A group of strategic engineering graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) claim the mission to colonize Mars by an organization based in The Netherlands will end in disaster.

The Dutch firm MarsOne is currently carrying out a program to send volunteer astronauts to Mars in the hopes of colonizing the planet. It will be a one-way trip and will be televised like a reality show.

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MarsOne is confident the technology to make this trip come true exists, or will be available when their mission launches in 2022.

During the recent International Astronautical Congress, a group of MIT students shared a simulation they developed about the MarsOne plan. They said the mission will most likely fail unless expensive changes take place.

The MarsOne plan is to send a crew of four astronauts to Mars every two years. The astronauts will live inside space capsules and inflatable habitats.

They'll gather water from the soil on Mars and will have to grow their own food.

MarsOne researchers claim they've taken into account the various factors needed for survival such as preventing fire and depressurization, avoiding starvation and dehydration and maintaining a breathable atmosphere.

On the other hand, the MIT students predicted that the first death would happen in 68 days, and it will be due to suffocation.

While the team is set to grow plants to increase the amount of oxygen in the air, the amount will increase to a point where it has to be vented outside their habitats.

This will have to be done to prevent increasing pressure within the life support unit. To date, there is no technology that proper vents oxygen separately from nitrogen.

The students also mention that due to the agricultural efforts, humidity will rise to 100 percent within the capsules. While the team could plant their food somewhere else, they'd need more supplies than they planned for.

Bas Lansdorp, CEO of MarsOne, shot this analysis down. He said the MIT researchers overestimated the weight of their components. He claims his company has things under control.

TagsMIT, MarsOne, netherlands, International Astronautical Congress