We Asked Mars One Applicants Why They Want to Leave This Planet Forever

Image via the Mars One site

Some offers are too good to be true. For the aspiring space cadet, Bas Lansdorp has proposed an opportunity to change the lives of cosmically inclined daydreamers across the globe that would make them immortal in the eyes of history. For $38—less if you're not American, as the price is pegged to GDP—you can apply to the Mars One space travel program in the hopes of receiving a one-way ticket to Mars. The first flight is planned to launch in September, 2022.
The ambitious project plans to send a group of multinational individuals to the red planet to colonize and live there for the rest of their lives. To raise the needed $6 billion dollars for the trip, Lansdorp plans on turning the entire trip, from training to launch-off, into a reality TV program funded by the media and advertisers, as Motherboard detailed awhile back.
Even with an extremely willing suspension of disbelief, there are too many questions to ask about the credibility of Lansdorp and the legitimacy of this project. Still, over 100,000 people worldwide have paid the application fee and said a wish while clicking send, including over 30,000 Americans.
The application process consists of starry-eyed denizens sending in general information, a motivational letter, resume and one minute video that answers why they should be one of the first people to colonize Mars. The application videos are all viewable online, and there is a rating system that possibly decides who will be sent to Mars, not unlike a MTV reality show casting.
I've gone digging through the applicants, and there's a range of hopefuls from the earnestly naive to the utterly delusional. One applicant pontificates if there will be "dance parties all night long," while another dons a gold shirt and plastic headpiece and laments that although he does not have a sense of humor, he is still ready for this trip.
Some applicants are so over-the-top insane that it appears to be trolling, like the tinfoil hat-wearing Australian guy who claims to be "hiding from the Zetans." The application fee and general lack of views suggest that maybe this dude is dead serious: going to Mars is his best option in life.
A consistent theme throughout is how serious everyone is about this project. If offered the opportunity to leave their earthly belongings and travel to space forever, these people are ready to pack their bags and leave now. To find out why, I reached out to talk to a few of the applicants and have share what's motivating them to head to Mars. (While some of their emailed responses have been edited for length, I haven't edited them for style.)