Who’s Going To Colonize Mars in 2023?

If you don’t have any plans for 2023 yet, and aren’t really feeling tied to this whole “life on planet Earth” thing, well, it’s too late! The first round of application reviews to go start a colony on Mars is already over.

200,000 people over 18 were way ahead of you and sent a video to the Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One, which is raising six billion dollars to send 40 people to Mars by 2023. The application pool has now been whittled down to 1,058 people who really, really want a new start (in nine years):

Of those who made the first cut, 297 are from the United States. Canada is the second best represented country with 75 candidates, followed by India with 62 and Russia with 52. All told, Mars One is looking at applicants from 107 different countries, according to figures released by the group.

Nearly 77 percent of the people who made the first cut are employed, while about 15 percent are still in school. About 55 percent of the applicants are male and most are quite young: 357 are under 25 and 415 are under 35, while just 26 are over 56. The oldest person to make it to the next round is 81.

If you’re kicking yourself for missing yet another application deadline, you can always participate by donating to the Mars One Indiegogo campaign (LOL), which has raised a total of $129,708 as of this writing.

Photo: NASA Goddard Space Center

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