Mars One ‘hopelessly flawed’ says Irish finalist

An Irishman who is one of 100 finalists for the Mars One space mission has criticised the project, calling it a hopelessly flawed scheme that will inevitably fail.

Wed, 18 Mar, 2015 - 00:00

Kelly O'Brien

Mars One, a non-profit organisation based in the Netherlands, has put forward plans to land the first humans on Mars and establish a permanent human colony there by 2025.

Thousands of hopeful candidates applied, out of which 100 were shortlisted.

Former Nasa researcher Joseph Roche, an assistant professor at Trinity College Dublin, said that, at first, he never really took the application seriously. Now, he has hit out at the project’s “secretive” selection process, voicing misgivings at how final-stage applicants are ranked on a points system, rewarding those who raise the most money. In addition, he said media reports that 200,000 people applied to live the rest of their lives on Mars are inaccurate — the figure is actually 2,761.

Despite his criticisms, Mr Roche has not yet indicated that he will withdraw his application to take part in the project.

MORE DETAIL: Irish Mars One candidate speaks out against the organisation