Mission Mars: Why 8,000 Indians want to live on the planet

Even before ISRO sends up its Mars craft - a mission that won't even carry any astronauts - more than 8,000 Indians have lined up for a one-way ticket to Mars ten years from now.

Labelled MarsOne, it's a mission planned to by a non-profit organisation, spearheaded by a Dutch entrepreneur. Jiten Khanna, who has applied for the mission says that his curiosity on the red planet forced him to take the step. "Once I get selected, a lot of things will change for example, the way water is used by all of us. The water I will get on Mars will be very limited - probably in the form of wet tissues... So I have to know how to control myself," Khanna says.

The unknown also appeals to Manikandan, a distributor of fire safety equipment. He is among the 8000 Indians who have signed up for Mars One, a Dutch project inviting people on a 1-way journey to Mars that they plan to make in 2023.

"Initially everybody they were laughing. They said don't make crazy things, but I told that if I am crazy then the two lakh two thousand people who have applied from all over the world are also crazy," said Manikandan, MarsOne Applicant.

Mars One hopes to set up a human colony on Mars. Of a massive 2 lakh applicants, only 40 will be trained for a life on Mars and just four will make the proposed trip.

India has seen the fourth largest number of applicants for the Mars One mission that's supposed to take off in the year 2023 and the competition is huge for a mission that almost seems suicidal. What's more, those who've applied have already begun making plans of what they can do if they are the chosen ones.

"Anything can happen at anytime while riding in a car, I can meet with an accident but at the time of death, there should be some meaning," Manikandan reasons out. But some disagree with the logic behind the mission.

Space scientist Sridhar Murthy, an advisor for MarsOne, is one of them. He says most applicants haven't understood the mission specially going by what they post on social media. "When they discuss these things, probably much of it is inspired by the background of what we find on earth. But conditions on Mars is very different. If they have to make a living out of resources found there, then it is an entirely different ball game altogether as there is no fossil fuels and resources are very limited," Dr Murthy adds.