Mars One was a small private Dutch firm that accepted money from investors planning to land the first humans on Mars and leave them there to establish a permanent human colony. From its announcement in 2012 until its bankruptcy in early 2019, it is estimated to have received tens of millions of dollars. Mars One was not an aerospace company and did not manufacture hardware.
Mars One consisted of two entities: the not-for-profit Mars One Foundation, and the for-profit company Mars One Ventures which was the controlling stockholder of the for-profit Interplanetary Media Group that also managed the broadcasting rights. The Mars One Foundation, based in the Netherlands, managed the project. The company had four employees,Mars One plans suicide mission to Red Planet for 2023. 24 June 2012. Fox News. Quote: "Lansdorp says his four-person company will coordinate the launches, but it will work with suppliers for the ship and rockets." and intended to make profits by selling media (documentaries) about the personnel selection, training and colonization.Mars One's plan to profit from the Red Planet. Prinesha Naido, Tech Central. 26 February 2018. The first mission was estimated by its CEO Bas Lansdorp to cost about $6 billion.
The concept was criticized by scientists, engineers, and those in the aerospace industry as glossing over logistics and medical concerns, and lacking critical concepts about hardware. The concept was called a suicide mission by academia, the spaceflight industry, and international news. On 15 January 2019, a court decision was made to liquidate the for-profit company, bankrupting it in the process.
Origin
Mars One's original concept included launching a robotic Mars lander and Mars orbiter as early as 2020, to be followed by a human crew of four in 2024, and one in 2026 which would not return to Earth. Although the announcement garnered much international publicity, the concept was criticized by scientists, engineers, and people in the aerospace industry. Mars One was said to be very short on funding, lacking critical concepts about hardware, life support, electrical power supply, and was criticized as glossing over logistics, medical concerns, and protection against space radiation.Mars One Torn To Shreds In MIT Debate. 21 August 2015 by Jonathan O'Callaghan. The concept was called a suicide mission in academia, spaceflight, and international news.
By February 2015, two conceptual studies were done by contractors. Despite the criticism and lack of funding, about 2,700 people applied to become one of the 24 finalists "to settle Mars".
Initial mission concept In December 2013, Mars One announced its concept of a robotic precursor mission. Originally scheduled for launch in 2020, the roadmap later called for the launch to occur in 2022.Mars One – updated mission roadmap. . If funded, the robotic lander would be "built by Lockheed Martin based on the design used for NASA's Phoenix and InSight landers, as well as a communications orbiter built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited." In February 2015, Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology confirmed that contracts on the initial study phase begun in late 2013 had run out and additional contracts had not been received for further progress on the robotic missions. Plans were set in motion to raise the needed to support the initial robotic mission, but some critics did not find the economic plans to raise money from private investors and exclusive broadcasting rights to be sufficient to support the initial, or follow-on, mission(s).
Mars One selected a second-round pool of astronaut candidates in 2013. Mars One received interest from over 200,000 applicants for the first round. However, as candidate Joseph Roche asserted, the number of initial applicants who completed the application process was only 2,761, which Mars One later confirmed via YouTube video. The second-round pool was reduced to 705 candidates (418 men and 287 women) in the beginning of May 2014. 353 were removed due to personal considerations. After the medical physical requirement, 660 candidates remained. The third round of candidate selection concluded in 2015. The remaining 100 candidates, known as The Mars 100, consisted of 50 men and 50 women who were slated to move forward to the next round, where 40 individuals would have been chosen through an interview process.
On 30 June 2014, it was made public that Mars One was seeking financial investment through a bidding process to send company experiments to Mars. The experiment slots would go to the highest bidder and would include company-related ads, and the opportunity to have the company name on the robotic lander that was proposed to carry the experiments to Mars in 2018.Mars One Puts Out the Call for Red Planet Experiments (and Ads) Alan Boyle, NBC News, 30 June 2014.
In a video posted on 19 March 2015, Lansdorp said that because of delays in funding the robotic precursor mission, the first crew would not land on Mars until 2027. Following the criticism reported in The Space Review in October 2016 about funding mechanisms, Mars One created Mars One Ventures. In late 2016 Mars One had changed its first crewed mission date to 2032.Dec. 7, 2016 Geek Wire entry on Mars One
2014 robotic lander
In December 2013, mission concept studies for a robotic Mars lander were contracted with Lockheed Martin for a demonstration mission concept. It would be based on the design of the successful 2007 NASA Phoenix lander, and provide proof of concept for a subset of the key technologies for a later human settlement on Mars. Upon submission of Lockheed Martin's Proposal Information Package, Mars One released a Request for Proposals for the various payloads on the lander. The total payload mass of 44 kg was divided among the seven payloads as follows: Water extraction (10 kg) Soil acquisition (15 kg) Thin film solar power demonstrator (6 kg) Camera system (5 kg) Open for random proposals from the highest bidder (4 kg) Educational payload (2 kg) Winning university experiment (2 kg)
Further plans A robotic rover was proposed to be launched to Mars in 2022, in order to scout a landing site for the 2027 lander and a site for the Mars One colony. At the same time, a communication satellite would be launched, enabling continuous communication with the future landed assets. For 2024, six cargo missions were proposed, in close succession, consisting of two living units, two life-support units, and two supply units; a spacecraft transporting four astronauts was proposed to meet a transit vehicle bound for Mars. For 2025, the landing module transporting four astronauts was proposed to land on Mars. They envisioned the crew to be met by the rover, and taken to the Mars One colony."Roadmap – Mission." Mars One. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 December 2014.
