I am Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Mars-One - Mankind's mission to Mars. AMA!

Mars One is a not for profit foundation organizing Mankind's mission to Mars. I am one of the two co-founders of Mars One. Mars One announced the search for the first settlers in April of this year, resulting in more than 200,000 applications. We will announce the round 2 candidates before the end of the year. On the 10th of December we announced that we selected Lockheed Martin for our first unmanned Mars lander in 2018 and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd for the 2018 Mars orbiter. These will be the first private missions to Mars! We also started our first crowd funding campaign, with some really cool participation possibilities. You can find it here: http://igg.me/at/marsone/

Watch the press conference where we announced our contracts with Lockheed Martin and SSTL here: http://youtu.be/TePLtbTzzZ0. Lockheed Martin Chief Engineer for Civil Space, Ed Sedify, speaks for Lockheed Martin 9m20s into the press conference. He was also the Lockheed Martin program manager for the 2007 NASA Phoenix mission. Right after him, Sir Martin Sweeting, founder of SSTL speaks about the orbiter.

Find the Lockheed Martin press release here on the Lockheed Martin website: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2013/december/1210-ss-marsone.html Find the Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd press release here on their website: http://www.sstl.co.uk/News-and-Events?story=4316

Byebye everyone, thanks for your questions!

Comments: 1507 • Responses: 53  • Date: 

the_wizard_204 karma

We often hear about how we shouldn't send people to Mars before we make sure there is no form of life there because human presence on Mars could potentially contaminate the planet and spoil any results concerning this topic. Do you think organisations such as NASA will try to stop your project once (if) it becomes obvious you are actually going through with it?

mars-one86 karma

Mars One is working together with the Panel of Planetary Protection and the Panel of Planetary Exploration to make sure we design a good mission. It's not only about protecting life, but also about protecting resources. For example, you don't want to contaminate a sub-surface water storage by accident and loose that water.

Vectorsxx3 karma

How did you feel when you got the word that Dr. Zubrin was now on board to supporting Mars One? Does he still?

By whatever technological prowess or advancements in years to come, do you hope to employ aspects of Zubrins "Mars Direct" plan to the Mars One Habitat design?

mars-one3 karma

Dr. Robert Zubrin is on our advisery board - see here: http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-one/advisers

Lewis3142 karma

Can you fit a microphone onto the Demo Lander? We would love to hear Mars.

mars-one2 karma

Interesting idea. Mars has a very thin atmosphere, so there won't be much sound.

We will bring a camera that will film 24/7: you can watch Mars 'live' on your desktop anytime, any day!

Rhaksha2 karma

Hi Bas, Is it more important, as a candidate, to be good in front of the cameras or to have the skills needed to survive on Mars? Ideally both, but if you had to choose?

mars-one2 karma

To be good - we can't go to Mars with people that are not the best.

bigsromero2 karma

Hey Bas,

Would the crews going on this one way trip be able to have contact home with their families? If so would that be in an area away from the 24hour live feed?

I just wanted to say I think this is incredible and I can't wait until it happens, me and my dad will be ecstatic to watch the live stream.

mars-one3 karma

Our astronauts will be in frequent contact with their friends and relatives on Earth. This will be essential for their success on Mars. These personal messages will of course be private.

SpottedChoropy2 karma

Hi Bas, what will the few chosen people who actually go to Mars (if all goes to plan) be doing there? Just living? Doing tests perhaps? Very curious

mars-one3 karma

They will be building a whole new society, I don't think they will be bored in the first 100 years.

mjabk1 karma

Any jobs going?

mars-one2 karma

Send you resume and subscribe to our newsletter to stay posted.

RobToMars1 karma

Hi Bas! The first interviews of round two, when are they expected to start? Thx! :D

mars-one3 karma

We're still in negotiation with TV studios about what round 2 will look like.

weramonymous1 karma

Do you see all future missions being just 4 people every two years, or are you expecting to, once the colony is well-established, send larger groups of people, or launch multiple missions at the same time?

mars-one7 karma

When launchers get bigger, this could happen. Our manned vehicle will be launched in four parts and will be assembled in LEO, so launchers will have to be ~6 times more capable than the e.g. the Falcon Heavy to send crews of 6.

GoForLaunchNL1 karma

Will the first rover you're sending to Mars be functional to the mission at all? Or will it only be for demonstrative purposes?

mars-one2 karma

The rover will be a work horse that will prepare the settlement before human arrival. It can also be tele-operated by the crew on Mars for certain tasks.

Recon_by_Fire0 karma

I don't really have a question. I just want to request that this person does not get selected to go to mars.

mars-one5 karma

We will be looking for calm and stress-proof persons.... does that satisfy your request?

whyremi-1 karma

While announcing your Lockheed Martin deal (which is awesome), you omitted to mention that your overall schedule (first landing) got delayed by 2 years. Why are you not more transparent about your recent hurdles?

mars-one2 karma

We announced the delay in the press release and in the press conference. You can find the press release here: http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/lockheed-martin-and-sstl-selected-for-mars-ones-first-unmanned-mission-to-m and the press conference here: http://youtu.be/TePLtbTzzZ0