| Two Australians in the running to set up a human colony and spend the rest of their lives on Mars |
Ever wondered what it would be like to live on Mars?
A year ago, a Dutch entrepreneur launched a global campaign to find aspiring astronauts for a one-way mission to Mars, to be funded by a reality TV show.
More than 200,000 people applied.
Just 705 candidates are still in the running, including 28 Australians.
Kesha West spoke to two hopefuls whose ambition has astounded their family and friends.
It's a long way from Melbourne to Mars.
But there are plenty of people keen for a one-way ticket.
"I've sailed in the Southern Ocean, I've jumped out of planes, I've cycled thousands of kilometres, climbed mountains, it's just I think the ultimate adventure," says 44 year-old Dianne McGrath.
I know there's no coming back, I do know that it's a one way trip. It's part of what makes it a bit more exciting."
"To go to Mars, to set up a human colony on Mars would be enormously exciting. And it is the next step for humans too and I'd love to be a part of that, it's ground breaking," says David Mould.
Dianne McGrath and David Mould are two of the remaining Australian candidates in the running to be the first human settlers on Mars.
It might sound crazy, even foolish, but it's an opportunity both jumped at when they heard about the Mars One project.
Dianne has four university degrees and is working towards a PHD in sustainable food practice. She also likes extreme fitness challenges.
"Some of my friends, their first reaction was what about your hair, can you take your hairdresser, how will you survive without your hairdresser, and others were like you can't run a marathon on Mars, what are you going to do about running?" Dianne says.
David is 34 years old and a self confessed Trekkie.
He says when he told his friends and family he'd applied, most either thought it was a joke or that he was mad.
"My parents were a little funny about it at first, thinking am I getting away from them, am I abandoning them," he says.
"But they've all come around to being quite supportive in the long run although I don't think many of them think it's real yet," David says.
David teaches public speaking in schools and says he helps students learn to voice their opinions democratically.
His other passion is animal welfare.
David's home in the Melbourne suburb of Altona is full of animals of all shapes and sizes and has become a re-homing centre for abandoned and injured birds and animals.
"Having no animals on Mars is going to do my head in to be honest," David says.
"I will miss them a lot."
The Mars mission is the brainchild of Bas Landsdorp, a Dutch entrepreneur with a passion for space travel.
He's hoping to create the first human colony on Mars with more settlers arriving every couple of years.
The initial launch date is still a decade away but a television deal has just been signed with the production house behind the reality show, Big Brother.
Astrophysicist Charley Lineweaver says it will be a tremendous feat, if they can pull it off.
"The finance behind this is hopefully for him a reality TV show in which every single piece of the training, the launch and the landing will be watched," Charley says.
"So he's hoping it will make a big media splash and essentially get money from advertisers. That's a very fickle game."
But Charley Lineweaver says the premise is possible.
"The technology for a one-way mission to Mars is much simpler than the technology to go to Mars and come back - that's one of the big advantages of this Mars One mission," he says.
"If enough enthusiasm can be maintained then there'll be no problem because then there'll be other nations coming to Mars just regularly but if that regularity stops if there's some kind of financial crisis, then we'll be in a problem."
For the Mars One candidates, the next step in the astronaut selection process is the one-on-one interviews.
Dianne says they will have to show knowledge, intelligence and adaptability.
"You can't send the robotics experts of the world all off together because who's going to be able to cut your hair and grow the food and fix you're plumbing so you've got to be able to learn all those other skills as well and be an all-rounder really and that's what I bring to this - really I'm an all rounder," she says.
But with only a crew of four planned for the first mission, the most important trait may be prove to be personality.
That's something David Mould certainly has plenty of.
"I don't expect to find little green aliens or anything like that running around the planet, cool if we did, but I doubt that that will happen, " David says.
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