Mars One fizzles out: Ambitious startup that promised to send humans to the red ...

An ambitious startup that planned to send humans to Mars in a reality TV-style mission has filed for bankruptcy.

Mars One grabbed headlines in 2012 when it announced it was looking to assemble a crew of four on a one-way mission to the red planet, with a projected launch scheduled for 2025. 

Now, Mars One Ventures, the Dutch company behind the flashy project - described by some as a 'suicidal mission' that was doomed to fail - has met its demise in Swiss bankruptcy court, according to filings first spotted by a Reddit user. 

Mars One attracted much scrutiny throughout its much-publicized plans for a trip to the red planet, including a great deal of skepticism, with some even labeling it an 'interplanetary Fyre Festival.' 

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The bankruptcy notices indicate that Mars One Ventures was declared bankrupt by the city of Basel, Switzerland, where it's based out of, on January 15th. 

The organization has since been dissolved, with less than $25,000 in its accounts, according to the filings.  

Bas Lansdorp, a Dutch entrepreneur who founded Mars One, told Engadget that without further investment, the organization will be forced to close up shop but that he's working with other parties to 'find a solution.'   

Lansdorp had a comparatively out-of-the-ordinary vision for how the Mars One mission would be conducted. 

He hoped that prospective participants would compete head-to-head on a reality television series to see who would be sent to Mars.

At one point, Endemol, the production company behind Big Brother, said it would document the progress of the group of hopefuls, which had reportedly drawn the attention of 200,000 applicants. 

However, a Medium report indicated that the company's claims it received 200,000 applicants were overblown. 

Instead of receiving 200,000 applications, it claimed Mars One had received just 2,761 applications. 

'The whole world will watch and experience this journey,' Mars One's website reads. 

'We are all explorers. Everyone, including you, can participate in space exploration. This can be your mission to Mars!'

In 2015, Mars One selected 100 candidates were added to a shortlist to establish a human colony on the planet.

Candidates were not required to have any scientific qualifications and a televised audience vote was envisioned as a way to select the final roster.

Any chosen Mars settlers would then be required to dedicate eight years of their lives preparing for the 300 million-mile (482 million km) pioneering mission.

Four crewmembers would be sent up initially, with the idea that they'd spend the remainder of their lives on Mars. Additional participants would then be transported up periodically. 

But before the manned mission was to take off, Mars One planned to send a robotic lander and orbiter up in 2018, followed by a scouting rover in 2020 and six cargo missions in 2022. 

However, many of Mars One's outlandish claims were quickly cast into speculation. 

For example, the company claimed it would find the funding for necessary equipment via a reality TV show that followed participants as they trained to head to Mars. 

Additionally, Mars One said it would sent its first hardware to Mars in 2018, but that date was pushed back to the mid-2020s. 

And, perhaps most alarmingly, a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that crewmembers

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