from dailymail.co.uk: More than 100,000 people have applied
to be a part of the Mars One project, which aims to colonize the red
planet starting in 2022.


Out
of the thousands, 40 people will be selected. Of the 40, just four will
participate in the first passage to Mars, which is scheduled to leave
in September 2022 and land seven months later in April 2023.


None of the four will ever return to Earth.


More than 30,000 Americans have applied for the chance to be the very first settlers on Mars, paying a $38 application fee.


The audacious project is the brainchild of a Dutch company run by CEO and creator Bas Lansdorp.


Lansdrop told CNN that
the price based is on the gross domestic product per capita of
different nations. For example, Mexicans pay a $15 application fee.


‘We
wanted it to be high enough for people to have to really think about it
and low enough for anyone to be able to afford it,’ Lansdorp said.


The very first mission to Mars will cost $6 billion, according to Lansdorp.

He intends to fund the mission by
creating a ‘reality TV’ series about the mission, documenting everything
from the astronauts’ training on Earth right through to touch-down on
Mars and their daily lives once on the planet.

Sponsors and media agencies would pay to broadcast the Mars mission.

‘What
we want to do is tell the story to the world. When humans go to Mars,
when they settle on Mars and build a new Earth, a new planet. This is
one of the most exciting things that ever happened, and we want to share
the story with the entire world,’ Lansdorp said.

Another second group of four will leave two years after the first. 

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