7 Iranians among volunteers of 'Mars 1 project' space trip

Seven Iranians are among the 705 volunteers, who successfully passed the 'medical health' phase of the Mars One Project, and entered the next phase for the one-way space trip, reports said. The Iranian volunteers are Ramin Saeed Azar, Sadeq Modarresi, Elaheh Nouri, Sahar Voqouei, Ali Rasoul Zadeh, Zohreh Fotoureh Banabi and Saeed Qandehari, who have the chance to be among the four people who will arrive in Mars for the first time, the Iranian students' new agency reported. In the next step, the volunteers' personality, knowledge, flexibility and intelligence in encountering different challenges during the trip will be tested. Then the volunteers start practices to be prepared for the trip to Mars, and the final team is then selected. Mars One initially publically announced plans for a one-way trip to Mars in May 2012, with a notional plan for an initial robotic precursor mission in 2016, and transporting the first human colonists to Mars in 2023. The initial mission plan included: 2013: The first 40 astronauts were to have been selected; a replica of the settlement was planned to be built for training purposes. 2014: The first communication satellite was to have been produced. 2016: A supply mission would launch with 2500 kilograms of food in a modified SpaceX Dragon. 2018: An exploration vehicle would launch to pick the location of the settlement. 2021: Six additional Dragon capsules and another rover would launch with two living units, two life support units and two supply units. 2022: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy would launch with the first group of four colonists. 2023: The first colonists were to arrive on Mars in a modified Dragon capsule. 2025: A second group of four colonists is slated to arrive. 2033: The colony projected to reach 20 settlers. Mars One selected a second-round pool of astronaut candidates in 2013 of 1058 people—"586 men and 472 women from 107 countries"—from a larger number of some 200,000 who showed interest on the Mars One website. In December 2013, Mars One announced plans for a robotic precursor mission in 2018, two years later than had been conceptually planned in the 2012 announcements. The robotic lander is to be "built by Lockheed Martin based on the design used for NASA’s Phoenix and InSight missions, as well as a communications orbiter built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd." Contracts started in late 2013 were merely study contracts, and plans have not been disclosed to raise the $200 million or more needed to support the robotic mission. Mars One announced a partnership with Uwingu on 3 March 2014, saying they will utilize Uwingu's map of Mars in all of their planned missions. Kristian von Bengtson began work on Simulation Mars Home for crew on 24 March 2014. The second-round pool was whittled down to 705 candidates (418 and 287 women) in the beginning of May 2014. 353 were removed either for medical reasons or due to personal considerations. These selected persons will then begin the interview process following which several teams of two men and two women will be compiled. The teams will then begin training full-time for a future mission to Mars, while individuals and teams may be selected out during training if they are not deemed suitable for the mission.