ESA Looking for People to go to Mars. Are You Such a Person?

Astrobiology Magazine has a great article on the European Space Agency looking to recruit people for a mission to Mars. They want to send a manned mission to search for biological evidence that Mars once had life.

They feel there may be a wealth of archaeological information to be had that robotic explorers are unable to search for.

The people chosen to participate will have to be sociologically evaluated. Because they will be on board a two year round trip.

This is a big ask upon any individual - the waiting time in a small space capsule while it made such a journey is very daunting to say the least. Once there, the work begins in earnest, but the depressing thought of an equally long journey back must be horrendous. For the complete article; click the link below.

Volunteer for Mars | Astrobiology Magazine

Orion - Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (The Next Adaptation of Manned Space Craft)

The Orion Multi-Purpose CrewVehicle is the new exciting project in manned space exploration. It is the next advancement from the space shuttle. This is so that crew and space vehicle can go beyond low orbit and further into space – much further. The ambitions for Mutli-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) are very exciting. With this new innovation astronauts will go beyond space stations orbiting Earth and travel to the Moon, explore asteroids and of course Mars - mankind’s new goal and next giant step.

There will be several of these special adapted space craft built. For NASA the Orion MPCV will be built by the famous Lockheed Martin group. For the European Space Agency, the MPCV will be constructed by a group called Astrium. Each spacecraft will carry four or more astronauts and various cargoes to deliver to space station construction sites or other more adventurous destinations as mentioned already.

The first flights are scheduled to launch aboard a Delta IV rocket for an exploration test journey in 2014 with the first manned mission in 2020.