Who wants to live (or die) on Mars?

Mary Bowerman | USA TODAY Network

One hundred people are one step closer to making a giant leap for mankind; winning a trip to Mars. But there's a big catch. The 'winners' won't be coming back.

Mars One has reduced 200,000 applicants to 100 finalists who could leave Earth in 2024, the group said in a statement.

For finalists like Peter Felgentreff, 50, the chance to visit Mars is worth the risk.

"I've always had a curiosity for all things science, especially when it comes to space exploration," said Felgentreff, an entrepreneur and vice president of a start-up organization outside San Francisco.

Felgentreff is married and would be leaving his wife behind for the quest.

"It's a one-way ticket to anywhere. I would probably die on Earth if I stayed here too," Felgentreff said.

He said his wife shares his curiosity of combining, "humans with an element of risk and using technology to overcome those risks."

Listen to the audio of the interview with Felgentreff

The desire to put a man on Mars isn't new. NASA is planning on developing capabilities to send astronauts to Mars by the 2030s, but those going will return to Earth.

In comparison, the Dutch not-for-profit organization began its own "search for astronauts" in April 2013. It plans on sending an initial crew to Mars by 2024, and the wannabe Martians range from doctors to people without jobs in their mid-20s.

Bas Lansdorp, CEO and co-founder of Mars One, said they look for candidates who can psychologically handle living on a planet with just a few other people and accept that they cannot return to Earth.

"We can teach people engineering, farming and medical skills, but finding people and teams that can actually pull off the mission is our biggest challenge," Lansdorp told USA TODAY Network.

Of the 100 finalists, only 24 people will be chosen to actually go to space. Lansdorp said four people will make the initial planned trip to Mars in 2024, followed by new crews every two years.

How long will they survive?

An MIT analysis of the Mars One claim that humans can successfully sustain life on Mars found that people could start dying from oxygen related issues as early as 68 days.

"A lot of the technologies you need to sustain life on Mars are very much in development or there aren't even development programs existing that could support life," Sydney Do, researcher and Ph.D. candidate in the Aeronautics and Astronautics department at MIT.

Even if the technologies were created by the time the missions start, the amount of equipment and money needed for parts over the lifetime of the inhabitants would make the system unsustainable, according to Do.

The group has contracted the space development firm Paragon Space Development Corporation to create a copy of what the Mars outpost would look like. Lansdorp says the mock Mars will be used to "train our teams for engineering skills and assess their psychological components of living in that environment."

What's the cost?

The group estimates that putting the first four people on Mars will cost $6 billion. Lansdorp said the revenue model centers around crowdfunding broadcasting deals and private investments.

"I can't disclose the level of investment we received, but it's been successful," Lansdorp said. "We are in negotiation with a U.K. investment firm that is interested in financing the entire first manned mission."

The group announced the candidates by also releasing a trailer of a reality series that will chronicle the process that leads to the final 24 candidates.

Norbert Kraft, chief medical officer for Mars One, told USA TODAY Network in an e-mail that "the audience will have a possibility to be involved."

Fifty men and 50 women made the cut, including 33 Americans (and five others living in the United States). The American finalists range from folks with doctorates in their fields to ones in their 20s, according to biographies of the finalists posted on the group's website.

Felgentreff says while there are Mars One skeptics, he likens the possibility of the expedition to critics who said electric cars and SpaceX would never happen.

"In terms of new ideas, you always take a risk right, so that's a risk that's worth taking because sometimes the outcomes of those risks are well worth it," Felgentreff said.

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