Mars One

On January 15, Mars One Ventures was ordered to go into liquidation in a Swiss court, putting paid to plans to set up a permanent outpost on Mars with volunteers willing to leave Earth on a one-way mission with no hope of return.

Mar One has outlined the next phase of the candidate selection process for its project to send colonists on a one-way mission to Mars. The non-profit organization will subject candidates to a series of challenges and interviews that will trim the pool from 100 to 24.

When the first living visitor from Earth lands on Mars we might well expect it to be a man or a woman, but if students from the University of Southampton Spaceflight Society have their way, it could be one small step for a lettuce.

Multiple efforts are underway to put people on Mars, but they may not succeed for decades. In the meantime, a new space race is on to create breathable air on the Red Planet.

A team of MIT researchers has completed an analysis of the Mars One mission to colonize the Red Planet that throws the feasibility of the non-profit project into question. The team found a number of hurdles that must be overcome if the colonists aren't to end up dead within 10 weeks of landing.

On Monday, it was revealed that Mars One has selected Lockheed Martin, and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) to carry out concept studies for a Mars lander mission in 2018 as a prelude to colonization.

Mars One has received over 78,000 applications in just two weeks from people wanting to be the first to settle Mars.