(Newser) – NASA is hatching an audacious plan to send astronauts into space to colonize Mars and other planets—and never return. The project, known as the Hundred Year Starship, has already received more than $1.5 million in funding, the Daily Mail reports, though that’s a small fraction of what the roughly $10 billion ship would ultimately cost. NASA’s hoping to raise money from interested billionaires—Google’s Larry Page has already expressed interest.

“You heard it here,” said the director of NASA’s Ames Research Center. “The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds. Twenty years ago, you had to whisper that in dark bars and get fired.” New research has found that a one-way mission to Mars would be cheaper and more feasible than a round-trip. Astronauts would get regular supply shipments, but would be expected to be at least marginally self-sufficient. (Read more NASA stories.)

