Mission to make Mars team:
Toowoomba man makes round two of selection process
WOULD you want a one-way ticket to Mars?
Toowoomba’s Kane Robbins is one of more than 200,000 applicants world wide who would happily give up his life on Earth for the chance to be in the first permanent human settlement on the red planet.
Mr Robbins has made it to round two of the selection process, along with 1058 people worldwide who applied, not to NASA, but to a not-for-profit organisation based in the Netherlands called Mars One.
During the next four years, Mars One wants to get the applicant pool down to about 40 people who would then train for seven years before embarking on a seven month no-return expedition to Mars in 2025.
After he first heard about the project in a New Scientist magazine Mr Robbins said he had no reservations about applying.
“I’ve wanted to go to Mars ever since I was a kid,” he said.
It sounds like science fiction and Mr Robbins has had a tough time convincing his friends there was a real possibility they could lose him to the space mission.
“People don’t realise that we have had the technology to get there, just not to get people home.
“Mars One had the idea that there might be people there who didn’t mind not coming home.”
Mr Robbins said the organisation was counting on building public interest to help fund the mission via a crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo.
Funding will also come from a reality television show, planned for the selected few once they start their training.
All applicants were asked to describe their sense of humour — undoubtedly a pre-requisite for coping with the stresses of life on a new planet.