Mars One, an organisation
that plans to create the first human colony on the Red Planet, has announced
its final 100 candidates for the mission.
Selected from 200,000
applicants, the would-be Martians include an Oxford University physicist who
can recall 90 digits of the mathematical entity pi, a Virgin Media systems
integration manager and a sushi chef.
The 50 women and 50 men who have
made the shortlist will go through a further selection process that will test
their team-working skills, as well as their ability to cope with isolation and the
harsh living conditions that they would experience on Mars.
Eventually 24 people will be
selected to make up the six crews of four, which Mars One says they hope to
launch to the Red Planet every two years from 2024, with the aim of creating
the first permanent human colony on the planet.
The mission, however, still
has numerous risks and challenges to overcome with many in the scientific
community sceptical about its chances of success.
For an introduction to the
fourth planet from the Sun, watch the Twig film Mars.
To learn more about the
prospect of humans one day colonising Mars, watch Next Stop Mars.
