Dutch reality show seeks volunteers for a getaway to the first human colony on Mars

Image by Bryan Versteeg / Mars One

Dutch company ‘Mars One’ has launched an official selection program for volunteers from all nations for a reality show to fly, live and die on Mars.

"Gone are the days when bravery and the number of hours flying a supersonic jet were the top criteria,"said Norbert Kraft, Mars One's Chief Medical Director and former NASA senior researcher.

The company invites anyone from anywhere in the world to fill out an online application for the departure, scheduled for 2022, and land in April 2023. As the technology for a return flight does not exist, it will be a one-way ticket, according to Mars One website.

“When that day comes there will be a memorial service and cremation ceremony, just like customs on Earth dictate.”

Image by Bryan Versteeg / Mars One

The return to Earth is also not possible due to funding, as a one-way mission greatly reduces costs. Mars One is a non-profit organization, planning to raise money to fund the project, estimated at about $6 billion, according the web site.

"It sounds like a lot of money. And actually it is a lot of money. But imagine what will happen when the first people land on Mars. Literally everybody on the globe will want to see it," Lansdorp said as quoted on Mars One website.

Image by Bryan Versteeg / Mars One

In addition to application fees, which will vary from $5 to $75 depending on the per capita GDP of the applicant’s country, the company plans to raise money by selling broadcast rights.

"Not unlike the televised events of the Olympic Games, Mars One intends to maintain an on-going, global media event, from astronaut selection to training, from lift-off to landing," the site said.

Last year Mars One received 10,000 messages from applicants from over 100 countries, though the official launch of the selection program started on Monday.

Requirements for ‘Martian citizenship’

“We are very excited about launching the selection program. Round One is where we open the doors to Mars for everyone on Earth. This is an international mission and it is very important for the project that anyone anywhere can ask themselves: Do I want this? Am I ready for this? If the answer is yes then we want to hear from you,” said Lansdorp.

The company established certain requirements for potential Martians. It is looking for applicants older than 18 years, who are ‘both mature and interesting’, according to Mars One. They have to possess certain character traits – ‘resilience, adaptability, curiosity, ability to trust others, creativity, and resourcefulness’.

“For this mission of permanent settlement we are more concerned with how well each astronaut lives and works with others and their ability to deal with a lifetime of challenges”, said Kraft.

Image by Bryan Versteeg / Mars One

According to the company the candidates don’t need particular professional skills, as they will obtain those during a seven-year training program in the US – everything you need to learn to survive on an inhospitable planet.

The first settlers will be picked by an audience vote during the last stage of several rounds of the selection process of the trained and qualified candidates. They will travel to the red planet in groups of four every two years.

The deadline for the first round of online applications is August 31.

The company will use only existing technology available in the space industry. According to the website, a SpaceX spacecraft will send rovers and supplies ahead of the astronauts, and then the SpaceX Falcon Heavy will take the crew to Mars, where they will assemble their habitat.

Image by Bryan Versteeg / Mars One

However, many questions rise about how the astronauts would survive on a planet with freezing temperatures and a carbon dioxide atmosphere. The company's representatives claim that their project is ‘ethically sound’, calling it an ‘idealistic mission’.

This is not the only ongoing Mars project. Previously the Russian space agency Roscosmos signed a deal with the European Space Agency (ESA) to participate in the ExoMars project, a new attempt to discover life on the Red Planet.

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Russians to simulate Mars colonization in US desert

The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the San Rafael Swell, southern Utah (Image: mars-russia.ru)

The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the canyons of Utah resembles the Martian landscape. It's here that the team will experiment with the skills needed to maintain domestic life on Mars. Team Russia is arriving in the US on Tuesday to join an international simulated Mars colonization project. Starting on April 20, a Russian crew of six will spend two weeks in conditions similar to those they can expect to experience on the Red Planet.

MDRS was opened in 2002 and has hosted 128 teams from around the globe. In a few days it will for the first time become the temporary home for Russian researchers. Like other crews before them, they’ll make believe they are Mars colonizers, carrying out medical, geological and astronomical research.

“The biggest challenge for the crew, as we see it now, is carrying out effective work in complete isolation. Six people will be living in small accommodations and will have to wear spacesuits to go out into the Mars-like desert. Two weeks is not too long, but psychological compatibility is always a challenge,” Nikolay Dzis-Voinarovsky, the leader of Team Russia told RT.

The MDRS crew 127 working inside the station (Image from Flickr user MDRS.Photos)

The most serious obstacle to Team Russia’s mission in Utah so far has been bureaucratic.  Two days before the flight to the US, two of the crew members still didn’t have their visas. Dzis-Voinarovsky said they might have to join in later.

He also compared MDRS to the international Mars-500 experiment, which was carried out in Moscow in 2010-2011. A crew of five stayed locked in an imitation spacecraft for 17 months, simulating a flight to the red planet and back.

MDRS is about what happens once flights are a reality, simulating the daily routine of Mars pioneers. The missions are very short, but at the same time more flexible with teams from around the world being able to learn from each other’s experience.

Team Russia was formed in the summer of 2012. Almost all of the crew members are space industry professionals.......................................

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Curiosity : une photo panoramique de 4 gigapixels de la surface de Mars

Après avoir récemment mis en ligne une photo de 320 gigapixels prise en haut de la BT Tower de Londres, les équipes de 360Cities nous proposent une image panoramique de 4 gigapixels de la surface de Mars. Les clichés proviennent évidemment de la sonde Curiosity envoyée par la NASA.

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Mars mishap: Technical glitch halts NASA rover

A computer systems hiccup has left the Mars rover Curiosity out of action after the probe detected the first chemical evidence of possible alien life. The rover was sidelined earlier this month following a first bout of technical troubles.

Scientists had previously said that operations would be resumed on Monday after a problem with the Rover’s computer memory caused the mission to be put on hold two weeks ago.

However, the latest technical upset that arose on Sunday forced engineers to extend the unexpected break in the mission.

"This is not something that is rare or even uncommon," John Grotzinger, lead scientist at the California Institute of Technology assured press at a news conference during the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston. He added that the setback is likely to delay the latest science results from the rover for the next couple of days.

The latest hiccup occurred during an information transmission to Earth on Sunday night.

The problems have arisen at a crucial time in the rover’s mission, just after the mission uncovered the first ever telltale signs that there was once life on the red planet.

Chemical analysis of a sample obtained by NASA’s curiosity last month revealed traces of a benevolent environment capable of supporting life. The analysis also unearthed a life-sustaining chemical footprint comprised of sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and simple carbon.

The rover’s camera and Russian-manufactured probe are currently located in Mars’ Yellowknife Bay region, where more evidence of water has been discovered than anywhere else on the planet.

"I see the difference between Yellowknife and the area which is just before Yellowknife ... showing the different distribution of water. This is a significant variation," Maksim Litvak of the Space Research Institute in Moscow told reporters.

The rover mission, which was extended indefinitely in December of last year, seeks to ascertain whether Mars’ Gale Crater was able to support microbial life at some point in its history. The groundbreaking discoveries made by NASA’s mission are expected to pave the way for possible habitability studies during future exploration missions.

“We have found a habitable environment that is so benign and supportive of life that probably if this water was around and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it,” said Grotzinger.

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