It’s been less than eight months since the Dutch nonprofit went public with its plan to send several humans on a one-way voyage to the red planet by 2024, but the venture has made some noteworthy headway in that short time frame.

First, the venture has secured the buy-in of several respected industry partners. Aerospace heavyweight Lockheed Martin has agreed to build a Mars Lander vessel for the future expedition; and satellite firm SSTL has signed on to build a communications satellite that will transmit communications to and from Earth and the Mars base.