Telescope Magazine: A number of newcomers are entering the space exploration business, including Virgin Galactic led by Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. How do you think Mars One will be positioned against them?

Bas Lansdorp: Virgin Galactic is offering parabolic flights that just hop above the atmosphere, which is completely different from going to Mars. It’s just for rich people who want to have fun. Elon Musk is very interested in getting humans to Mars, but he sees SpaceX as a rocket manufacturer and a transportation company for Mars. Colonizing Mars is not his priority. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is also interested in building rockets and lowering the cost of access to space, and there are a few organizations like the Mars Society, MarsDrive, and Explore Mars that either want to do Mars missions or support them. Mars One is different from all of them on two counts. First of all, ours is a one-way mission, which is extremely important in terms of technical and financial feasibility. Secondly, the mission is designed by integrating existing technologies and is financed by involving the whole world as an audience.

Telescope Magazine: Colonizing Mars sounds very futuristic to us, but you see it as completely feasible.

Bas Lansdorp: Yes. It is technically, financially, and psychologically possible. This is of course an extremely complex project, and there are hundreds of different ways it could go wrong. But the entire Mars One team including our investors thinks that it is a risk worth taking. We feel that the possibility of success outweighs the risks. If we succeed, perhaps one day—maybe decades from now—anyone can afford a ticket to Mars. That’s when we can finally say “mission accomplished!”