Hong Kong, mainland Chinese students set sights on Mars landing

A handful of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese are among more than 165,000 people from 140 countries vying to spend the rest of their lives on Mars.

A Dutch company, Mars One, has been grabbing headlines in what is undoubtedly the wildest pitch ever for a reality TV show - a one-way trip to the red planet for a select group of wannabe colonists while the rest of us earthbound folk get to watch their adventures on the box.

At least two aspirants are from Hong Kong, while 13,125 entries - the second most from any country - are from mainland China.

Graphic design student Singh Jujhar and 52-year-old Chi Siu have paid the US$36 application fee and uploaded a video profile to the Mars One site. They both meet the broad requirements - 18 or older, in good health, with good people and survival skills and a reasonable grasp of English. But why ditch your family, friends and creature comforts for an uncertain future on a remote and hostile planet?

Singh says he's been interested in space travel as long as he can remember and his favourite movie as a child was Mission To Mars.

"Gary Sinise was one of the stars of Mission To Mars. This time I hope I get to be in the cast of the [Mars One] movie, a movie that will become reality," says Singh, a student at SCAD in Sham Shui Po.