Mars One Delays Controversial Mars Colonization and Its Plans to Send Humans to the Red Planet

Those who want to ride along Mars One and its Mars colonization plan will have to wait a little longer as the company recently announced a five-year delay on its controversial mission. The new timeline suggests that the first Mars colonizers will leave Earth in 2031 instead of 2026 and reach Mars by 2032.

One of the main reasons for the delay is the company's need to raise more funds for the Mars colonization mission. Apparently, the movement of the project has taken longer than expected; thus, the Dutch venture had to be postponed.

"Of course the whole Mars One team would have preferred to be able to stick to the original schedule, but this new timeline significantly improves our odds of successfully achieving this mission roadmap," Bas Lansdorp, Mars One CEO, said in a press release.

In line with the mission, Mars One will also conduct astronaut selection and training. The number of applicants will be trimmed down by 2017.

The project has been delayed several times since it was announced in 2012. Some MIT researchers say that in order for the project to work, it needs a ton of money and technological advancements, but it would still be fatal for the first Mars colonizers who will participate in Mars One. Meanwhile, some reports accused the company of misleading the public, according to The Verge.

Like most missions to Mars, Mars One seems ambitious at first. However, if financial and technical plans are in place, it could prove to be feasible. A good example is Elon Musk's spaceflight company SpaceX, who also has plans to colonize Mars. But backing up his ambitious dream is a process that could actually make it work like the effort to mine materials on Mars that could be transformed to fuel and building a rocket that could bring humans to Mars called the Mars Colonial Transporter (MCT).

Mars One has also presented some pre-Mars colonization move like the planned Mars rover to land on the red planet in 2018. Mars One plans to send and fix Mars habitation system afterward starting in 2022.