Washington: India is ranked second in the list of countries whose people are interested in settling on Mars permanently, with as many as 20,747 applying for the opportunity being provided by a non-profit foundation.
Mars One will establish a permanent human settlement on the Red Planet in 2023 and is in the process of selecting people to live there.
Human settlement on Mars is possible today with existing technologies, it said in a statement.
At the conclusion of a five-month-long first round of Mars One Astronaut Selection Programme, 2,02,586 people from around the world have applied.
The United States tops the list with 47,654 applications, followed by India (20,747), China (13,176), Brazil (10,289), Britain (8497), Canada (8241), Russia (8197), Mexico (7464) Philippines 4365 and Spain (3722) in the top 10 list.
From this applicant pool, the Mars One selection committee will select prospective Martian settlers in three additional rounds spread across two years.
By 2015, six-ten teams of four individuals will be selected for seven years of full-time training. In 2023, one of these teams will become the first humans ever to land on Mars and live there for the rest of their lives, the statement said.
Mars One said each Round 1 applicant is now being screened by the selection committee, which is expected to take several months. Candidates selected to pass to the next round will be notified by the end of 2013.
The second round of selection will start in early 2014, where the candidates will be interviewed in person by the selection committee.
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