More than 200,000 people from 140 countries have applied to go to Mars and never return, the group behind an ambitious venture to colonise the inhospitable red planet has said.

More than 78,000 people have applied to permanently move to Mars.

There’s emigration and then there’s space travel: almost 80,000 people have already expressed an interest in a one-way ticket to Mars to live on a space colony — including one Irishman.

Are you crazy enough to sign up for a one-way trip to Mars? Applications are now being accepted by the makers of a Dutch reality show that says it will deliver the first humans to the Red Planet in 10 years.

THE one-way ticket is a powerful motif.