In 2011, two aspiring scientists with a creative vision and extreme curiosity came together to launch an awe-inspiring mission with implications that are out of this world… figuratively and literally. Dutch scientists Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders devised an idea to colonize Mars, creating a nonprofit company called “Mars One” that plans to send humans to the Red Planet as early as 2032.

“I believe mankind is destined to be a multi-planet species, to move beyond the confines of our home planet,” Wielders said on the official website of Mars One. “To work with Mars One is to be a living part of this incredible undertaking.”

However, expanding human civilization to an extraterrestrial planet is not an easy task at hand. Many are optimistic, but LT Astronomy Instructor Kevin Murphy is hesitant to believe in the project’s success.

“I’m excited by the mission, but skeptical about it coming to fruition,” Murphy said. “The exploration, conquest and settlement of space will, like that of our planet in the 1500s, rely on commerce and funding by nation states.”
The arch of the astronomy course at LT leads to a final unit in May which is about life elsewhere in the galaxy and where Earthlings might be able to survive, Murphy said, ultimately making Mars One a timely topic of discussion.

Although underway, there is still extensive work and preparation that is needed to lead the mission to its eventual take-off. After formulating the game plan, the company began to accept applications for the four-person spacecraft headed toward Mars, according to the Mars One website. In the first of four astronaut selection stages, the company received over 200,000 interested applicants willing to be part of the next step of mankind.

Of these applicants, who were required to submit a resume, essay and a one-minute video answering questions related to the voyage, only 660 made it to the next round. After further review, the group was minimized once again to 100 candidates, who will endure Mars-like simulations in the upcoming months to see how they would collaborate and survive on an extraterrestrial planet. After concluding the tests, two men and two women will be selected to be the first humans to step foot on Mars.

Many view a one-way trip to another planet as a daunting task, but some believe it would be an experience of a lifetime.

“I think the most important thing to do in life is to leave a legacy,” one of the male finalists from the United Kingdom told The Guardian. “A lot of people do that by having a child or having a family. For me, this [venture to Mars] would be my legacy. To try and find new life on Mars, to inspire generations, to lead the beginning of the first civilization of another planet. That’s my legacy.”

Yet, the four selected astronauts to endure the eight month travel to the Red Planet will not arrive empty handed. In fact, there will be numerous equipment and rovers sent years before the human venture to prepare for their landing and colonization. Mars One will launch a communications satellite in 2024 that will send signals and data back to Earth. From there, life support units, food, solar panels, spare parts and more equipment will be sent to prepare human arrival up until 2030. The following year then marks the date of human liftoff.

As for now, members of the team continue to prepare and anticipate the future of Mars One and extraterrestrial human civilization.

“This is no longer a dream or a sci-fi movie,” Senior Marketing Strategist KC Frank said on the Mars One website. “We are populating Mars with a group of courageous pioneers who will take the first steps, turn the first rock and build our future on the Red Planet. Inspiring people on Earth to reach for the stars is the greatest gift we can give. We will succeed.”