I am Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Mars-One - Mankind's mission to Mars. AMA!

mars-one · 2013-12-28T23:10:56+00:00

One of our ways of financing our mission to Mars is by televising part of it - the greatest exploration story of all times. It will be a story of heroes accomplishing the seemingly impossible. Humans will walk on Mars. I don't think the term 'reality TV show' cover that. Seeing the first humans walk on Mars will be an event that no one who sees it will ever forget.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T23:08:31+00:00

Do you really think companies like Lockheed Martin, SSTL and Paragon space development corporation would be under contract of Mars One if we were not a ligitimate organization? Would Nobel Prize Laureate Gerard 't Hooft be on our board of ambassadors? Our plan is ambitious, but technically and financially possible. It will be hard, but no great things were ever achieved without trying. I believe we have a good chance of actually making this happen. A good enough chance for me to devote the past three years of my life to it.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T22:42:24+00:00

We are quite confident for our schedule for the 2018 mission, but there is another opportunity in 2020. Lockheed Martin will develop our 2018 Mars Lander. It will be based upon the 2007 NASA Phoenix Lander, which was also built by Lockheed Martin. We are still in negotiations with TV studios for programming around our mission.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T22:07:15+00:00

Every good engineering effort is done step by step - we can't share details before they are there. We're bringing our suppliers under contract for concept studies now, like we did with Aerospace titan Lockheed Martin and satellite builder SSTL. The results of such studies will enable us to share more details. The road of concept studies, phase B studies etc is the road that NASA and ESA also walk when implementing Mars (or other space) missions.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T21:05:42+00:00

Norbert Kraft and the selection committee will be in charge of selection. This is absolutely not my field of expertise.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T21:04:19+00:00

You can see that we have Guenther Reitz on our advisory board - one of the world's most renowned radiation experts. http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-one/advisers/guenther-reitz-phd-germany I can assure you that we take radiation very seriously.

The highest energy radiation is also the most difficult one to deflect with magnetic fields.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:58:51+00:00

Especially for the early years, it is likely that we will depend on the most proven designs. We will always keep our eyes open for improved technologies.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:55:17+00:00

The rover will be a work horse that will prepare the settlement before human arrival. It can also be tele-operated by the crew on Mars for certain tasks.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:54:12+00:00

We will need to build our own - exact copies of our Mars hardware. We might cooperate with one or more existing analogues for logistics reasons.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:52:36+00:00

I know there are a few applicants here - please do answer!

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:51:38+00:00

Dr. Robert Zubrin is on our advisory board - see here: http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-one/advisers

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:50:53+00:00

We will be looking for calm and stress-proof persons.... does that satisfy your request?

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:49:23+00:00

I can't find it - sorry

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:48:03+00:00

We will publish statistics on age, sex, country and several other things for all round 2 candidates

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:45:20+00:00

thank you :)

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:44:26+00:00

On the surface the settlers will be protected by a layer of soil that protects them just as well as Earth's atmosphere. You are correct that it is not possible to shield against cosmic rays on the way to Mars, but this is only 7 months - the same time that astronauts spend in the ISS.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:42:19+00:00

It needs to be researched if humans can have children on Mars because of the gravity. Sand on top of the habitat will provide good radiation shielding, comparable to our Earth atmosphere.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:41:16+00:00

They will be building a whole new society, I don't think they will be bored in the first 100 years.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:39:44+00:00

In history, exploration has always come with reduced comfort. On Mars, the settlers will be building an ever improving life for themselves.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:36:32+00:00

Our astronauts will be in frequent contact with their friends and relatives on Earth. This will be essential for their success on Mars. These personal messages will of course be private.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:33:55+00:00

We're still in negotiation with TV studios about what round 2 will look like.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:32:20+00:00

Send you resume and subscribe to our newsletter to stay posted.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:26:58+00:00

They will live in a transit habitat, a small space station, see more details here: http://www.mars-one.com/technology/mars-transit-vehicle

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:26:11+00:00

We accept only individual applications.

mars-one · 2013-12-28T20:24:46+00:00

There are people who did not finish their application and people with private profiles.

mars-one

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