Over 100,000 people have decided that they have had it with planet Earth and would rather live on Mars.
International space colonization company Mars One announced that over 100,000 people — including 30,000 Americans — have applied for the chance to journey to Mars and never return to Earth, CNN reports.
The Netherlands-based company first announced in January its intention to begin sending human colonists to the Red Planet starting in 2023. Its astronaut selection program began in April.
Three additional application rounds are scheduled to take place over the next two years in order to narrow down the list of candidates to a group of 24 individuals. Many of the applicants have set up publicly visible profiles on Mars One’s site.
Crew training is scheduled to begin in 2015; the teams will be divided into six teams of four astronauts.
“For this mission of permanent settlement, we are more concerned with how well each astronaut lives and works with others and their ability to deal with a lifetime of challenges,” said Norbert Kraft, Mars One’s Chief Medical Director and former NASA senior researcher, in April.