Posted on 02/12/2019 7:17:06 AM PST by BenLurkin
Mars One was split into two ventures, the non-profit Mars One Foundation and the for-profit Mars One Ventures. The Swiss-based Ventures AG was declared bankrupt by a Basel court on January 15th and was, at the time, valued at almost $100 million. Mars One Ventures PLC, the UK-registered branch, is listed as a dormant company with less than £20,000 in its accounts.
There is no data available on the non-profit Mars One Foundation, which funded itself by charging its commercial partner licensing fees. Speaking to Engadget, Bas Lansdorp said that the Foundation is still operating, but won't be able to act without further investment. Lansdorp declined to give further comment beyond saying that he was working with other parties "to find a solution."
Rather than governments or philanthropy, Lansdorp believed that TV would provide funds necessary to bankroll the launches. Mars One would be the backdrop to the world's most expensive reality show as Earthbound viewers watched the colonization process. As part of the angle, Mars One recruited its potential colonists from a pool of volunteers and made documentaries about them. These shows were then sold on to willing buyers and broadcasters that bought into the hype.
The last announcement made by Mars One was in July 2018, when it boasted of an investment deal with Phoenix Enterprises. Phoenix pledged to fund the company with up to €12 million across the year, which at the time was worth around $14 million. This money would be used to pay the Mars One Foundation its licensing fees, re-list Mars One Ventures on the Frankfurt stock exchange and continue colonist selection. That, apparently, involved, bringing "candidates together in a desert location to test their team skills."
(Excerpt) Read more at engadget.com ...
If it never was can it be dead ?
Come now, it was aborted. We kill things that aren’t alive every day! /sarc
Pretty sure this was always meant to be a scam.
Fantasy runs into reality. Reality wins.
Makes about as much sense as the Fyre Festival business plan.
Born dead.
Or.
Never born.
Fantasy runs into reality. Reality wins.
—
There’s a Dilbert cartoon with those words.
Private industry and capital can do things more efficiently than government largess. True, government can FORCE things but, in the end, you get something like the Space Program which, while we beat the USSR to the Moon, didn't have long-run viability.
The "creative destruction" of capitalism will lead to flame-outs like this one, and will attract Elon Musk-types as well. But ultimately, you'll get people on Mars without ghastly government-caused death in outer space due to some bureaucratic stupidity.
Can’t they just send the Lunar Rover over there to help him out?
But RBG is attending plays and going to the gym.
I didn’t know he was sick.
“But ultimately, you’ll get people on Mars...”
Only if someone figures out a way that a business could actually make a profit by sending people there.
*ping*
Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
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