As the team behind ‘Mars One’ prepares to expand the human race to the region of the Red Planet, they have now announced a crowdfunding project to help them.
Floating high above, orbiting the Sun between 34 and 250 million miles away from where the Earth too is embarked on the same orbit around the ball of heat that is the centre of our solar system, is the Red Planet; Mars. Its inhabitants, should we ever meet them, are already known as Martians and scientists, researchers and space enthusiasts have wondered for years if the planet has ever featured bodies of water, as well as life itself, with research still being conducted as to whether anything lives on what the planet that is widely thought as barren. Speeding up the time required to find the answer, Mars One is a project that wants to send humans there to set up shop and make a home on the planet but it seems that along with the research needed to send people into space, they also need more money, which is exactly why they’ve launched a crowdfunding project to help.
While the Mars One’s mission is still half a decade off (they are apparently looking to launch an unmanned mission in 2018), the need for more funds is a pressing one, with the next 38 days seeing them attempt to ratchet up money to a goal of $400,000. What this 400k will apparently provide the Mars One team is the Mars Lander, the vessel being used to to travel to the Red Planet that’s using a design based off of NASA’s 2007 Mars lander and will be built by aerospace industry experts, Lockheed Martin. The money will also go towards a communication satellite, Surrey Satellite Technology LTD (SSTL), which allows for the transmission of important data from the planet, which is the entire point of the unmanned mission and is a vital component before a team of humans gets their chance to go up to Mars too.
The perks being offered vary quite a bit with the option of sending your picture to Mars for $1,250 seeming like an expensive way of getting exposure for your selfie, while the more modest offer of a t-shirt is available for $35. The crowdfunding project is a few hundred thousand dollars away from its $400,000 goal but seems to be gathering funds quite well. You can watch a video explaining more below.
We’ll keep you posted once we know more.
Source: Mars One Indiegogo
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