A WOMAN shortlisted for the Mars One project's selection phase will deliver a talk in Barnard Castle next month.

Durham University postgraduate, Hannah Earnshaw, who is one of 100 candidates worldwide shortlisted for the final crew selection phase, will discuss the project at Barnard Castle School, on Thursday, April 28, at 7pm.

After studying Physics at university, Miss Earnshaw went onto study for a PhD in X-Ray Astronomy and research into ‘black holes’.

The lecture has been organised by Barnard Castle Rotary Club.

Miss Earnshaw will discuss Mars One's roadmap to the Red Planet, from the initial unmanned missions to the first human launch, and her own journey from a hopeful applicant to a potential representative of mankind on Mars.

A club spokesman said: “The complexities of a return mission to Mars are beyond today's technology, but all the technologies required for a one-way mission of inhabitation already exist.

“Mars One was set up to bring those technologies together and gather crews from around the world with the tenacity, determination and resilience to undertake such a mission that will last for the rest of their lives.”

Tickets cost £8.50 and are available at C.M.Hanby Accountants, on Galgate, Barnard Castle, by phone and email from Gerald Blake on 01833-650899, email gerald@blake7.wanadoo.co.uk, and online at ticketsource.co.uk/date/243219.