Minn. Man Finalist In Mars Colonization Plan
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Woodbury man could be traveling to a place no human has ever seen. He's a finalist to be one of the first people to live on Mars.
A Dutch company has a plan to colonize Mars before 2025. They have bubbles that astronauts would live in and a whole plan on how to exist.
A Twin Cities man, Jackson Kisling, who works on engineering local railroads is a finalist to be part of the mission. He says three other Minnesotans are finalists, too.
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Not every day a diehard Star Trek fan finds out he could be living in outer space, but that's what happened to Kisling.
"Oh yes! Live long and prosper," he laughed Tuesday, imitating the show's Mr. Spock with a Vulcan salute.
And a substantial part of his life could be spent on another planet.
"Oh I'm scared," he said. "I wouldn't be human if I weren't scared."
Kisling got word that he was a finalist via email.
"So exciting," he said. "I mean, they whittled almost a quarter of a million people down to 1,058."
And there are a few reasons the 37-year-old bachelor's video may have gotten picked.
"I'm a proud geek," he said. "I love doing stuff like that, all about it."
The average temp on Mars is minus 59 below zero, not so different from the temp outside his house. In his application video he says that as a Minnesotan he's "pre-adapted to harsh winter conditions."
He still has several rounds of screening to go through and intense medical tests. If he makes it through, he'll face seven years of training in things like medicine and food production.
"I feel like I have a lot of good ideas about colonization and making this successful," he said.
And if all goes as planned, he just might be part of the next generation.
You're probably wondering how plausible this is. Mars One still needs more funding to push this forward, the plan is first to send unmanned cargo up to the red planet.
