In what could come as a shock to many, who have been anxiously following the ambitious Mars One Mission, an astrophysicist has questioned its feasibility and claimed that the program might become a reality, hinting that it could well turn into biggest hoax in history.
Dr Joseph Roche, an assistant professor at Trinity College's School of Education in Dublin, has paid the price for questioning the motive, selection procedure and safety of the mission, as a Mars One spokesperson has "confirmed to Morning Ireland that he had been removed from the program," according to a report by Irish Examiner.
The spokesperson went on to say that Roche had breached confidentiality rules, adding "Unfortunately there are several false accusations."
One Mars also wrote on its Twitter page about the candidates listed for the mission have rubbished "conspiracy theory" doing the rounds on red planet program
Current Mars100 Finalists refute Mars One "conspiracy theory." http://t.co/ZHtwjBWwRi Image credit: Joseph Sweeney pic.twitter.com/reOboBPZhQ
— Mars One (@MarsOneProject) March 18, 2015
Roche had earlier expressed his doubt on the selection procedure for the mission, alleging that the candidates might not be suitable for the program.
"All the info they have collected on me is a crap video I made, an application form that I filled out with mostly one-word answers and then a 10-minute Skype interview," he said according to the website. "That is just not enough info to make a judgment on someone about anything."
"My nightmare about it is that people continue to support it and give it money and attention, and it then gets to the point where it inevitably falls on its face," he added.
In another report by Metro, Roche claimed that Mars One mission might never happen and that representatives of the program concentrate more on earning money, alleging that candidates were urged to take interviews for money and donate 75% of the income towards the mission. He also questioned selection procedure for the program.
"After completing the interview stage I felt that the selection process was not rigorous enough to reach the requisite standard of more traditional astronaut selection programs. I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with several astronauts and if you spend any time with an astronaut you will soon see that they are as close to being superhuman as a person can be. To select such a person requires a comprehensive and exhaustive procedure," Metro quoted Roche as saying. "Instead, Mars One 'chose' candidates purely for their capacity to garner publicity – and earn money."
"I think that the shortcomings of the selection process, coupled with their unwillingness to engage and collaborate with the scientific community, means that the time might have come for Mars One to acknowledge the implausibility of this particular venture. They could then perhaps turn their efforts towards supporting other exciting and more viable space missions," he continued.
Mars One is a Netherlands based non-profit organization hoping to set up a permanent human colony on Mars by 2025. It claimed that over 200,000 people have applied to live on the red planet.