+ TABLE 1: Mission elements road-map Initial concept Last concept Desired milestone Situation at end of Program 2015 2018 Candidate pool would be reduced to 40 people, possible building of the settlement for training purposes. The candidate pool was reduced to 100 2016 2024 The first communication satellite (ComSat), and a lander to demonstrate certain key technologies. One initial concept study by Lockheed Martin (lander) and Surrey Satellite Technology (orbiter); Not funded nor designed. 2018 2026 A rover (yet to be designed) would be launched to help select the location of the settlement. A second ComSat would launch to L5 to enable near-24/7 communication. Not contracted 2020 2029 A second rover and six notional modified SpaceX Dragon capsules and another rover would launch with two living units, two life-support units and two supply units. Not contracted 2021 2030 The autonomous rovers would begin settlement assembly. The Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) would produce a breathable atmosphere of 0.7 bar pressure, 3000 liters of water, 240 kg of oxygen, which would be stored in the habitat for later use. Not contracted 2022 2031 A notional SpaceX Falcon Heavy would launch with the first group of four colonists. Not contracted 2023 2032 The first colonists arrive on Mars in a notional lander. Not contracted 2024 2033 Second crew of four colonists would be launched. Not planned 2025 2034 Second crew would arrive on Mars. Not planned 2031 2040 The colony would consist of 20 settlers.Not planned Notes:The initial concept timeline slipped 2 times, with a 2-year delay each time.Work on robotic missions was suspended pending further review and future contract direction in February 2015.SpaceX had no contracts with MarsOne and the project did not appear on their launch manifest.
Team and advisers The Mars One team consisted of Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Bas Lansdorp, Chief Technical Officer and co-founder Arnold Wielders, Chief Medical Officer Norbert Kraft, Mission Concept Artist Bryan Versteeg, Senior Marketing Strategist KC Frank, and Chief Information Officer Tom Van Braeckel.
Mars One's team of advisers consisted of over 30 industry and scientific experts, including Mason Peck, Peter Smith, James R. Kass, K.R. Sridhara Murthi, Esther Dyson, and Robert Zubrin.
Desired technology
Mars One was not an aerospace company and would not have manufactured hardware.Mars One – Technology. . Mars One. Lansdorp assumed all major components would be available in the aerospace market, and said Mars One had identified at least one potential supplier for each component of the mission.
Launcher
SpaceX mentioned in 2014 that they had been contacted by Mars One, but that accommodating Mars One requirements would require some additional work and that such action was not a part of the current focus of SpaceX. SpaceX had no contracts with Mars One. The first Mars One cargo mission to Mars was proposed to launch by 2022, followed by a crewed mission in 2024, but without funds, hardware, and without a launcher it did not happen.The Mars One plan is totally delusional. Kelly Dickerson, Business insider. 3 March 2015. Qiote: "Mars One doesn't own any of its own space travel technology and has no existing contracts with companies that do."
Mars Transit Vehicle
A hypothetical crewed interplanetary spacecraft, for which there were no concept design studies, was to have been assembled in low Earth orbit and comprise two propellant modules: a Transit Living Module (discarded just before arrival at Mars) and a lander (see "Human Lander" below). In 2012, Mars One speculated that the Transit Living Module might potentially be designed and built by Thales Alenia Space.
Demo lander A concept study was produced by Lockheed Martin for a demonstration lander based on the 2008 Phoenix lander.
Communications system In December 2013 Mars One awarded a contract to Surrey Satellite Technology for a study of the satellite technology required to provide 24/7 communication between Earth and the Mars base. Mars One proposed at least two satellites, one in areostationary orbit above Mars and a second at the Earth – Sun L4 or L5 point to relay the signal when Mars blocks the areosynchronous satellite from line of sight to Earth. It is possible that a third satellite would be required to relay the signal on the rare occasions when the Sun blocks the first relay satellite from line of sight with Earth.
Lander An early notional crewed lander was shown in concept art as a -diameter variant of SpaceX Red Dragon, but SpaceX declined to collaborate with Mars One.<ref name="SpaceX has no Mars One launches planne
Rover The crewed Mars rover was to have been unpressurized and claimed to be designed to be capable of supporting travel distances of 80 km (50 miles). One mentioned supplier for the rover in 2012 was Astrobotic Technology.
Mars suit