According to the British “Daily Mail” report on June 6, the controversial “Mars One” project has reduced the list of candidates to 100 people. Many candidates said that during the Mars landing plan, even if there is a shortage of food and they may starve to death, they will not eat their companions.
The Dutch company Mars One claims to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. “Mars One” screened 100 people from 200,000 applicants on the 6th. These 100 people will also undergo subsequent selection and 40 people will be selected. In the end, 24 people have a chance to land on Mars in 2027.
“Mars One” plans to send the first batch of 24 people to Mars in March 2027. To this end, the first supplies and the first “settlement probe” may be launched in October 2016 and 2020 respectively. “Mars One” also plans to achieve the goal of sending four astronauts to Mars every two years by the mid-2020s.
It takes about 200 days to fly from Earth to Mars.
Among these 100 people, 33 are from the United States, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, 7 from Africa, and 7 from Australia.
“Mars One” stated that they will continue to test candidates in the future. 90% of the test projects were approved by NASA. “Over the course of five days, candidates will face many challenges. This will be the first time the candidates will meet and work as a team to demonstrate their abilities,” the company said in a statement.
The company also said that the trip to Mars is a one-way trip and you will never come back. Candidates must be able to form a team on Mars and ensure adequate water, oxygen and food supplies in order to survive.
Recently, a video showed that the “Mars One” company asked candidates: “If you were short of food, would you consider eating a fellow astronaut?” One of the candidates, Su An from Los Angeles, said: “No. That’s like, if you encounter famine, will you eat your parents? No. We will work together to solve the problem.”
Sue added: “Unless that person has died of natural causes. I don’t know. It’s quite strange.”
Italian candidate Pietro said: “The relationship between human beings and death is very complicated. Personally, if there is no hope of finding food at all and I know that we will starve to death, I am still willing to live in peace with my companions.”
Egyptian candidate Mido said he would switch to a vegetarian diet when he gets to Mars. “But what makes me curious is, I want to know what it smells like?” Mido said, “I would be tempted, but, no, I won’t do it.”
The Mars landing plan has been controversial. Some people believe that the project is unreliable and is just a hoax to attract attention.
The project is funded by a television reality show. Some 200,000 people from 140 countries initially signed up to try to land on Mars. This list of 100 people shows that there are physicists, doctors, architects, engineers, doctoral students, journalists, and even singers.
