A new report says the United States is sending two American servicemembers to Mars, saying they are willing to spend the rest of their lives on the planet.
Stars and Stripes reported on Friday that the servicemembers are a Naval Reserve flight test engineer and an Air National Guard cybertransport specialist.
The servicemembers are among one hundred candidates competing for 24 spots to travel to the planet through Mars One that is a Dutch-based company, according to the report.
Despite all difficulties for living on Mars, the company expressed hope to land four people on the red planet in 2025 in order to establish the first extraterrestrial colony.
The atmosphere on Mars is not breathable and the average temperature is minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
The planet, which is on average about 50 million miles from Earth, is not known to have food and water is not easily obtained.
Officials wrote on the Mars One company’s website that a one-way trip to Mars is currently “the only way we can get people on Mars within the next 20 years.”
One of the servicemembers, Lt. Cmdr. Oscar Mathews, who is a test pilot at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., said he was suitable for the mission.
“If you’re going to go to Mars, you may as well stay on Mars because the whole reason to go to Mars is to do science and to live and to establish a habitat,” Mathews said.
He added that the plan to get humans to Mars by 2025 is “an aggressive schedule but not an impossible schedule.”
The other servicemember was Tech. Sgt. Carmen Paul, who serves with the California Air National Guard.
AGB/AGB
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