February 18, 2015
Mars One, the Dutch non-profit scheduled to send a group of humans on a one-way trip to Mars, has announced its top 100 candidates.
The non-profit's plan is to establish permanent human life on Mars. The top 100 candidates -- 50 men and 50 women -- were selected from an initial applicant pool of 202,586 humans from around the world: 39 from the Americas (33 from the U.S.), 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, seven from Africa, and seven from Oceania.
The journey itself is expected to take around seven months, and a recent MIT study found that, should the first explorers succeed in landing, using current technology, they would likely survive just 68 days.
Ultimately, only 24 will be sent to Mars in six crews of four every two years starting in 2024. The first four will be chosen by the general public, the Daily Dot reports.
"Because this mission is humankind's mission, Mars One has the intention to make this a democratic decision, the Mars One website explains. The whole world will have a vote which group of four will be the first humans on Mars."
The top 100 finalists include scientists, academics and explorers with a variety of reasons for wanting to become an honorary Martian.
British hopeful Clare Weedon, who was recently interviewed by CNN, said: "I want to be able to say I made a difference to the future of mankind."
