New Delhi: Over 2 lakh people, including more than 20,000 Indians, have applied for an ambitious private mission that will send four men and women on a one-way trip to Mars in 2023 to establish a permanent space colony.
In the five month application period, Mars One received interest from 202,586 people from around the world, with 10 per cent of the applicants from India alone.
The Mars One Foundation has also announced that it has been able to secure lead suppliers for an unmanned mission launching in 2018, involving a robotic lander and a communications satellite.
The first round of the Mars One Astronaut Selection Programme has now closed for applications, the Dutch company said.
Mars One applicants come from over 140 countries; the largest numbers are from the US (24 per cent), India (10 per cent), China (6 per cent), Brazil (5 per cent), UK, Canada, Russia and Mexico (4 per cent), Philippines, Spain, Colombia and Argentina (2 per cent), and Australia, France, Turkey, Chile, Ukraine, Peru, Germany, Italy and Poland (1 per cent).
