Three Indians, two
women and one man, have made it to the list of 100 applicants who will move on
to the next round of an ambitious private mission that aims to send four people
on a one-way trip to Mars in 2024.
From the initial
202,586 applicants, only 100 hopefuls have been selected to proceed to the next
round of the Mars One Astronaut Selection Process, The Netherlands-based
non-profit organisation Mars One has announced.
The project aims to
set up a human colony on Mars and eventually around 40 people will be sent to
the red planet on a permanent basis. The finalists will train for seven years
and Mars One will begin sending out four at a time from 2024.
The Mars 100 Round
Three candidates include 50 men and 50 women with 39 from the Americas, 31 from
Europe, 16 from Asia, 7 from Africa, and 7 from Oceania.
The Indian candidates
include 29-year-old Taranjeet Singh Bhatia, who is studying Doctorate in
Computer Science at the University of Central Florida. The other two are
Ritika Singh, 29, who lives in Dubai, and Shradha Prasad, 19, from Kerala.
The second round of
the application process last year had shortlisted 44 Indians, of whom 27 were
men and 17 were women. The third round has
selected 100 candidates from a pool of 660 after they participated in personal
online interviews with Norbert Kraft, Chief Medical Officer.
The next selection
rounds will focus on composing teams that can endure all the hardships of a
permanent settlement on Mars. The candidates will
receive their first shot at training in the copy of the Mars Outpost on Earth
and will demonstrate their suitability to perform well in a team.
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