2 Filipinos among 100 hopefuls on one-way trip to Mars

MANILA, Philippines—Two Filipinos were among the remaining 100 hopefuls to set foot on Mars as part of a project of a Netherlands-based nonprofit organization called “Mars One.”

Mars One is a project which intends to send humans on a one-way trip to Mars to colonize the planet.

READ: Dutch treat: One-way ticket to Mars

Minerva Rañeses, 25, and Jaymee del Rosario, 27, have been shortlisted among more than 200,000 applicants who would be granted a one-way ticket to Mars.

Rañeses, who described herself in the Mars One website as “an intellectual wanderer,” is a graduate of St. Scholastica’s College in Manila. She said she is a freelance writer.

“I don’t decide based on monetary or materialistic returns, but on the experience I will garner,” she said in her profile.

Del Rosario in her profile at the Mars One website, meanwhile, said she is an entrepreneur who “offer my life experience, knowledge and skills to the Mars One team to achieve the goal (of) preserving humanity.”

Rañeses, in an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel, said she had hesitations at first but was quick to say that she really wanted to be “part of history.”

“Of course, this is a one-way trip so I had to know if I’m ready to leave everything behind,” she said in the interview.

“I never thought I’d live to see the day that humans will begin to explore in a way that Columbus did back in the time,” she added.

Christopher Columbus is the famous Italian explorer also known as the “man who discovered America.”

“I just thought it would be my descendants, my children, my great grandchildren who will do the exploring. I just never thought that I would have the opportunity to do this,” she said.

She said that if she would be chosen to be part of the mission, she would bring with her a pen and paper, and a family picture.

“I really want to bring a nice family picture from when I was young. Something candid. Something to hold,” she said.

Mars One will choose its final 24 applicants in six separate batches until 2024.

The applicants were interviewed by Norbert Kraft, the project’s chief medical officer.

According to Mars One, the mission to establish colony on the “Red Planet” was funded by reality TV show producer Endemol.

Reports said humans would likely survive for only 68 days while the travel from Earth to Mars lasts for seven months.

READ: Humans may only survive 68 days on Mars—study