Can Mars One Candidates Still Travel To Space In The Future?

Mars One candidates, or the first 100 people chosen by the company to start a colony on Mars, just confirmed their fears that the program could be a hoax as Mars One recently filed for bankruptcy.

According to a report, Mars One Ventures, a publicly traded Swiss counterpart of the company, started its bankruptcy proceedings in Switzerland last month. The court records were first discovered in Reddit and were confirmed by the company itself early this week.

The Mars One program was introduced back in 2012. It offered a one-way ticket to start a colony on Mars in the year 2025 because the Red Planet is considered to be the closest and most habitable planet next to Earth.

The company proposed a reality show-type screening process to help raise funds for the program that targeted $6-billion. Since the program was announced, almost 200,000 applicants answered the call to become “astronauts” who are willing to travel and live in outer space.

According to Forbes, which described the Mars mission as fake, documents from the Civil Court of the City of Basel in Switzerland revealed that Mars One Ventures has already been declared bankrupt as of Jan. 15, 2019. The outlet also disclosed that what’s left in the company vaults is less than $25,000.

Mars One originally planned to send a robotic fleet by 2020 to start construction of the colony, but this is where it all went downhill for the company. The initial candidates to Mars were supposed to be the stars of the reality TV show that will help fund the mission, but even the candidates themeselves were left unconvinced about the possibility of the program ever coming into fruition.

However, can these people still have the chance to travel to Mars in the future? According to NASA, a project of this magnitude will need as much as $80 to $100 Billion and even then, there will be rigorous screenings to pick which individuals can actually qualify for the project.

Now here’s another kicker: Mars One is not giving up yet. The company is currently looking for an investment partner that can help pay off debts and revive the Mars One Ventures mission.