Would you like to travel to Mars? A Dutch company has a plan to land people on Mars in 2023. It’s called Mars One, and it sounds like the adventure of a lifetime. But, there’s only one problem: it’s a one-way ticket.
The cost of sending people to Mars is so expensive, the only way to make it affordable is by making the trips one-way. How would this work? Well, here’s the plan:
- In 2013, 40 astronauts will be selected and start their training.
- In 2016, a supply ship will be sent to Mars with 2,500 kilograms of food.
- In 2018, a location for the settlement on Mars will be chosen.
- In 2022, a space ship will launch with the first four astronauts. And every two years after that, a new group of four astronauts will be sent, but no one will return.
It sounds like a science fiction movie, doesn’t it? But it’s actually real. This Mars One project was started in 2011 and has some important supporters in business and science. For example, the plan is being backed by Nobel Prize winning physicist, Gerard ‘t Hooft, and the famous television producer, Paul Romer.
Romer is the creator of the show, Big Brother, one of the first reality TV shows. Starting next year, Romer will turn the astronaut selection process into a reality TV show to help raise some of the 6 billion dollars needed for the 7-month space trip. The plan is for the TV show to film the selection, training, and trip to Mars over the next 10 years.
Mars One will be accepting applications from people all over the world, so if you’re interested in being one of the astronauts, check out the video below. But remember, it’s only a one-way ticket; you can’t come back to earth.
Would you be willing to take a one-way trip to Mars? Tell us why or why not in our comments section.
Mars One
This trip to Mars is a real plan, but there’s a famous hoax about visitors from Mars that happened in 1938. Take a look at our True Stories Fluency Course to improve your English and learn about this crazy story.
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