A German-born Australian, shortlisted for a proposed settlement mission to Mars, says the project could be an important step in the history of humankind.
Gunnar Prehl, a 41-year-old cook from Cairns, was included in the list of 100 candidates for the project by the Dutch non-profit company Mars One.
Five other Australians also made the list.
They were among 200,000 applicants aiming to be among the 24 to 40 people sent to live on the Red Planet in 10 years' time.
"It could be the biggest adventure humans have ever done, it could be the most inspiring thing I can imagine," Prehl was quoted by the ABC as saying.
"It's exciting to leave all the mistakes we've done on earth, leave them on earth and bring all the good ideas to Mars."
Prehl told ABC his parents in Germany were not too pleased about his participation.
"I'm really very aware of what I would leave behind and the most important thing is my girlfriend - she's my soulmate and it would break my heart to leave her behind," he said.
"But Mars One could be a really, really important step in the history of humankind."
The mission is merely a proposal as a suitable spaceship has yet to be designed.
Global aerospace company Lockheed Martin, the biggest US government contractor, is listed as an interested party on Mars One's website.
A spokesman for Lockheed Martin told AAP that they have undertaken preliminary consultations with Mars One, but only to develop a concept for an unmanned mission.
"Mars One contracted with Lockheed Martin to develop a mission concept study for their un-crewed 2018 Mars lander spacecraft," the Lockheed Martin spokesman told AAP in an email.
"The lander concept is based on a flight-proven, affordable spacecraft design we created for the successful NASA Phoenix Mars Lander mission.
"We have not been asked to study any more of the Mars One architecture beyond the 2018 lander."
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