Mars One's Flight scheduled in 2023: Four Filipino Inhabitants Listed

Mars One will establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. We invite you to participate by sharing our vision with your friends, and, perhaps, by becoming the next Mars astronaut yourself." – Written on Mars One applicant website.

There are about 78,000 estimated individuals, who wanted to join the Mars One mission to become the planet's settlers by 2023. Right now there are 4 Filipinos who applied. Mars One CEO and co-founder Bas Lansdorp mentioned in their website, “With 78,000 applications in two weeks, this is turning out to be the most desired job in history.”

Catherine Jane Franco, Maricia, Ronald Ray and Bai were the aspiring Filipino settlers who have taken an account for living in Mars. 30-year-old Franco, is a pre-production engineer who always wanted to be a part of history by being in the Mars mission. 22-year-old Marcia is a registered nurse. Her team made it to the finals of the 4th Philippine Robotics Olympiad in 2005. Ronald Ray, on the other hand, is a political science student and Bai is an International School student with the course American Studies.

When they were asked if how they would feel with the possibility of never returning to earth, they said that it would be such an experience and taking part in history is something to be proud of.

The landing itself in 2023 will cost an estimated $6 billion USD.

Meanwhile, the applicants will go under intensive physical and psychological training before taking part of this Mars One mission.

Opinion:

Just imagine having just one thing like a cell phone or a pet taken from us. It already depresses us, how much more to be separated from the whole world and into another? If you were to ask me, even if I know that it’s for the future of the human race, I wouldn’t want to be a pioneer for such huge risk. I mean, what will they do when they get there? I know that it’s to start a race in the red planet but getting a person who got used so much from earth and would start from scratch? Uh-uh...That’s gotta be tough. You spend the rest of your life being an experiment with no guarantee of survival.

This is very different from the nature of survival game shows, where they’ll test your strength etc. This is a new freakin’ planet! If here in the Philippines you have a thousand scientists and still have some experiments gone wrong, what more having a few willing people to examine mars?

Courtesy of Foxnews. The photo depicts the Mars One's settlement slated to reach the red planet by 2021. It includes two living units, two life-support units, a second supply unit and two rovers.

Courtesy of Foxnews. Here's an artist's concept of the private Mars One lander for a unmanned mission to Mars slated to launch in 2018. The design is based on NASA's Phoenix Mars lander. (MARS ONE FOUNDATION)

Anyway, I’m in no position whatsoever. Just voicing out what I would feel if I were those people being sent to mars. With no guarantee of coming back here or coming back alive.