Mars One's Ill-Fated Dream Unsurprisingly Ends In Bankruptcy

While some are still arguing whether man even landed on the moon at all or not, there are those who have already set their eyes on making Mars humanity's next home. Elon Musk immediately comes to mind, but he was hardly the only one. Almost seven years ago, a never before heard of organization proposed landing humans on the red planet to eventually establish a colony. Unsurprisingly, there was no small amount of suspicion over the years but all the speculation has ended now that the tiny company has run into bankruptcy.

It's not a crime to dream big or even dream unrealistically. It might be a crime, however, to try and profit from such dreams knowing full well how attainable the prospect might be. While Mars One hasn't been sued for any illegal activities, it has, from day one, been labeled a scam. And now that the company is being liquidated, there might actually be some lawsuits coming.

Mars One, which was part non-profit and part for-profit, never really had the means to make its dreams come true. It wasn't an aerospace company, had no hardware, no patents, or even the money to push things forward. It was pretty much Elon Musk without the capacity to go beyond dreams. Still, the prospect of being the first Martian colonists attracted not a few aspiring astronauts, or so the organization claimed.

For almost half a decade, Mars One has seemingly gone silent, pushed to the sidelines by actual real advancements in space travel and exploration. It would almost seem as if the company has silently died. And now at least part of it finally has, as Redditers spotted.

Half of Mars One, the for-profit British public limited company that was bought by a Swiss financial firm in 2016, is going to be liquidated. The company was declared bankrupt last month, which mostly flew under the radar. There is no word on the non-profit Mars One Foundation, which could continue to exist. Not unless those who invested in it decide to now sue it to oblivion.