A handful of people from B.C. have made the next round of interviews to be part of Mars One’s one-way trip to the red planet.

Mars One is a Netherlands-based non-profit organization that wants to establish the first human colony on the red planet by 2025.

Four people will eventually be selected to get on the first shuttle and make the seven-month journey to their new home.

Every two years, Mars One will send another four people to build up the colony.

A 26-year-old psychology grad student from Surrey and a 30-year-old author from East Sooke are among the round two interviewees.

Over 200,000 aspiring astronauts from around the world applied during the first intake of applications. That group has since been whittled down to just over 1,000.

Mars One will continue to cut back during selection rounds this year and next, and in the meantime, will continue crowd-source funding for the $6 billion project. (The Mars Rover cost $2.5 billion, so we’ll see how close that estimate really pans out.)

Now, I’m no space expert, but this whole project sounds a little out of this world to me — especially given this next tidbit.

The seven-month journey to Mars in a space shuttle will be filmed and turned into a 24-hour reality TV show for everyone on Earth to watch.

I can’t help but picture four science-fiction fans eagerly and seriously boarding their space shuttle, enthusiasm for the mission slowly dwindling as loneliness and isolation kick in, only to be heartily disappointed when the journey is over and their landing on Mars is just stepping out onto a set in a TV studio’s parking lot.

And given that Mars One will select its final four astronauts by using, essentially, fan-voting, the mission is pretty much guaranteed big ratings. These people will have won a popularity contest to be on TV before the first episode is even broadcast.

I am sure the applicants have thought of this cynical angle and every other one associated with Mars One, including that it’s possible the group will never raise enough money to actually send anybody to space.

But even though living on the red planet could be closer than they once dreamed, it’s still their dream. And why not take a shot at it?

Maybe, in a few billion dollars, I’ll be proven wrong and four Earthlings really will be the beginning — and the future — of human life on Mars.