20,000 Indians apply for Mars trip

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 to 10 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, Mars One said. The current applicants will be screened in a process that is expected to take several months.

Candidates selected to pass to the next round will be notified by the end of this year. The second round of selection will start in 2014, where the candidates will be interviewed in person by a selection Committee.