Mars One: Final 100 Candidates Selected

hypnosec writes "The Mars One project has picked the final 100 candidates for the next round of the selection process. Initially, 202,586 people applied and ultimately around 40 will undertake a one-way trip to Mars. “The large cut in candidates is an important step towards finding out who has the right stuff to go to Mars,” said Bas Lansdorp, Co-founder & CEO of Mars One. “These aspiring martians provide the world with a glimpse into who the modern day explorers will be.”

Comments

This whole thing is a disaster waiting to happen

[realmolo]

But...I can't decide if that bothers me or not. The sheer *audacity* of this project impresses me. I kind of want to see it happen.

Unfortunately, the mission is basically a death-sentence for the people involved. And not because of the one-way nature of the mission, but because the people behind this don't have a clue. I would be amazed if anybody actually made it to Mars alive. Hell, I'll be amazed if they make it into space alive.

Re:202,586

[Penguinisto]

202,586 Idiots scammed out of their money.

This may sound trollish, but they got off cheaper than the average candidate who tries to go the 'work-for-NASA' route. Years of intense study (and student loans) to get the right degrees, years of kissing petty bureaucratic ass**, and an intense lifestyle that would put a physician's internship to shame? Seems that a relatively paltry application fee would be getting off light by comparison.

Not saying that the initial round of applicants were smarter, but TBH if this thing actually goes up, they had better odds of going, and at a far lower cost.

** The common saying among NASA astronaut candidates was "suck up to go up" if that helps explain things.

Re:202,586

[Penguinisto]

Years of intense study (and student loans) to get the right degrees

Yeah, that sucks. You get an engineering degree to go work for NASA, then they don't accept you, and you have to throw it away and go work for McDonalds.

MickeyD's, no. A more likely outcome would be a somewhat moderate salary at some manufacturer, government agency or pharmaceutical corp, or a relatively meager salary at some university. But, consider the result after all the effort and hardships put in.

Let me put it this way: I once had a junior sysadmin who was a former naval aviation officer. He had a degree in engineering, and shot for NASA but didn't make it in. The process burned him out pretty hard, and it took a couple of years for him to recover. He wound up saying 'fuck it' and went into IT, eventually reporting to me, a former USAF enlisted flightline grunt. Take what you will from that...

Re:This whole thing is a disaster waiting to happe

[BarbaraHudson]

The first 10 volunteers for open heart surgery were told they were going to die. They did it anyway, because they had nothing to lose. 1 out of the next 10 survived. Today? Heart *transplants* are done all the time.