Kildare man Dr Joseph Roche is the only Irish man to be shortlisted into the top 100 people taking the voyage and heading on a one way trip to the red planet Mars.
‘Mars One’, is the mission which aims to create life on Mars and to do this, four crew members will jet off to the red planet every two years starting from 2025.
The mission ‘Mars One’ is set to take off in just under 10 years and applicants were accepted up until August 2013. The missions will be privately funded through crowdfunding and the creation of a reality TV show around the project.
Candidates come from all around the world, including 39 from the Americas, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, seven from Africa, and seven from Oceania, the main language on the planet will be English.
Out of 200,000 applicants, Dr Roache who works for Science Gallery and Trinity College Dublin has this morning been included on the list of 100 candidates in the third round selection process for Mars One.
The candidates have been put through their paces through screenings, medicals and an online interview.
In a statement this morning, Mars One said
”The following selection rounds will focus on composing teams that can endure all the hardships of a permanent settlement on Mars”.
They added ”the candidates will receive their first shot at training in the copy of the Mars Outpost on Earth and will demonstrate their suitability to perform well in a team.”