As if setting foot on the Moon was not enough, spaceflight agencies are now in a race to send people to Mars. This time, it is the Netherlands-based Mars One leading the pack, taking leaps ahead NASA who openly stated intentions of sending astronauts to the Red Planet.
The Mars One project makes it possible to live in a world beyond our grasp. It aims to establish the first human colony in a foreign planet by 2024, opening an exciting opportunity for anyone who wants to live in a world other than ours. There is just one catch, though. The mission is a one-way trip to Mars, which means there's no turning back for them.
Yet roughly 200,000 applications flooded Mars One. However, not everyone is fit to go there. When the company screened the applications in December last year, a tad 1,058 was shortlisted. This time, the pool is reduced even more to 705 aspirants and 44 of them are Indians.
"We are excited that 44 Indians have been shortlisted in round two. It shows that India is a major player in Mars trip and the chance of an Indian being selected for the final trip is pretty high," said Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and chief executive of Mars One, in an interview with Indian local paper Hindustan Times.
A total of 27 men and 17 women from India made the cut, outlasting the other 18 Indian hopefuls who got in the first screening. They made up the 32 percent of the 136 applicants from Asia and most of them come from the cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, and Thiruvanathapuram.
After completing Mars One's tasks of providing a physician-approved medical statement of health and opening an online Mars One profile to the public, the 44 Indians, as well as the rest of the shortlisted applicants from the Americas (313), Europe (187), Africa (41) and Oceania (28), will now proceed to the Round 2 of screening where they will be interviewed by the Mars One selection committee.
In a press release, Mars One bared that the 353 applicants dropped out after failing to meet their requirements. Candidates aged 40 to 50 years old had to give up their dreams due to personal reasons, while those aged 20 to 35 had no choice but to back out due to medical reasons.
"What really left an impression with us is the fact that the medical tests turned out to have a major impact on the candidate's lives, as some of them found out that they needed to undergo an operation, were sick and needed medical attention, or even had a malignant form of cancer that otherwise would not have been detected in such an early stage," said Mars One Chief Medical Officer Norbert Kraft in a press release.
After the interview process, aspirants will then be grouped into international teams composed of two men and two women. They will undergo an extensive training and may spend most of the time in Mars One's first simulation post that would exhibit a Mars-like environment.
"Training to go to Mars will be their full time job," Mars One said.
