Five Brits shortlisted to take part in Mars One mission to establish a permanent settlement on the red planet

Five Britions have been short-listed to take part in the controversial Mars One mission.

The four women and one man are down to the final 100 people to take part in the one-way trip to Mars, which will also be filmed as part of a reality TV series.

The ultimate objective of Mars One is to establish a permanent human settlement on the 'Red Planet' by 2024.

More than 200,000 people applied to take part in the $6 billion mission aims to put the first person on Mars.

Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Mars One, said "These aspiring martians provide the world with a glimpse into who the modern day explorers will be."

The Brits will be tested in groups to see how they handle stressful situations before they find out who has made it through to the final 24.

The British hopefuls are:

  • Dr Maggie Lieu, 24, who has a PHD in astrophysics from the University of Birmingham.

  • Ryan MacDonald, 21, from Derby, a Masters student in physics at Oxford University

  • Alison Rigby, 35, a science laboratory technician, from Beckenham, Kent

  • Clare Weedon, 27, a systems integration manager for Virgin Media, from Addlestone, in Surrey

  • Hannah Earnshaw, 23, a PHD student in astronomy, from Durham

There will be eight or nine unmanned missions to mars before the 24 finalists will travel to the deserted planet Credit: PA Wire

Being selected for the mission is only the start of a very long and dangerous journey as last year researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reportedly found that any manned mission to Mars would result in the crew dying after 68 days.

So before any of them set foot on Mars there will be eight to nine unmanned trips to the deserted planet.

50 men and 50 women from around the world have been shortlisted to go on Mars One.

They were tested on their understanding of the risks, teams spirit and their motivation to be apart of the mission.