Mars One has a press release out today saying they have slashed their applicant pool by “99.5%” from more than 200,000 to 1,058. As with previous claims, however, these numbers appear to hyped.

In a September press release, the group said the following (emphasis added):

“In the 5 month application period, Mars One received interest from 202,586 people from around the world, wanting to be amongst the first human settlers on Mars.”

That figure appeared to be the number of people who had registered on the website, not necessarily those who had paid a fee, completed the application and made a video of themselves explaining why they should be selected as required.

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Mars One Founder Bas Lansdorp says his organization is looking for experiments to fly on an unmanned lander that it will launch to the Red Planet in 2016.

Mars One will send “a small craft that will demonstrate the technologies we need for our human colony” and is inviting partners to join the mission…

The first step is to test whether conditions for sustaining humans can be created, by sending experimental systems on a lander.

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