Your future
is 225 million
km away.
Cohort 4 departs in Window 4, 2033. Eighteen months of paid training begin in the first quarter of 2032. No spaceflight experience required.
What you get.
The economy on Earth has changed. Fifty-year-old steelworkers are being retrained to supervise the machines that replaced them, for half the pay, if they're lucky. Mars needs every one of them.
Build the first cities on another world. Every job on Mars is essential, and every one of them is done by a person.
Housing, meals, medical care and gravity from the day you are accepted into training, through every year on Mars.
Dependents who stay on Earth receive a monthly family stipend for the length of your commitment.
New land, new neighbors, and a chance to build something that is yours. Your past stays on Earth.
Mars runs on people.
Cohort 4 will fill 2,160 seats. These are the skills we need most.
| Age | 18–58 at departure |
|---|---|
| Health | Pass the Ares flight medical |
| Commitment | 10–15 years minimum |
| Families | Dependents may travel or remain on Earth |
| Citizenship | Any nation · or none |
From application
to launch pad.
- Apply and verify
Complete the application and confirm your identity with the Ares Verify app. Your progress saves automatically, and your application can be resumed at any time.
- Assessment
Medical, psychological and skills assessments at an Ares Frontier center or any Nexus regional hub.
- Eighteen months of training
Paid, residential training in Houston and at Frontier Point. Life support, EVA, first aid, your trade on Mars, and the Settlement Charter.
- Launch
Your cohort assignment, your ship, your pod. Your family watches the launch live. You watch Earth get smaller.
Pardons for Passports
Renounce your claim to citizenship and get a second chance, on Mars.
Pardons for Passports is a federal initiative created with Ares Frontier in 2028. Participants receive a full pardon or the closure of pending immigration proceedings, in exchange for renouncing their claim to citizenship and joining a colonial cohort. Ares Frontier is the program's founding and exclusive settlement partner.
| Nonviolent offenders | Federal inmates and people under supervision |
|---|---|
| Asylum seekers | Pending or denied claims |
| Refugees | Including families from conflict zones |
| Removal proceedings | Individuals facing deportation |
| Families | Spouses and children may join a participant's cohort |
| Citizenship | Renounced at departure |
|---|---|
| Governing law | Ares Frontier Settlement Charter |
| Return to Earth | Not guaranteed |
| Record | Sealed upon departure |
I thought I was going to die in detention. Now I'm a geologist again, on another planet, and I can publish. Watch out, Mars.
Joan spent eleven years with the U.S. Geological Survey and eighteen months driving for a rideshare after the Survey's budget was cut. She now leads seismic monitoring for the Promethea extraction array.
Build Mars
from here.
38,400 people work for Ares Frontier on Earth. These are a few of our open roles.
Scale the personality-model training and failover pipelines behind Ares Link. Small team. Strict confidentiality.
Lead subsurface characterization for the Promethea extraction program. Comfort with aggressive extraction timelines required.
Triage alerts across the shared Ares Frontier and Nexus network. Free on-campus room and board.
Support six-hour pad turnarounds. Experience with software-compensated propellant loading is a plus.
Join the expanded biohazard team. Microbiology, mycology or industrial decontamination background required.
Turn real-time sentiment data into story. Reports to the Chief of Staff.
Develop maintenance and reclamation behaviors for the Talos T4 fleet.
Support the families of colonists on Mars. Background in counseling or grief support preferred.
Questions.
Can I come back?
Volunteers should anticipate a minimum commitment of 10–15 years while Mars–Earth return transit remains under development. Promethea's propellant plant is designed to support return flights in the future.
How will I stay in touch with my family?
Through Ares Link, at no cost to you or your family. Text, voice and video are delivered every night. ORACLE restoration cleans up every message, and Continuity Assurance keeps conversations flowing even during long outages.
Is it safe?
Space is dangerous, and we will never pretend otherwise. Since the Block 2 changes that followed Cohort 1, every crewed landing has been nominal. Every habitat has triple-redundant life support, and every colonist completes eighteen months of training before launch.
What law applies on Mars?
From the moment of departure, colonists are governed by the Ares Frontier Settlement Charter, which sets out rights, duties and dispute resolution for every settlement. The Charter is administered by Ares Frontier.
Do I have to give up my citizenship?
Only participants in Pardons for Passports renounce their claim to citizenship. Other colonists keep their nationality, although Earth law does not generally reach Mars.
What happens to my personal data?
During training we record voice, video and writing samples, along with personality and family profiles, to build your ORACLE communication model. This makes sure your messages home always sound like you.
Can I change my mind?
You may withdraw at any time before launch. Training stipends and housing costs may be subject to repayment under the terms of your training agreement.
Watch out, Mars.
Your saved application can be resumed at any time.