Another week, another eccentric millionaire making promises to colonize Mars. This time, it's Dutchman Bas Lansdorp, whose Mars One project is looking to put teams of astronauts on the Red (well, not actually red) Planet by 2023. He's looking for applicants right now, no experience necessary. Just one catch, though.
You won't be coming back.
Lansdorp said that more than 8000 people have already applied for a chance to live (then die) on Mars after completing an eight-year training period that will include learning engineering, making mechanical repairs, and tending crops. Lansdorp told the CBC that, "The technology to get humans to Mars and keep them alive there exists," however "the technology to bring humans from Mars back to Earth simply does not exist yet."
Lansdorp plans to fund the trip through a reality show akin to "Big Brother" which will document the training of the laymen astronauts, their eight month journey in space, and their time (long or short as it may be) on Mars.
What separates Lansdorp's project with other, similar Mars initiatives? He says he's "had a team working on this for more than two years," including "ambassadors that are astronauts and Nobel Prize winners, advisers from NASA and the UN, investors and sponsors from all over the world."
So the Mars race is on! But who will win? Will it be a government agency, a billionaire devoted to throwing their money away and killing people, or the dark horse, Red Bull? Probably Red Bull. Red Bull, Red Planet.