10 September,2013 11:31 AM IST | | PTI
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Mars One will establish a permanent human settlement on the Red Planet in 2023 and is in the process of selecting people to live there.
Human settlement on Mars is possible today with existing technologies, it said in a statement. At the conclusion of a five-month-long first round of Mars One Astronaut Selection Programme, 2,02,586 people from around the world have applied.
The United States tops the list with 47,654 applications, followed by India (20,747), China (13,176), Brazil (10,289), Britain (8497), Canada (8241), Russia (8197), Mexico (7464) Philippines 4365 and Spain (3722) in the top 10 list.
From this applicant pool, the Mars One selection committee will select prospective Martian settlers in three additional rounds spread across two years.
By 2015, six-ten teams of four individuals will be selected for seven years of full-time training. In 2023, one of these teams will become the first humans ever to land on Mars and live there for the rest of their lives, the statement said.
Mars One said the selection committee, which is expected to take several months, is now screening each Round 1 applicant. At the end of 2013, candidates who have cleared the first round will be notified.
The second round of selection will start in early 2014, where the selection committee will interview the candidates in person.u00a0
