The Mars One organization has revealed details of its plans to land four astronauts on the Red Planet in 2023, with four additional 'crew' arriving every two years.
The organization said that it had had more than 1,000 volunteers for the mission, who emailed in via the foundation's website.
Selection of the astronauts will begin next year, the Dutch organization says.
The trip to the planned 'colony' would be one-way - and the astronaut volunteers will live and die on Mars.
Mars One aims to finance a mission to Mars via donations from corporations, people - and by creating a reality show-style 'media event' around the training and selection of its astronauts.
The Dutch company is backed by Nobel prize winning physicist, Gerard 't Hooft - and by Paul Romer, co-creator of Big Brother. Mars One also announced that it had become a not-for-profit foundation.
With more than 850,000 unique visitors to the website, Mars One has received thousands of emails according to the Dutch company. Among those emails were more than one thousand requests from individuals who desire to go to Mars well before the launch of the Astronaut Selection Program. Furthermore, Mars One is supported by a large groups of advisers and ambassadors, among them an astronaut, a Nobel prize winning physicist and several NASA scientists.
Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and President of Mars-One added that a foundation more accurately represents how the Mars One team feels about this mission, and how the world has embraced their plan, even in this early stage.
They receive so many kind and supportive emails, people offering donations or offer to help in whatever way they can. The conversion to a foundation represents that going to Mars is something we do as a united world.
In the first half of 2013 Mars One will launch the Astronaut Selection Program, a search to find the best candidates for the 'next giant leap of mankind'. The search will be global, open to every person from every nation. As a Foundation, Mars One will be the owner of the human outpost on Mars, the simulation bases on Earth, and the employer of the astronauts, both in training here on Earth, and those on Mars.
Arno Wielders, co-founder and technical director of Mars One said that sending humans to Mars has been his dream for twenty years. Evidently, he was not alone acknowledging the fact that they have received emails from over fifty countries. People in thirty seven countries have purchased our merchandise, demonstrating their support for Mars One. Regardless of their background, people are positive about this optimistic event that they believe will bring people of Earth a little bit closer together.
So are you ready to head out to the red planet anytime soon?
Source: Yahoo!