Two Dutchmen in the running for Mars mission

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Back in 2012 we told you about how a Dutchman was planning to film a reality show on Mars.

And now that they’ve started selecting people for the Mars One mission — 1058 people to be exact — the two Dutch candidates, Wim Dijkshoorn and Merlijn Vuurop, are telling us what’s going through their minds.

Merlijn explains that he’s drawn to the pioneering aspect of going to Mars and says it’s a huge step for humanity that he wants to be a part of. He’s also been at sea for three years with just his parents and is used to being alone. As for Wim, he feels it will be very a lonely existence for a long time, although more and more people will join the colony. He compares it to a monk’s life. And if he gets a girlfriend in the coming years, he’s ready to just break it off. He also thinks it’s better not to keep in contact with Earth and cut all ties with his family.

Never mind how scary this still seems to me every time I think about it, the Mars One people are currently saying that they don’t want the colonists to reproduce. I shudder to think how that could be enforced on people so far away. Besides the fact that the babies could have serious defects and that reproduction may not even work for all kinds of reasons, it could even go the other way around: that women will be baby-making machines to ensure the survival of the colony, but that’s just me freaking out.

(Links: www.nieuws.nl, www.space.com)

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