colony.
"We will give them all the most stressful situations," Lansdorp told the British Interplanetary Society.
Mars One expects that many of these candidates will fail the tests, and so they will continue to recruit replacements in groups of four after the initial selection. They also hope to send more colonists to Mars every two years for as long as funding will allow.
It sounds like quite the commitment, but people seem interested in the opportunity. The organization has stated that it already has over 45,000 people on its mailing list.
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