One hundred finalists have been selected from more than 200,000 applicants looking to permanently settle on Mars.

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The Mars One mission is a non-profit group that seeks to begin human colonization of Mars by landing teams of four on the Red Planet beginning in 2024. The last round of applicants had 660 members, and now that the pool of would-be astronauts is down to a hundred the program can begin focusing on how well applicants work together - an important thing considering the length of the trip. Fifty men and fifty women are still in the running, with 39 coming from the Americas, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, 7 from Africa, and 7 from Oceania. If selected for the 2024 launch, they'll never see home again. Last week a Guardian documentary asked why anyone would want to die on Mars , but the question the Mars One selection program has to answer is, "who could live there?"Of course, there's more than just teamwork required to travel to a planet millions of miles from earth. In 2018 Mars One is planning an unmanned mission that will act as a proof of concept for the spacecraft and lander the team will use for the journey.If you're interested in playing a part in the mission, the Mars One community will be asked to make decisions about the program and, since this is an non-profit venture, is still taking donations. There will also be a new round of applications in 2015 to find potential replacements for the astronauts should one of them withdraw from the program for any reason.

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