Martians to settle on Danish ground

A simulation camp will be built in Denmark to prepare the first permanent colony on Mars

Mar 27, 2014

In 2025, the Dutch project Mars One will send four people on a one-way trip to Mars, where they will establish the first permanent human colony on the red planet.

Before the 'Martians' leave Earth for good, they will live in a simulation training camp at a Danish location that has yet to be decided, Mars One announced today.

The town will house six 5m-tall modules similar to those that the future settlers on Mars will spend the rest of their lives inside.

Looking for donors
Danish donors need to support the project before construction can begin, said Kristian von Bengston, the Danish architect behind the Mars town.

"What's most important right now is to create the rooms and the environment so that we can begin training the volunteers to the circumstances they will be faced with," Bengston told DR Nyheder.

Media buzz over budget
More than 200,000 people volunteered for Mars One when the organisation presented the mission to Mars in 2013, even though the settlers will not return to Earth.

Worldwide news media have given Mars One bad odds due to its low $6 billion dollar budget. In February, Muslim leaders in the Middle East issued a fatwa against the Mars settlers, condemning the trip as a suicide mission, and several astronauts including moonwalker Buzz Aldrin have said they didn't believe the mission would succeed.

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