Blooming gardens on Mars remain a dream: the Mars One project went bankrupt
Humanity (at least some of its representatives) has been dreaming about flying to Mars for many decades. Dreams remain dreams - to implement such a large-scale and technically complex project is very difficult, so almost no one undertakes. Over the past ten years, few have expressed a desire to fly to Mars, including Ilon Musk, the head of SpaceX, and Mars One - a non-profit organization that promised to make the dream come true quickly and for little money.
Musk is still collecting money and resources for the realization of a dream, but Mars One is all - the other day the company was declared bankrupt . Mars One Ventures was a Mars One project, a non-profit organization whose head declared the reality of organizing a flight to the Red Planet within the lifetime of one generation.
It is worth noting that the Mars One project is not one, but two organizations. The first is the Mars One Foundation, the second is the Mars One Ventures. As for the first, it was just declared bankrupt. The value of its assets at the time of the decision of the court amounted to about $ 100 million. The second organization has only about 25 thousand pounds in bank accounts. Take with her nothing special.
According to representatives of the project, it is still working, although the main part of Mars One and declared bankrupt. The management of the organization is trying to find ways to solve the problem, although in such a situation there is hardly anything that can be done.
It is worth noting that the preparation of the project, the journey and the establishment of a colony on Mars were to become the basis for a grand TV show that could bring fabulous profits to its creators (where the “Truman Show” is there). The money was planned to invest in the project. Representatives of Mars One should conclude an agreement with a media company (or companies) by the end of 2015. Unfortunately, this was not done. Generally speaking, project representatives for the most part built castles in the air without any earthly foundation. And as soon as one castle evaporated, another appeared immediately. But the confidence limit of the project supporters turned out to be finite.
The latest news from Mars One arrived last summer., then it became aware of investments from Phoenix Enterprises. Phoenix management promised to invest about 12 million euros in the project. This money had to go to various needs, including the exit of Mars One to the exchange, where different kinds of licenses are required.
From the very beginning, experts said that the project resembled one big adventure, and as a result, it just happened - Mars One failed to raise the funds necessary for the implementation of its plans and went bankrupt. And this is despite the fact that a couple of years ago the project just thundered. They wrote about him in all media, talked on TV and discussed on the radio.
The organizers of Mars One decided to raise part of the funds for the implementation of their project with the help of crowdfunding. This was done, although they received only about $ 350 thousand instead of $ 400 thousand (although in both cases, the amount is simply ridiculous if we talk about the space program).
Comparison of the cost of the Apollo program and the declared value of Mars One
The authors of the idea told that they received hundreds of thousands of applications from those who wish to go to Mars. Allegedly so many letters that they simply do not have time to process. In fact, everything turned out to be much more modest. There were a lot of people willing to send an application, about 202 thousand. Participants were required to have standard such information and actions, such as confirmation of e-mail, country, date of birth, etc.
The stumbling block for these hundreds of thousands of potential colonists was the need to pay for the right to participate in the program. But the authors of Mars One planned to collect most of the funds needed to start, with their participants, and not from somewhere else.
There was not much to pay. The “scale of payments” was progressive - the richer the participant, the more money he had to allocate. For example, a contribution from a volunteer from, for example, Afghanistan and a European. In the first case, it was necessary to pay about $ 5, in the second - ten times more. Few paid for their applications - only about 4,000 people (and according to some information, so in general, 2000). The amount collected would not be enough even for the establishment of a small settlement in the Moscow region, not to mention Mars.
The reputation of the already problematic project was dampened by his ex-participant, Joseph Roche, a doctor of physics and astrophysics, who made it to the final hundred "colonists." He stated that the interview with those who had indicated to become a colonist was conducted via Skype. No tests were carried out, but the medical examination had to be carried out by a doctor at the place of residence.
| Goals | year 2013 | year 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run the second crew | 2024 | 2026 | 2028 |
| Landing on Mars first crew | 2023 | 2025 | 2027 |
| Launch of the first crew | 2022 | 2024 | 2026 |
| Station blocks land | 2021 | 2023 | 2025 |
| Running station blocks | 2020 | 2022 | 2024 |
| Running a rover and finding a place for a colony | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 |
| Demonstration mission | 2016 | 2018 | 2020 |
| Data source | Internet archive (text remained only in the page code) | Internet archive | mars-one.com |
After it became clear that the collected funds would not be enough, the project management decided to sell it for subsequent release on the stock exchange to raise funds through the sale of shares. The buyer was the company Infin.
As a result, nothing happened here either. After that, Mars One ceased to "shine", only occasionally making itself felt. And now it turned out that the final of the project is exactly the one that many had predicted - bankruptcy and the collapse of all plans. Yes, in Mars One continue to talk about some partners, funds, etc. But in fact - with the project you can say goodbye. Hasta siempre, Mars One!