Young Vietnamese hopes dashed as trip to Mars Project is delayed

[ASEAN NOW News]

Back in 2015 Vu Xuan Linh, better known as Quoc Anh, 32, registered to join Mars One, a $6 billion program that will establish a human settlement on Mars. Now it looks likely the project may be delayed.

 

Vu Xuan Linh

 

Out of 100 candidates he was the only one from Vietnam.

 

After half a century of aerospace industry development, 42 spacecraft missions have been sent to Mars.

 

Mars One is a project initiated by Bas Lansdorp, a Dutch businessman, which aims to take the first humans to Mars and establish a permanent human colony there by 2025.

 

Bas Lansdorp

 

The project launched by Bas Lansdorp was scheduled to last from 2013 to 2026 and estimated to cost $6 billion.

 

Now Lack of Funding

 

However latest reports seem that the project is currently at a standstill, mainly due to a lack of funding.

 

Indeed, the start-up had been divided into two companies: Mars One Foundation, which is nonprofit and Mars One Ventures, which for profit.

 

The latter was bought in 2016 by Swiss financiers, InFin Innovative Finance AG, but unfortunately it went bankrupt.

 

Unless the project receives sufficient funding, it seems to end for good.

 

However, the project of a mission to Mars seems to be the goal of several projects and it is reasonable to expect such a mission within a few decades.

 

Mars One's original concept included launching a robotic lander and orbiter as of 2016, which would be followed by a human crew by 2022.

 

The crew would become the first permanent residents of Mars with no plan of returning to Earth.

 

More than 200,000 candidates from 150 countries registered to join the program, while only 50 men and 50 women have been selected for the final selection campaign.

 

Vu Xuan Linh, better known as Quoc Anh, 32, was the only Vietnamese citizen who registered to join Mars One.

 

Quoc Anh is described as a clever, dynamic, and ambitious young man.

 

Anh studied at the Hanoi Technology University, the most prestigious polytechnic school in Vietnam.

 

But after one year there, he left for Singapore where he studied at the National University of Singapore. After that, he received a master’s degree from Columbia University.

 

Anh has been working for a foreign-invested technology group since returning to Vietnam.

 

Anh registered to join the program when he was in the US and heard about it after a press conference was held there.

 

He said at the time, “I think all boys and girls cherish the dream of conquering space.”

 

“If you want to fulfill your dream and do something great, you will have to sacrifice other things,” he said, explaining why he wanted to join the program.

 

Looks like Anh may have to wait a bit longer now to fulfill his dream, unless he can get in touch with Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos and join their space programs.