In 2008, a Dutch entrepreneur named Bas Lansdorp sold the majority of his technology company and teamed up with Dutch physicist Arno Wielders to found the Mars One Foundation. Mars One, as it is known, is a non-profit organization with one goal in mind: to send humans on a one way mission to colonize Mars. If this does not sound crazy enough to begin with, Mars One does not even plan to send trained astronauts on this mission. As of August 31, the application for volunteers is officially closed, with 202,586 having applied from 140 countries. The only requirement to apply was being 18 or older. Eventually the applicant pool will be narrowed down to 40 people, who will then be trained in all the necessary for Mars survival, including technology maintainance, medical training, and skills in growing food on Mars. A public vote will then be held to determine which four applicants will be the first to make the seven month journey to Mars in the spacecraft Space X Falcon Heavy, an upgrade of Falcon 9. The Falcon heavy should be ready by 2014, although it will not leave for Mars until 2022.
This all may seem very possible at this point, but where the project falls far short is funding, of which they have none. The first one way trip is estimate to cost around $6 billion, with the other trips costing around $4 billion each. Mars One hopes to pay for this in part through money collected from applicants, who had to pay to apply. The rest of the money they intend to gather through a reality television show documenting the 40 applicants during the training process.
As of now, I have to say I do not see this project being successful. The technology is in place to accomplish this task, and interest in the project from the public is more than substantial, however, without a substance influx of cash, I just do not see this mission ever making off the landing pad. I believe this mission can only be successful with a gigantic grant from some government with amply money to throw into space exploration, which, in the current global economy, will be nearly impossible to come by.
Sources:
http://www.space.com/22758-mars-colony-volunteers-mars-one.html
