Bas Lansdorp says that his idea to go to Mars has been floating in his head for at least 15 years, when he was still in University (he studied mechanical engineering at the Universiteit Twente, and later began a phd at the Technische Universiteit Delft).
Five years ago, he revisited the idea and began making more serious calculations.
I knew this idea would be possible, but I just didn't know how to finance it, he says.
After Lansdorp gave a talk at TEDXAmsterdam in 2010, an unofficial TED spin-off event, he was challenged by an organizer about what he would be doing after his current venture, Ampyx Power, an experimental wind energy start up. Bas suggested the trips to Mars was his plan, and the organizer argued that now was the time to do it.
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