Mars One

Mars One is a non-profit venture based in the Netherlands. On the 22nd of this month they began shopping around for Astronauts for the planned mission to Mars . . . in 2023. The hope is that these people serve as a vanguard for a permanent colony on Mars. They plan to build a colony in the 45 degree north latitude area for its proximity to surface water and solar energy.

The whole process begins in 2016 when they send a prob up carrying 5000 pounds of food and water, a rover in 2018 and the pods for the colony in 2021.

Now that's thinking ahead of the game. Curiosity is doing a great job but we need boots on the ground; with people up there we can really explore the planet.

That said, the company CEO, Bas Lansdorp, remarked that finding life will not be their primary goal, but rather transplanting our own. In fact the hope is to avoid any indigenous life in order to keep it form being destroyed by our own multitudes of microbes.