East Sooke writer Marina Miral wants to go where no one has gone before 鈥� even though there is no way to get back.
Miral, 30, got the word that she is one of 1,058 people on the short list for a mission to establish a human settlement on Mars. More than 200,000 people applied to Mars One, a non-profit Dutch foundation that wants to raise $6 billion to fund the project through crowdsourcing and selling TV rights to what could become humanity鈥檚 longest-running reality show.
The short list will be narrowed to about 40 people who will train for seven years. Four of them will be chosen to be the first settlers and will spend the rest of their lives on the red planet.
It鈥檚 a rare person who hasn鈥檛 daydreamed of travelling to another world, so Miral, if she makes the trip, will live the fantasies of billions of people.
Blasting off on any space mission takes courage, but knowing you will never come back 鈥� even if everything goes right 鈥� takes rock-solid conviction. Living the rest of your life in a sealed box with only three other people and nothing outside but a lethal environment takes something we can only guess at.
Of course, much work has to be done between now and a landing in 2025. Mars One is proposing something that established agencies like NASA have never attempted. The chances they can carry it off are slim.
Still, Miral and the other applicants have a shot at living on an alien planet 鈥� the adventure of a lifetime.
