The Mars One project was announced in 2012 with the aim of putting the first four humans on Mars in 2024. It claimed to have attracted interest from 200,000 people who wanted to be selected as astronauts, with thousands paying a registration fee to be considered for one-way trips to Earth’s nearest planetary neighbour. The project attracted considerable interest from space exploration enthusiasts, despite the scientific community denouncing the project as completely unfeasible and even “delusional”.

Mars One – which had no experience in the aerospace sector – aimed to establish a human colony on Mars with a $6bn (£4.7bn) budget (Nasa has estimated that such a project would be more likely to require a budget in the region of approximately $100bn (£78bn)) raised mostly by selling rights to reality television programming about the project.

Experts strongly criticised MarsOne for lacking proposals to sustain funding beyond an initial period of interest, for its unfeasible budget and timeline, and due to most of the necessary technology either being non-existent or not yet ready for deployment. An initial MIT study on the feasibility of the Mars One project estimated that the first settlers would suffocate within 68 days of landing.

“It looks like a scam”, John Logsdon, director of the space policy institute at George Washington University told BuzzFeed News in February 2015. In March 2015, Joseph Roche, a Mars One “finalist” who held doctorate degrees in physics and astrophysics, announced that he believed the mission to be a scam and that Mars One had lied about its selection process, inflating the number of applicants one hundred fold and putting pressure on applicants to buy merchandise and donate money. In April 2015, Mars One CEO Bans Lansdorp admitted during a debate that the company’s plan for putting humans on Mars by 2027 was mostly fiction.

Now, it has emerged that Mars One Ventures – the for-profit arm of Mars One – has been declared bankrupt by the Civil Court of the City of Basel in Switzerland, and permanently dissolved.

Lansdorp has told Engadget that the Mars One Foundation – the non-profit arm of Mars One – is still operating but will not be able to act without further investment. Mars One has announced via its website that it is “currently working on a solution with an investor”.

Landing the first astronauts on Mars is ambitious goal in space exploration, with industrialist and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk having estimated that he has a “70 per cent” chance of exploring the planet himself. President Donald Trump has put human exploration of Mars at the heart of his space policy, reportedly having offered Nasa almost unlimited resources to land astronauts on Mars during his presidency.

The Mars One project was announced in 2012 with the aim of putting the first four humans on Mars in 2024. It claimed to have attracted interest from 200,000 people who wanted to be selected as astronauts, with thousands paying a registration fee to be considered for one-way trips to Earth’s nearest planetary neighbour. The project attracted considerable interest from space exploration enthusiasts, despite the scientific community denouncing the project as completely unfeasible and even “delusional”.

Mars One – which had no experience in the aerospace sector – aimed to establish a human colony on Mars with a $6bn (£4.7bn) budget (Nasa has estimated that such a project would be more likely to require a budget in the region of approximately $100bn (£78bn)) raised mostly by selling rights to reality television programming about the project.

Experts strongly criticised MarsOne for lacking proposals to sustain funding beyond an initial period of interest, for its unfeasible budget and timeline, and due to most of the necessary technology either being non-existent or not yet ready for deployment. An initial MIT study on the feasibility of the Mars One project estimated that the first settlers would suffocate within 68 days of landing.

“It looks like a scam”, John Logsdon, director of the space policy institute at George Washington University told BuzzFeed News in February 2015. In March 2015, Joseph Roche, a Mars One “finalist” who held doctorate degrees in physics and astrophysics, announced that he believed the mission to be a scam and that Mars One had lied about its selection process, inflating the number of applicants one hundred fold and putting pressure on applicants to buy merchandise and donate money. In April 2015, Mars One CEO Bans Lansdorp admitted during a debate that the company’s plan for putting humans on Mars by 2027 was mostly fiction.

Now, it has emerged that Mars One Ventures – the for-profit arm of Mars One – has been declared bankrupt by the Civil Court of the City of Basel in Switzerland, and permanently dissolved.

Lansdorp has told Engadget that the Mars One Foundation – the non-profit arm of Mars One – is still operating but will not be able to act without further investment. Mars One has announced via its website that it is “currently working on a solution with an investor”.

Landing the first astronauts on Mars is ambitious goal in space exploration, with industrialist and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk having estimated that he has a “70 per cent” chance of exploring the planet himself. President Donald Trump has put human exploration of Mars at the heart of his space policy, reportedly having offered Nasa almost unlimited resources to land astronauts on Mars during his presidency.