It seems as though we’ve settled on Mars being the next step in humanity’s continuing quest to explore space.

A few weeks ago, millionaire Dennis Tito announced his Inspiration Mars project to send a two-person crew on a mission to travel to and around Mars in a 17-month round-trip from Earth to the Red Planet in 2018.

This isn’t the first manned mission to Mars that’s been announced. In 2011, Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp announced his plan to send people to Mars to start a permanent human settlement on Mars in 2023. However, in a recent interview with the CBC, Lansdorp revealed that his Mars One project isn’t a round trip.

Lansdorp told CBC Radio that, “The technology to get humans to Mars and keep them alive there exists,” but “the technology to bring humans from Mars back to Earth simply does not exist yet.”

Lansdorp will be funding the project, in part, through a reality TV show which will feature the training, flight and footage from the colony of the doomed Mars One crew.

According to the Mars One website, this year will see the four astronauts who will colonize Mars being selected and the eight-year training program begin at a replica of the settlement. Over the next several year, supplies and parts for the settlement will be flown to Mars with the crew launching for Mars in 2022.

While I’m all for the idea of space travel, you couldn’t pay me enough to fly to Mars to die a slow death. Apparently, though, Mars One has already received over 8,000 applications for colonists. Godspeed, you lunatics.

Source: CBC News, Mars One

Correction: As pointed out by Mordanicus in the comments, the Mars One project was announced in 2011 and not announced last week as the article previously stated. The article has been updated and corrected to note the correct announcement timeline.