Next stop … Mars
Each successful candidate will undergo eight years of training with periods of isolation every two years within their terms, while they learn the skills to survive on Mars.
At 19 years old, Edenvale resident Richard Grieves is one of 1 048 hopeful candidates from around the world who made it through to the second round of interviews for the Mars One Mission.
Richard is a former pupil of Elma Park Pre-Primary, Dunvegan Primary School and King Edward VII School.
Last year, 39 South Africans applied for the space adventure which hopes to set up a permanent human colony on Mars by 2025.
The Mars One Mission received over 200 000 applications.
At the end of 2013, the candidate list of hopeful astronauts was cut down to just 1 038.
Of the successful applications, 25 were South Africans.
South Africa has the ninth highest number of candidates in the programme.
Funding for the programme will mostly be through television rights for the expedition, with cameras following the selected 24 astronauts through their training, their eight month shuttle trip and their life on Mars.
https://content.jwplatform.com/previews/XTwVMMoH-rzXxQW07
Each successful candidate will undergo eight years of training with periods of isolation every two years within their terms, while they learn the skills to survive on Mars.
In 2020, a rover will be sent to the Red Planet to identify a location for the settlement and prepare the surface for cargo missions.
Communication satellites will be launched into orbit around the sun which will enable communication with Mars.
In 2022, two living units, two life-support systems and two supply units will be sent to Mars.
The remaining units are set to arrive on Mars in 2023.
The journey to Mars will be a gruelling seven to eight months in a small space, with no option of showering. Astronauts will use wet wipes for bathing.
All food will be freeze-dried and canned.
Each astronaut will have three hours of exercise each day and if they should be hit by a solar stom, they will take refuge in a smaller area of the rocket.
While on Mars, the team will spend much of their time conducting research to determine if life still exists on the planet.
They will also study the effect a 38 percent gravitation field will have on the body.
Richard has finished his first year of mechanical engineering at Wits with a first-class pass and an aggregate of 80 percent
To view Richard’s full online application, visit www.bedfordviewandedenvalenews.co.za
