In 2015, after rounds of applications and a selection process, the final 100 volunteers were chosen. Four were from China or of Chinese descent, including Li.

Dutch firm Mars One unveils concept spacesuit for Martian explorers

The project met with media scepticism and criticism from scientists. A 2014 report from Massachusetts Institute of Technology assessed the project’s feasibility and warned that if the habitats failed, the settlers would be dead within 10 weeks of arriving on Mars.

Finally, news broke this month that Mars One Ventures – one of two entities behind the project – had been declared bankrupt as of January 15 and folded.

However, on Mars One’s official website, a statement declared the company would “continue to seek strategic collaboration with renowned companies and organisations involved with the travel to Mars” and that a new investor would present its plans at a press conference on March 6.

For many, this moment called for joy as well as ridicule. A commentary piece on Forbes was headlined: “Goodbye Mars One, the Fake Mission To Mars that Fooled the World”. On Reddit, where the news started to spread, a comment read: “Sucks for the marks who were taken in by it, but good riddance to that whole scheme. It’s kind of frustrating how long such an obvious stack of fraud stayed around”.

Li’s family’s reaction was far stronger than his. Upon learning the news from reporters who called at their home, Li’s mother said “Great” three times. They were against Li joining Mars One from the start. In a documentary about Li made soon after he was selected, Li’s wife told him on camera: “You can go ahead, I will not even mourn for you when you're gone.”

Work together on a mission to Mars

In 2012, Li’s daily life was completely different. He was a fruit tree specialist with the local forestry bureau, dealing mostly with office or lab work. He described himself as “someone with his head down”, and he never watched documentaries about space exploration, let alone Mars missions.

When the project was announced, Li treated it like a reality show.

“If I really was selected, I could go abroad and learn new things, that was a great opportunity,” he said.

He prepared for the interview as best he could. He bought books and magazines about Mars, and watched films and read science fiction novels. When he talked to the South China Morning Post, he was knowledgeable and well equipped with data about Mars, and knew other missions to the red planet like the back of his hand.

During the process, Li thought about the feasibility of the mission. He said he trusted its honesty, believed that the company really wanted to see the project through, but since it was small and lacked funds, it faced obstacles, including scepticism from the public.

“Elon Musk has the same plan with Space X, but nobody is making fun of him,” he said of the man behind Tesla electric vehicles.

When asked if he really was willing to spend the rest of his life on Mars, Li answered: “I just thought it was a part of a great cause, and a sacrifice that must be made. It’s just like when pioneers were sent to a new continent, they could not go home.”

It was difficult to tell whether he meant it wholeheartedly, or was it a well-rehearsed response.

Mission to Mars reveals some down-to-earth problems

The same passion can be observed in other candidates. Sue Ann Pien, a Chinese-American actress, said that coming from a family of aerospace engineers, she had been fascinated about space since childhood.

“Mars colonisation is a given, and the seeds have been sown for the first humans to land on Mars within our lifetime,” she said.

Although Mars One failed, she praised the scheme as a game-changer and said that it single-handedly put Mars in the public eye in a way that no mission had before.

“Movies and TV shows were made about Mars, and suddenly everyone is scrambling with a plan for the red planet,” she said.

“This was not the case before Mars One, and if that was its only achievement in our generation’s journey to Mars, then it has already achieved a very admirable goal.”

She has been busily promoting the project on social media and was on Twitter banging the drum for the scheme only a few days before it folded.

After internet users pointed that out to her in February, she tweeted: “Not to worry – I've been working hard on a secret plan B mission.

“A US$100,000 round-trip ticket to Mars on Elon Musk’s Starship will be a wonderful opportunity to fulfil a lifelong dream, regardless of Mars One’s final destiny,” she said. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Onwards to Mars for China after moon mission success

Li has turned his energies to new projects. He started writing science fiction about Mars migration using his diaries from the Mars One years as inspiration, but the story ends in success. In the process, he read lots of scientific papers exploring the obstacles astronauts would encounter and describing the conditions the best he could imagine.

He also set up the Mars Society in China. The space advocacy organisation, which has headquarters in the US and more than 5,000 paid-up members, is dedicated to promoting the human exploration and settlement of the red planet. The Chinese division will hold its inaugural meeting in Beijing in March.

“Maybe this project is more in line with the development at this stage,” he said.