Group's 'Mars One' Project Is 'So Ambitious' That Even the CEO Admits It's Pretty 'Crazy

A Netherlands-based nonprofit is hoping to fund the first-ever colony on Mars with the help of the world’s billionaires. It’s a plan “so ambitious” that even the CEO of the group admits it’s a little “crazy.”

Mars One is hoping to put four pioneers on Mars by 2027, with the long-term goal of establishing a permanent colony on the planet, according to Space.com.

This Aug. 26, 2003 image made available by NASA shows Mars photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope on the planet's closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. (AP Photo/NASA)

Mars One co-founder and CEO Bas Lansdorp said of the project, I think 'crazy' is the right word — that we might actually get a phone call from a billionaire who says, 'I want to make this happen. I want the first city on Mars to be called Gatesville or Slim City.’”

Speaking at the 18th annual International MarsSociety Convention in Washington D.C. earlier this month, Lansdorp said the backing of billionaires “will change everything.”

However, during a debate on the project, MIT graduate students Sydney Do and Andrew Owens doubted the plan is entirely realistic.

"Can they do all of this — accomplish these development challenges — for $6 billion in the next 12 years?" Our belief, based on the data,” Do said, “the analysis that we've made and the historical analysis that we've done, is that no, they cannot do this, and it is infeasible."

(H/T: Drudge)

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