Bas Lansdorp (born 5 March 1977) is a Dutch
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
best known as the co-founder and CEO of the defunct
Mars One
Mars One was a small private Dutch organization that received money from investors by claiming it would use it to land the first humans on Mars and leave them there to establish a permanent human colony. From its announcement in 2012 to its ...
.
Mars One
Lansdorp became determined to establish the
first permanent human colony on
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
during his studies at the
University of Twente
The University of Twente (Dutch: ''Universiteit Twente''; , abbr. ) is a public technical university located in Enschede, Netherlands.
The university has been placed in the top 170 universities in the world by multiple central ranking tables. ...
. His primary focus was not on overcoming the technological challenges, rather the
business model
A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, social, ...
.
Until 2013, he allegedly financed almost the entire project himself.
There are two entities to the Mars One: ''Mars One Foundation'' and ''Mars One Ventures''. Mars One is non-profit and funded by donations. Mars One implements and manages the mission, trains astronauts, owns the hardware, etc. Mars One Ventures is a for-profit entity of Mars One and holds exclusive monetization rights around the mission. Revenue from the monetization is expected to increase as the venture progresses.
On 28 December 2013, Lansdorp did an "Ask Me Anything" on
Reddit
Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...
and had to face much
criticism
Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''"the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad q ...
and
skepticism
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
about
Mars One
Mars One was a small private Dutch organization that received money from investors by claiming it would use it to land the first humans on Mars and leave them there to establish a permanent human colony. From its announcement in 2012 to its ...
. He responded to the criticism positively, he said “Since we started Mars One in March 2011, we received support from scientists, engineers, businessmen and –women and aerospace companies from all over the world. The announcement of our plan in May 2012 resulted in the engagement of the general public, and the support from sponsors and investors. To see our mission evolve this way feels like my dream is becoming a reality."
Two scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sydney Do and Andrew Owens, produced a study claiming that Mars One’s proposal as it stood would see its astronauts die in 68 days. In order to regain credibility, Lansdorp agreed to a debate with Do and Owens on the feasibility of the Mars One project.
The debate was held in April 2015 at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and was titled “Is Mars One Feasible?”. It also included Barry Finger, VP of Engineering at the Paragon Space Development Corporation and one of the key people involved in the Mars One project. During the debate, Finger conceded that the technical analysis from MIT was mostly correct, while Mars One's CEO Bas Lansdorp admitted that their 12-year plan for landing humans on Mars by 2027 was "mostly fiction".
On January 15, 2019, Mars One filed for bankruptcy.
Ampyx Power
In 2008, Lansdorp founded
Ampyx Power
Ampyx Power is a Dutch company based in The Hague whose aim is to develop utility-scale airborne wind energy systems. The company was founded in 2008 by Bas Lansdorp and Dr. Richard Ruiterkamp and is currently focused on verification testing of a ...
with Richard Ruiterkamp in order to create a more modern and efficient way to harvest wind energy. He was involved in the design process of new aircraft and project overview from 2008 to 2011. In 2011, he sold his shares in the company in order to found Mars One.
See also
*
Mars One
Mars One was a small private Dutch organization that received money from investors by claiming it would use it to land the first humans on Mars and leave them there to establish a permanent human colony. From its announcement in 2012 to its ...
*
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lansdorp, Bas
Living people
1977 births
University of Twente alumni
Dutch engineers
Mars One
Dutch businesspeople