The non-profit organisation plans to raise the money, build the spaceships and launch the first colonists within the next decade. Whatever the practicalities of this ambitious target, Kraft has been appointed to help choose the first potential Martian settlers.

He is certainly well qualified to lead the selection. After training as a medical doctor in Austria, and with a background as a doctor in the Austrian military, he has spent 20 years working with the US, Russian and Japanese space agencies studying the suitability of astronauts for long duration space missions.

“This is an exciting opportunity,” says Kraft, “because now I’m putting everything I’ve researched into reality.” So how do you go about whittling down 200,000 applicants to the first few pioneering crews?

“I’m going to give them so many challenges,” he says. “My hope is that when they get to Mars, they’ll say ‘compared to what Norbert put us through, Mars is a paradise!’”

Step 1: Physical

The first stage of Kraft’s 10-year astronaut training programme is physical selection – weeding out people who are not considered fit enough to make the journey. That includes those with chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and even asthma.

“For the first settlers we are very, very strict,” says Kraft. “Later on we might loosen the requirements when we have, say, 600 settlers on Mars and better medical facilities.”