A brand new private space venture from the Netherlands called Mars One, aims to send four astronauts on a one-way journey to Mars in just 11 years time.
Watch that video above and you’ll get a distinct sense of the earnest amateur. For all its letters of intent from component suppliers and support from Nobel prize-winners, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of money behind this venture — yet.
Click here to see the complete Timeline of Mars-one
Here’s what Mars One does have going for it: a definite and achievable to-do list.
Landsdorp plans to send another couple of adventurous astronauts to join the colony every two years, but the idea is that no one gets a return journey. This is a permanent base, a Plymouth Rock in an entirely new world that will begin the long, slow and painstaking process of terraforming it.
And how will this all be funded? Landsdorp has two words for you: “media spectacle.” We’re not sure what that means, exactly — selling broadcast rights to the landing? Sponsorships from large corporations eager to advertise on the mission? Will Coke be the first soda on Mars?
