Chinese join Mars rush
CHINA: Over 600 Chinese have applied to join an ambitious Dutch
aerospace project that plans to send humans on a one-way trip to Mars
for permanent settlement. The Dutch project, while triggering enthusiasm
to explore outer space, is also under fire with the trip being viewed by
some as a suicide mission, with applicants being shipped to a planet
that is uninhabitable by humans.
The project, Mars One, is being launched by a Dutch non-profit
organisation, and is scheduled to take four humans to the Red Planet in
2023.
In the first three days after it was launched this week, over 20,000
people from all over the world submitted their applications online, with
more than 600 coming from China, state-run China Daily reported.
Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Mars One told the media in Shanghai that
he is confident of turning the dream into reality, and plans to attract
more than five lakh applicants.
The Chinese enthusiasm to travel to Mars is building up as China,
which has a well funded space programme focussing on Moon missions and
building a space station is planning a three-phase Mars space missions
to collect samples from the Red Planet by 2030.
The three stages are remote sensing, soft-landing, exploration and
return after collecting automatic sampling, according to Ouyang Ziyuan,
China's Chief scientist for Lunar missions. But India may steal the
march as Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is bracing to launch
its first Mars mission in November to become the first Asian country to
accomplish it.
NASA has already landed a rover on Mars remaining well ahead of other
space programmes of the world.
India's Mars Orbiter Mission is expected to be launched in
mid-October this year, will carry five experimental payloads with a
total weight of 14.49 kg.
Lansdorp said that when about 40 candidates have been fully trained,
the final decision on choosing the first settlers will be made by a TV
audience vote.
Lansdorp said Mars One chose Shanghai as the second stop for the
application press conference after New York because he believes many
Chinese, including youngsters, are very interested in becoming
astronauts, especially as the country already has its own astronauts.
DECCAN HERALD
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